W. C. Handy : The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 David Robertson charts W. C. Handy’s rise from a rural-Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to his emergence as one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth century. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, and his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager, despite opposition from his preacher father. Handy soon found his way to St. Louis, where he spent a winter sleeping on cobblestone docks before lucking into a job with an Indiana brass band. It was in a minstrel show, playing to racially mixed audiences across the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1905, that he hit his full stride as a composer. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in America, W. C. Handy’s life story is in many ways the story of the birth of our country’s indigenous culture—and a riveting must read for anyone interested in the history of American music.

Before there was Elvis, there was W.C. Handy, “the man who made the blues.” Here is the first major biography in decades of the man who gave us such iconic songs as “St. Louis Blues,” “The Memphis Blues,” and “Beale Street Blues,” and who was responsible, more than any other musician, for bringing the blues into the American mainstream.

David Robertson charts W.C. Handy’s rise from a rural Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to become one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, and his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager, despite opposition from his preacher father. He soon found his way to St. Louis, where he spent a winter sleeping on cobblestone docks before lucking into a job with an Indiana brass band. It was in a minstrel show, playing to racially mixed audiences across the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1905, that he hit his full stride as a composer. There, Handy frequented the famous saloons and music halls of Beale Street and composed his legendary songs. By the time of his death in 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he had become a major influence on pop culture, his music recorded by countless musicians, from Bessie Smith to Django Reinhardt.

Robertson weaves a rich tapestry of the worlds Handy inhabited: the post-Reconstruction South; the ministrel shows in all their racial ambiguity; the mysterious, forbidding Mississippi Delta; Memphis, with its jumping music scene; and New York’s Tin Pan Alley. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in America, W.C. Handy’s life story is in many ways the story of the birth of our country's indigenous culture—and a riveting must-read for anyone interested in the history of American music.

The New York Times - David Hajdu

In W. C. Handy, David Robertson…casts overdue light on Handy's essential role in establishing the blues as a popular art, and he does this, much to his credit, without resorting to dubious claims that Handy was the first or the best of the blues' multiple progenitors. A mark of both the evenhandedness of his scholarship and the delicacy of his writing is Robertson's resistance to the idea of Handy as the Father of the Blues—a notion that Handy himself advanced and exploited deftly during his lifetime.

Before there was Elvis, there was W.C. Handy, "the man who made the blues." Here is the first major biography in decades of the man who gave us such iconic songs as "St. Louis Blues," "The Memphis Blues," and "Beale Street Blues," and who was responsible, more than any other musician, for bringing the blues into the American mainstream. David Robertson charts W.C. Handy's rise from a rural Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to become one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, and his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager, despite opposition from his preacher father. He soon found his way to St. Louis, where he spent a winter sleeping on cobblestone docks before lucking into a job with an Indiana brass band. It was in a minstrel show, playing to racially mixed audiences across the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1905, that he hit his full stride as a composer. There, Handy frequented the famous saloons and music halls of Beale Street and composed his legendary songs. By the time of his death in 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he had become a major influence on pop culture, his music recorded by countless musicians, from Bessie Smith to Django Reinhardt. Robertson weaves a rich tapestry of the worlds Handy inhabited: the post-Reconstruction South; the ministrel shows in all their racial ambiguity; the mysterious, forbidding Mississippi Delta; Memphis, with its jumping music scene; and New York's Tin Pan Alley. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in America, W.C. Handy's life story is in many ways the story of the birth of our country's indigenous culture—and a riveting must-read for anyone interested in the history of American music The first major biography in decades of the man who gave us such iconic songs as "St. Louis Blues," "Memphis Blues," and "Beale Street Blues," and who was responsible, more than any other musician, for bringing the blues into the American mainstream.David Robertson charts W. C. Handy's rise from a rural Alabama childhood in the last decades of the nineteenth century to become one of the most celebrated songwriters of the twentieth. The child of former slaves, Handy was first inspired by spirituals and folk songs, but his passion for music pushed him to leave home as a teenager. It was in a minstrel show, touring the country, that he got his first real exposure as a professional musician, but it was in Memphis, where he settled in 1909, that Handy hit his full stride as a composer. By the time of his death in 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he had become a major influence on pop culture, his music recorded by countless musicians, from Bessie Smith to Django Reinhardt.Robertson weaves a rich tapestry of the worlds Handy inhabited: post-Reconstruction South; the minstrel shows in all their racial ambiguity; the Mississippi Delta; Memphis, with its jumping music scene; New York's Tin Pan Alley. At once a testament to the power of song and a chronicle of race and black music in modern America, W. C. Handy's life story is riveting. Slavery, the AME Church, and Emancipation : the Handy family of Alabama, 1811-1873 -- W.C. Handy and the music of black and white America, 1873-1896 -- Jumping Jim Crow : Handy as a traveling minstrel musician, 1896-1900 -- Aunt Hagar's ragtime son comes home to Alabama, 1900-03 -- Where the Southern Cross, the Yellow Dog : Handy and the Mississippi Delta, 1903-05 -- Mr. Crump don't low : the birth of the commercial blues, 1905-1909 -- Handy's Memphis copyright blues, 1910-1913 -- Tempo á blues : Pace & Handy, Beale Avenue music publishers,1913-1917 -- New York City : national success, the St. Louis blues, and the blues anthology, 1918-1926 -- Symphonies and movies, spirituals and politics, and W.C. Handy as perennial performer -- 1927-1941 -- St. Louis blues, the final performance, 1958 Slavery, the AME Church, and Emancipation : the Handy family of Alabama, 1811-1873 W. C. Handy and the music of black and white America, 1873-1896 Jumping Jim Crow : Handy as a traveling minstrel musician, 1896-1900 Aunt Hagar's ragtime son comes home to Alabama, 1900-03 Where the Southern Cross, the Yellow Dog : Handy and the Mississippi Delta, 1903-05 Mr. Crump don't low : the birth of the commercial blues, 1905-1909 Handy's Memphis copyright blues, 1910-1913 Tempo á blues : Pace & Handy, Beale Avenue music publishers,1913-1917 New York City : national success, the St. Louis blues, and the blues anthology, 1918-1926 Symphonies and movies, spirituals and politics, and W. C. Handy as perennial performer 1927-1941 St. Louis blues, the final performance, 1958. David Robertson. Originally Published: New York : Knopf, 2009. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [269]-271) And Index. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web.