Stride Blues
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Stride Blues applies Harlem stride piano technique to blues forms: the left hand leaps between bass notes and midrange chords while the right hand plays bluesy figures, jazz runs, and syncopated melodies. It is more harmonically sophisticated than barrelhouse blues and more urban-jazz than boogie-woogie, often sounding elegant, athletic, and sly.
History
Stride Blues grew from ragtime, East Coast piano contests, Harlem rent parties, and the jazz-blues overlap of the 1920s and 1930s. James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and Mary Lou Williams all used blues materials within stride-derived piano language, while singers and bands adapted those keyboard patterns into jazz-blues performance. The style influenced swing piano, bebop harmony, jazz-blues composition, and sophisticated blues accompaniment.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- David A. Jasen & Gene Jones, That American Rag
- Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz
- Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz
- AllMusic