The Jazzman's True Academy: Ethnography and the Chicago Blues Scene Study of the Chicago Blues Scene

Theoretical Foundations: The Sociology of Culture and Art

• Demystifying the Art World: A primary objective of the sociology of culture is to debunk what Pierre Bourdieu (1993) termed the "glorification of great individuals." This refers to the tendency to credit celebrated authors and auteurs almost exclusively for the creation of music, literature, cinema, and art.

• Collective Foundations: Emerging in the 1970s and 1980s, the sociological field of culture emphasizes that art-making is grounded in everyday social, institutional, economic, and collective foundations.

• Ordinary Creation: Scholars such as Hirsch (1972), Peterson (1976), and Becker (1982) argue that creators manufacture and distribute culture as commodities, a process mirroring the production of non-artistic goods and services.

• The Construction of Authenticity: Later sociological work focuses on the social construction of myths regarding "authenticity" in art (Peterson, 1997; Grazian, 2003; Fine, 2004). This involves performers using impression management to create an "aura" of art, building an identity that confers subcultural status and social prestige.

The Role and Utility of Ethnography in Artistic Research

• Debunking Mystification: Ethnography is uniquely suited to debunking the myths surrounding cultural production by situating the researcher in the actual contexts where art is created.

• Privileged Access: Through participant-observation and face-to-face encounters, researchers gain access to the "back stages" of artistic work. This reveals the relative ordinariness of art worlds and illustrates how social actors of varying expertise use strategies to present themselves as artists.

• Ethnography as Artistic Work: The author argues that ethnographic research itself is a form of artistic work. It requires the coordination of multiple social actors, collective labor, and the use of impression management and performance skills by the researcher.

Historical Evolution of the Chicago Blues

• Origins: Blues music originated in the 1890s among African Americans in the Mississippi Delta. It is a hybrid style merging West African rhythms with Southern work songs, religious spirituals, and country folk ballads.

• Migration and Urbanization: Black migrants from states like Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee brought the music to Chicago. Between 1940 and 1950, artists like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells, and Howlin' Wolf popularized the electrified "Chicago urban blues."

• Influence on Popular Music: This sound provided the structural blueprint for 1950s rhythm-and-blues and rock 'n' roll, popularized by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley.

• Market History:

  • 1950s: Performed in scores of nightclubs in black ghetto neighborhoods; recorded for the segregated "race" music market by companies like Chess Records.

  • Late 1950s: Fell out of favor with black audiences.

  • 1990s: Gained massive popularity among international tourists and business travelers during Chicago's postindustrial urban renaissance.

The Contemporary Postindustrial Chicago Blues Scene

• Economic Transition: Chicago transitioned from a manufacturing economy (meatpacking, steel) to a service and entertainment-based economy. Modern blues clubs function as upscale infrastructure for high-income business travelers, international students, and vacationing families.

• Tourist Landmarks: Renowned clubs include Kingston Mines, b.l.u.e.s., Buddy Guy's Legends, and Blue Chicago. These are described as "staged reproductions" of juke joints or roadhouses, designed to represent "authentic" African American culture.

• Commodification and Kitsch: Clubs sell souvenir items like t-shirts and trinkets and serve stereotypical "soul food," including barbequed pork, baby back ribs, collard greens, corn-on-the-cob, fried chicken, and biscuits.

• The "Set List From Hell": Musicians often express boredom and "near-nausea" at performing a ritualized repertoire for tourists who have limited familiarity with the tradition. Daniel, a guitar player, identifies this set list as including:

  • "Sweet Home Chicago"

  • "Stormy Monday"

  • "Every Day I Have the Blues"

  • "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man"

  • "The Thrill is Gone"

  • "Mustang Sally"

  • "Kansas City"

  • "Johnny B. Goode"

Technical Definition and Structure of the Blues

• Lyrical Themes:

  • Country Blues (1925–1950): Focused on the suffering of sharecroppers. Examples: "Key to the Highway" (hardship), "Hellhound on My Trail" (damnation), "Devil Got My Woman" (lost love), "Death Don't Have No Mercy" (pain).

  • Urban Chicago Blues (1947–1964): Emphasized sexuality ("Got My Mojo Working"), infidelity ("Back Door Man"), and masculinity ("Mannish Boy").

