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blues
(Encyclopedia) blues: see jazz.Taylor, Koko
(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Koko, 1928–2009, African-American blues singer and songwriter, b. Bartlett, Tenn., as Cora Walton. Growing up, Taylor absorbed gospel music in church and the blues at local…Handy, W. C.
(Encyclopedia) Handy, W. C. (William Christopher Handy), 1873–1958, American songwriter and band leader, b. Florence, Ala. Largely self-taught, Handy began his career as a cornet player in a minstrel…Charters, Samuel Barclay
(Encyclopedia) Charters, Samuel Barclay, 1929–2015, American musical historian and author, b. Pittsburgh. In the 1950s he studied jazz and blues in New Orleans and traveled through the South, where…Hooker, John Lee
(Encyclopedia) Hooker, John Lee, 1917–2001, American blues singer and guitarist, b. near Clarksdale, Miss. From a cotton-sharecropping family, he learned the blues from his stepfather and various…Johnson, Robert
(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Robert, 1911–38, African-American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, b. Hazelhurst, Miss. A sharecropper's son, he grew up absorbing the music of Delta bluesmen,…Morton, Jelly Roll
(Encyclopedia) Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890–1941, American jazz musician, composer, and band leader, originally named Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe, b. Gulfport, La. He began studying piano as a child and in…King, B. B.
(Encyclopedia) King, B. B., 1925–2015, African-American blues singer and guitarist, b. near Indianola, Miss., as Riley B. King. He grew up poor in the Mississippi Delta region, began playing the…Rainey, Gertrude "Ma"
(Encyclopedia) Rainey, Gertrude "Ma," 1886–1939, African-American blues singer and songwriter, b. Columbus, Ga., as Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett.…Howlin' Wolf
(Encyclopedia) Howlin' Wolf, 1910–76, African-American blues singer and composer, b. White Station, Miss., as Chester Arthur Burnett. Exposed to blues performers from childhood, he sang locally and…