THE CROSSROADS Pt3 Bluesy Swing Lines
When asked about which guitarists he admired, the great Jimi Hendrix once replied, “Kenny Burrell, that’s the sound I’m looking for”. Throughout the history of blues and jazz music, both these styles have evolved and expanded with the benefit of the other.
Countless early blues artists were happy to broaden their sound with the addition of jazzy overtones (the mighty Robert Johnson for one, and later on the equally talented T-Bone Walker), while the concept of a jazz musician without a deep understanding and assimilation of the blues was considered an impossibility. To quote the legendary Count Basie, jazz was created as a highly successful attempt at “swinging the blues”.