• Musical Structure:

  • Relies on stanzas of $12$ measures or "bars."

  • Contains three four-measure lines played in the "blues scale."

  • The Blues Scale: Consists of the root, $b3\text{rd}$, $4\text{th}$, $\#4\text{th}$, $5\text{th}$, and $b7\text{th}$ intervals of the major scale.

  • Example (Key of C): The notes are $C-E\flat-F-F\sharp-G-B\flat-C$.

  • Blue Notes: Musicians deliberately play "out-of-tune" by raising or lowering major scale notes by half-intervals to produce specific harmonies.

• Lyrical Pattern ($a-a-b$): The first line is repeated, followed by a response in the third. Example from Muddy Waters (1964):

  • a. I once had a pretty little girl, I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

  • a. I once had a pretty little girl, I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

  • b. Well, you know, you can't spend what you ain't got, and you can't lose what you ain't never had.

Methodological Strategy: Establishing Rapport

• Entry vs. Rapport: Merely entering a public establishment like a bar does not guarantee rapport. The author references William Foote Whyte (1955), who was nearly thrown down hotel bar stairs, and Elijah Anderson (1978), who spent four weeks at "Jelly's" before gaining insider sponsorship.

• Strategies for Gaining Resident Status: Grazian introduced himself as a local resident to staff at B.L.U.E.S. Over five years (1995–1999), he became a "familiar face," eventually gaining free entry and building relationships with a bouncer, three bartenders, a cocktail waitress, and the owner.

• Impression Management with Tourists:

  • Dress: Wore casual, lower-middle-class attire like flannel shirts, blue jeans, and hiking boots to differentiate himself from formally dressed upper-class tourists.

  • Speech and Consumption: Avoided academic jargon; drank inexpensive American beer and tequila shots rather than high-end imports.

  • Performing Masculinity: Engaged in "doing gender" (West and Zimmerman, 1987) by watching sports (basketball, boxing) and engaging in "backslapping" with male patrons to build quick solidarity.

The Jam Session: The "Jazzman's True Academy"

• Collaborative Circles: Howard Becker (1982) notes that art requires a massive division of labor. The jam session is a prime site for observing these "collaborative circles" (Farrell, 2001).

• Ralph Ellison's Definition: Ellison (1964) described the jam session as a homogeneous community where musicians learn tradition and style through apprenticeship, ordeals, and initiation rather than formal grades.

• Modern Function: Today, jam sessions allow amateurs to "sit in" with house bands on slow weeknights. They serve as convergence spaces for musicians, fans, booking agents, critics, and journalists.

• Pedagogical Episodes: Experienced players mentor novices on technical and professional standards. Following an interaction with James, a semi-professional trumpet player, Grazian learned to play the chromatic scale to provide harmonic accompaniment.

• Chromatic Scale Definition: Twelve tones played at half-step intervals. Example in $C$ major: $C-C\sharp-D-E\flat-E-F-F\sharp-G-G\sharp-A-B\flat-B$.

Subjective Experience: Transitioning to an "Observing Participant"

• The Researcher's Performance: Grazian transitioned from a participant observer to an "observing participant" by playing alto saxophone in public.

• Stage Fright and "Cheating": In his first performance, Grazian describes feeling like a "scared little boy." He hid behind video game machines to consult a "cheat-sheet" of twelve major blues scales. An elderly harmonica player caught him but reassured him it wasn't "cheating."

• Feedback and Socialization:

  • A patron in the restroom critiqued his playing as "wobbly" and "shy," advising him to "just play through" wrong notes.

  • Louis, the jam host, taught him that playing is about participation, not just superior skill level.

• The Transposition Challenge: When bandleader "Jack" asked him to solo on a shuffle in $F$ major, Grazian froze because the alto saxophone is tuned to $E\flat$. He had to mentally transpose the key to $D$ major.

• Transposition Logic: Professional musicians do this by ear, but Grazian fumbled until finding the scale. Jack later lectured him: "You can't be afraid of the microphone… you got to step up… and just play."

• The Core Insight: Musicians did not require Grazian to be a master; they required a display of commitment and a willingness to risk humiliation to be accepted as an insider.