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Another fundamental influence on the Classic Songbook specifically and 20th century popular music more generally, of course, is the blues. Originating among African Americans in the Deep South in the mid-1800s, the blues are different in structure and technique from the Eastern European tradition explored in Chuck’s Mack The Knife concert, but both deviate from the standard diatonic major/minor scales of Western music and hence contribute a similar moody, evocative “feel” to a song. And the blues also touch popular song in performance, as musicians jazz and not, interpret even songs which were not originally composed as such. Chuck Redd and his festival jazz unit explore all of this with especial reference to the works of Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin.[more info]