I think geography plays a bigger part than most realize. KC, St Lou, N.O, & Chi, along with Nashville & Memphis, & L.A. (with all those fleeing the cold...Mark E. said:By contrast, music of the African slaves and ex-slaves remained disorganized until composer Scott Joplin (Sedalia, MO) put down ragtime circa 1900. You move to jazz in New Orleans (though the term originated in Chicago), blues in Memphis and then to St. Louis. Kansas City had a "jazz district" and a style that mixed blues elements back into jazz. So, in four decades you have a style that is "made for change."
I'm seeing the first Boomers (born 1945) hitting Grade 9 in 1958, which puts them in high school here. (I suspect in the U.S. that's top grade of middle school still, tho.)Mark E. said:Another thing to remember is that in 1955, the market was dominated by war veterans, not teenagers. The first Baby Boomers would not reach high school until the sixties.
And who's to say he doesn't combine Latin & polka, or something, in the very same way Mexican musicians were? Or Latin & blues, & gain a European audience? Or Latin & jazz, for a *rockabilly variant? Or straighter Latin, to attract a Latin American audience, for all that?Mark E. said:Guitarist Buddy Holly will be confined to country and Latin
That's the part of this I find most interesting.Mark E. said:Keep the guitars out of the emerging music (we mentioned the players) and mix different instruments into a blues-esque style and you can have a new form other than rock and roll.