A review by dkai
Blues People: Negro Music in White America by Amiri Baraka, LeRoi Jones
5.0
Take it with some grains of salt, and it's a hearty meal.
I came looking for a book to inform me about blues (and to a lesser extent, jazz), and boy, did I get it. Starting from the time of slavery and moving all the way through cool jazz, the author covers everything in great historical detail. There's analysis of individual musicians, styles, cultural movements, historical events, migrations, etc. Baraka weaves everything together quite well, whether it is talking about one musician's direct influence on another, or drawing comparisons to earlier events. If you have never read books on blues, it's hard to beat starting with this one.
It is true that the author colors the book with his opinion. In my opinion, this is necessary. I do not read just to be informed; I want to have my ideas challenged, to argue or agree with the author in my head, and find out what his thoughts are, rather than mere historical facts. I don't think his opinions skew the facts that much, and it is easy to separate the facts from the thoughts. Essentially, in my opinion you can't write a good history on blues without some bias.
I came looking for a book to inform me about blues (and to a lesser extent, jazz), and boy, did I get it. Starting from the time of slavery and moving all the way through cool jazz, the author covers everything in great historical detail. There's analysis of individual musicians, styles, cultural movements, historical events, migrations, etc. Baraka weaves everything together quite well, whether it is talking about one musician's direct influence on another, or drawing comparisons to earlier events. If you have never read books on blues, it's hard to beat starting with this one.
It is true that the author colors the book with his opinion. In my opinion, this is necessary. I do not read just to be informed; I want to have my ideas challenged, to argue or agree with the author in my head, and find out what his thoughts are, rather than mere historical facts. I don't think his opinions skew the facts that much, and it is easy to separate the facts from the thoughts. Essentially, in my opinion you can't write a good history on blues without some bias.