Blues are the Roots

Sometime last year, I saw a shirt that immediately caught my eye. It read: Black Music Matters. Damn straight, I thought. I grew up on Black music and everything that evolved from the earliest forms of the blues. I started playing jazz at the age of eight, and from that moment on, my world was on fire. I was lucky enough to get a more-than-healthy dose of the blues every day at home. Through Miles Davis, Otis Redding, and Etta James, I felt pain, resilience, and beauty expressed through my favorite language.

Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte—the list is endless. Did you know that Harry Belafonte helped bail Dr. King out of jail in 1963? Would the Civil Rights Movement have had the same impact without The Staple Singers? And why on earth did Marvin Gaye’s father shoot the Prince of Motown?

During virtual learning, music professional development sessions were in full force. I mean full force. Every other day felt like a PD that I was either helping to plan, facilitate, or participate in. Music virtually? What on earth were we going to do? To me, the answer was simple: everything. There was nothing we couldn’t do. We could teach history through the lens of music. We could use the power of language through lyric analysis to explore how words and songs work hand in hand. We could create—using our hands, desks, technology, or staff paper. Musically, we could dive into the powerful and tasteful phrasing of B.B. King, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy. How can music with such intense emotion explain the human condition? How does this music relate to the struggle for equality? These questions became my North Star, guiding a journey I’m still on today.

During Black History Month, I focus on the blues as a genre, a musical form, and a communication style. Students love learning about the birth and growth of the blues and the lasting impact it has had on America and the world. We travel to the birthplace of American music in the Delta and follow its path north up the Mississippi—from New Orleans to Memphis to Chicago. It feels like a song just writing this—up Highway 61 and across Route 66.

What is the relationship between the Great Migration and the evolution of American music? I highlight the integration of music studios like Columbia and Stax Records. What was the significance of integrated studios, and what legendary music was born from them? If you don’t already use Spotify in your classroom, check out the “About the Artist” biographies to highlight the significance of Black artists during the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, and beyond. In education, we spend so much time talking about what’s wrong with America. My students are always surprised to learn about the influence of African American musicians before the Civil Rights Movement.

Willie Dixon said it best: "Blues are the roots, everything else is the fruit."

Happy Black History Month,

Kevin