Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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Songs:
- Will Day
- Robert Johnson
C U T T IN G C O N T EST
Pianist Dr. John came of age in New Orleans in the 1950s, when musicians engaged in
outlet today. Where are there cutting contests anymore? Where are there all-night jam
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players compete for gigs, respect, and acclaim by trying to blow each other off the stage.
The applause from the audience is the barometer used to grade the players and choose
the winner.
- attempting to outdo a competitor in playing a solo.
however. That derived from the fact that recordings were originally engraved or cut into
wax masters (and later into metal, acetate-coated metal or glass masters). 148
1940s through the 1950s, 1960s, and into the early 1970s there were these jam sessions
and cutting contests. The place in New
City during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jimi Hendrix first jammed publicly with
Buddy Miles there to celebrate the New Year in 1970. The next day Hendrix announced
that Miles would be in his new Band of Gypsies.
happened was all those joints went disco in the seventies. It all died with the death of free
Kansas City had a big after-hours cutting contest scene in the 1930s that nurtured jazz
greats like saxophonists Lester Young and Charlie Parker. If you want to see a reenactment
of a legendary cutting contest, check out the film Kansas City (New Line
Features), Robert Altman -creation of the epic battle between Coleman Hawkins and
Lester Young.
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