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The only debasement here, is Whiteis’ inability to experience blues music as a form of entertainment. His preconceived notion of what the blues should be reflects an attitude toward the people who actually created the music. It is one thing for Skip James or Lightnin’ Hopkins to create “melancholy” songs full of “haunted introspection” sixty or so years ago in a setting that is far removed from contemporary experience (Whiteis does point out that while we venerate these legendary musicians as wise old men, they indeed wrote and performed these tunes as young men, “abrim with youthful exuberance”). It is quite another to be faced with the reality of a brash, young man with an extensive musical background who puts in a night’s work, entertaining his audience, which is exactly what he was hired to do.
It is common knowledge that in life, as in art, nothing stays the same. Critics who demand that musicians conform to traditional modes of expression in music seem to be fixated in their own development, burdened with a Freudian case of repetition compulsion. Throughout his review, Whiteis mentions the lack of “maturity” evident in Peterson’s live performance as compared with his obvious ability to interpret the blues on his Alligator album, Lucky Strikes. Whiteis may want to consider, in light of the positive audience response, that indeed Peterson actually knew what he was doing, considering that he was playing for a weekend party crowd, that no doubt could care less whether he is “once removed from the people who sired the music he plays.”
My colleague Beverly Zeldin likewise misses the mark. If I were a “purist bluenatic,” blind to the fact that blues music is a form of entertainment, I wouldn’t have stated that Peterson’s interpretations of his own funk-blues creations were among the most enjoyable moments of his performance. I wouldn’t have extolled versatile artists like Billy Branch and Carl Weathersby as fine young bluesmen; I wouldn’t have suggested, a few weeks ago, that Matt “Guitar” Murphy is at his best when he goes beyond his straightforward Memphis roots and delves into free-form jazz-funk improvisations, nor praised the technique and emotional fire of guitarist Donald Kinsey in a recent record review.
