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This project was made possible by funding through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy and the Heritage Policy Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Canadian Heritage

Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern discusses the merits of playing the blues for a jazz musician

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Harold Mabern discusses the many different styles of blues

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Harold Mabern talks about how he got started in music

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Transcription

Q: “[Playing the blues] is a real test, as you say, because you just think ‘oh my God, not another blues in B flat’; but when a good player’s done doing it, you know you’ve been done!”

A: “And plus, here again, there are all different kinds of blues. You know, you've got the straight life blues, one, four, five, so to speak. Then you've got the hip blues, they're the kind of Charlie Parker with something like ... the blues of that type, that's what we call the pretty blues. Then you've got the extended kind of blues with the modal change. So there’s just many different ways you can play the blues, but the basic one, four, five, muddy water type ledba [ph], that's the key to the whole thing.”