Blues standard

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A blues standard, much like a jazz standard or pop standard, refers to a song that is widely known, performed, and recorded among blues musicians.

Live blues, especially Chicago-style blues, is often characterized by extended improvisation, often in the form of jam sessions with guitar and often harp, bass and piano, among others. Songs known to all musicians playing provide a common ground for such shows.

[edit] Examples of blues standards

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The following list has some of the best known blues standards:

This is an incomplete list of songs, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

• Big Bill Broonzy
  • "Key to the Highway"
• Eddie Boyd
  • "Five Long Years"
• Cab Calloway
  • "Minnie the Moocher"
• Gary Davis
  • "Death Don't Have No Mercy"
• Jim Jackson
  • "Kansas City Blues"
• Leroy Carr
  • "How Long Blues"
• Guitar Slim
  • "Things That I Used to Do"
• Elmore James
  • "The Sky Is Crying"
• W.C. Handy
  • "St. Louis Blues"
• John Lee Hooker
  • "Boogie Chillen"
  • "Crawlin' King Snake"
  • "Boom Boom"
• Howlin' Wolf
  • "Spoonful"
  • "Sitting on Top of the World" (written by Walter Vinson & Lonnie Chatmon)
  • "Back Door Man" (written by Willie Dixon)
• Robert Johnson
  • "Traveling Riverside Blues"
  • "Dust My Broom"
  • "Sweet Home Chicago"
  • "Cross Road Blues" (Also known as "Crossroads")
• Jimi Hendrix
  • "Red House"
• Albert King
  • "Born Under a Bad Sign"
• Little Willie John
  • "Need Your Love so Bad"
• Little Walter
  • "Juke", especially in terms of blues harp playing.
• Blind Willie McTell
  • "Statesboro Blues"
• Mississippi John Hurt
  • "Stack O'lee"
• Mississippi Fred McDowell
  • "You Gotta Move"
• Jimmy Reed
  • "Bright Lights, Big City*
• Otis Rush
  • "I Can't Quit You Baby" (written by Willie Dixon)
• Bessie Smith
  • "Ain't Nobody's Business" (written by Porter Grainger, Robert Prince, & Clarence Williams)
• T-Bone Walker
  • "They Call It Stormy Monday"
• Muddy Waters
  • "Got My Mojo Workin'" also "We've Got Our Mojo Workin'" (written by Preston Foster)
  • "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" (written by Willie Dixon)
  • "Mannish Boy" aka "I'm A Man" (written by Bo Diddley)
  • "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" (written by Willie Dixon)
• Hambone Willie Newbern
  • "Rollin' and Tumblin'"
• Big Joe Williams
  • "Baby, Please Don't Go"
• Sonny Boy Williamson II
  • "Eyesight to the Blind"
• Skip James
  • "I'm So Glad"
• Billy Strayhorn
  • "Take The A Train"
• Duke Ellington
  • "Night Train

[edit] External links

• 100 Greatest Blues Songs
• Blues lyrics