Savannah syncopators: African retentions in the blues

by Paul Oliver

From the renowned chronicler of African American music, this is a re-examination of the African elements in blues and jazz based American music. Includes research from the author's field studies in West Africa, along with his photos from West Africa.

Genres: Music, History

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

See http://www2.hud.ac.uk/staffprofiles/s...

Reviews

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelves for years, but for some reason I had never read it until last week. It may have impressed me more if I had read it years ago. I suspect that there are now much better books on the subject, but this one is still of some interest. Oliver's thesis is that the West African music that influenced the development of black American music is not the percussion-heavy music of the rain forests, but the string and vocal music of the savannah.

It all seems reasonable, but it's all pretty speculative. Oliver uses the word "perhaps" and phrases like "may have" over and over again. And his speculation on the ancestry of particular blues singers based on their appearances is slightly cringe-inducing.

Savannah Syncopators is of interest to readers interested in the development of blues and jazz, but it's no longer an essential read on the subject, if it ever was.

[RA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting early study by Paul Oliver, known blues researcher, looking at African musical elements related to [rural] blues structure. The author looks at a lot of previous sociological, musicological, anthropological research into "African" music(s) & culture, some which come to contradictory conclusions. He draws some comparisons between some elements but admits there needs to be further research & clarification about the actual demography of slaves brought to the "New World," since there are distinct differences between people, music and culture on the Coast & in the Interior of the continent.

In my opinion, there is a failure of the author to only refer to "jazz" in its New Orleans/"Dixieland? forms, instead of noting parallels with the progressive, modern & "free jazz" streams in the "jazz" idiom.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of some use for the semi-rigorous way it tries to establish palpable connections between various African musical styles and African American blues (and jazz, to some degree), but certainly of its time in the absurdly pseudo-scientific way it tries to work through the concept of "race."