Not novelty free, it's just that the incessent Quest for the New isn't a characteristic of blues, bluegrass, traditional folk, or (today) European classical. Sure, people do new things, but "old hat," "nothing new" isn't a criticism in these styles of music. Doing something new is not the point, even if it happens. Maybe doing it well is, but that's not the same thing. People who complain that "nothing new"
has happened in blues since Hendrix aren't really blues fans, just as Hendrix wasn't centrally a blues musician -- he was a rock musician who based innovative improvistional composition with jazz-like deep structure _on_ the blues. Rock has had this drive to innovate. Someone who plays 50s sounding rock is just doing an oldies nostalgia trip. But someone who plays 50s sounding blues can be as fresh as any other blues musician.
--- Eubulides <paraconsistent at comcast.net> wrote:
> andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>
> > Once more. "New" is not an especial virtue in
> blues.
> > If you want innovation, look elsewhere. The virtue
> of
> > the blues lies depth of feeling and technical
> skill in
> > executing traditional forms rather than in
> creation of
> > new artistic form. In this respect blues is not
> unlike
> > other folk musics: bluegrass, traditional folk,
> Celtic
> > musics, you're not supposed to do something "new."
> > You're supposed to what other people have done,
> just
> > do it well. There's another musical form that's
> like
> > this: European classical music. An innovative
> > interpretation is not what's sought. Jazz is
> > innovative. Rock is innovative. Soul and R&B are
> > innovative. Not blues. Tell Dave Hole he's not
> > innovative, he'll take it as a compliment.
>
> ===================
>
> No lecturing, I'm married to a musician-music
> teacher :-)
>
> Novelty-free musical genres are not possible.
>
> Ian
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