The 47th Street Blues District - Bronzeville

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Images above: Bronze sculptures: Guitar player, saxophone player, trumpet player and female jazz singer.. at the interesction of Kings Drive and 47th Street.

The 47th Street Blues District..
Bronzeville - Southside Chicago
It was so sad to see the Blues District the way it is now!!! The commemorative signs and promotional statues [images above] seems to be the only reminder of the vibrant community that once was, [and still is] the Chicago Blues District! Although the energy and the vitality is long gone now..

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But memories of it's heydays have not faded yet. People still remember and talk about the good old days and it's very likely to stumble into someone who have seen the big names in Chicago Blues perform there..

I love Chicago Blues, and when I say that, I don't mean that I'm an aficionado with an in-depth knowledge of various songs, singers and their different styles. I only mean that I love whatever I've heard. If I have to spell out a few names, it would be B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Koko Taylor and a few others.. But beyond that, I'm totally blank. I couldn't tell Memphis Blues from Delta Blues. I'm bringing this up because whenever I try to dig into the history of Chicago Blues, I come across so many names and styles that I feel clueless and turn off. So without going into too much details, here's a brief history..

Chicago maybe called the Blues Capital of the world, but is not it's birthplace. The place credited with the birth of Blues is the North Mississippi Delta region and the musical form emerged around the turn of the 19th century. But the story of Blues dates back to the Civil War. Influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into a music for a singer who would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. He would sing a line, and the guitar would answer...

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The Chicago Blues, is a result of many developments that took place in the 1920’s, especially "The Great Migration". The African Americans in southern states were facing many problems like failing crops and increased discrimination against them. On the other hand northern states were growing as industrial centers and generating fresh job opportunities. Chicago in particular was a hub of many labor-intensive industries like steel and meat-packing, and there was also an increased demand for labor during the WW-I. The combined result of these situations lead to a mass migration of African American from southern to northern states, called “The Great Migration” between 1910 to 1970. Chicago attracted about 500,000 of the approximately 7 million African Americans migrating north. Before this migration, African Americans constituted 2 percent of Chicago's population, but by 1970, they were 33 percent.

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The Great Migration brought singers from the Southern States to the Chicago region. Singers like Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon and Koko Taylor, to name a few, found home in Chicago.. Combined with this was the growth of music industry. Although the music industry suffered during the Great Depression [1929-1933], the city still continued to serve as incubator of Blues Music. It was during the 1950's that Chicago Blues really flourished. Chicago Blues changed from Mississippi Blues by adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums, piano, and sometimes saxophone, and making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier. In fact, some even used the trumpet..

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Coming back to the Chicago Blues District, it was once a mecca for African-Americans migrating from the impoverished south, and it bustled with black-owned businesses and with well-dressed men and women.
When I saw it two days back, it was hard to believe that that it was the same place I had read so much about.. Nightclubs like the Regal, Savoy, and Metropolitan have long shut down and even razed. 47th street is now a shopping street with lots of vacant spaces.. and the only hint of the old glory that it once was, were the four bronze statues and commemorative signs on streetlamp fixtures proclaiming the "Chicago Blues District"..

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I saw this marker at the 11th street..
The Blues Trail
Mississippi to Chicago..
The "Great Migration" from the South to "The Promised Land" of Chicago brought more African American here from Mississippi than any other state, especially during and after World War II. With the migrant came the Delta blues that was the foundation of the classic postwar Chicago Blues style. Muddy Waters who became the King of Chicago Blues, was among the thousands of Mississippians who arrived on the Illinois Central train at Central Station, which stood across the street from this site from 1893 to 1974..

To continue..