# Why are there so many blind blues and jazz musicians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049 "2006-10-19T03:26:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/1 "2006-10-19T03:26:20Z")
There seem to be an unusually high number of blind musicians in jazz and blues compared to other genres of music. There’s Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder (maybe not strictly jazz or blues musicians, but influenced by it) and then also Clarence Carter (who recorded the hilarious song _Strokin’_) not to mention Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, the Blind Boys of Alabama - there are more, just look on Wikipedia. In addition, there’s the jazz pianist Lennie Tristano (who my father studied under as a youth.) Why do there seem to be so many blind musicians in these genres? Maybe I’m just underinformed but I can’t think of any blind rock musicians, or rappers. Is it because nutrition and medical care was worse in the heyday of blues and early jazz, and that poor blacks were just more likely to suffer from blindness because of this? ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/2 "2006-10-19T03:40:44Z")
One more reason to have the blues, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/3 "2006-10-19T03:51:05Z")
Just hypothesising: (1) Blacks got poor health care, so they were more likely to go blind. (2) Once you are blind, your vocational options ae limited – but you can still sing, and still play most musical instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/4 "2006-10-19T07:50:38Z")
Because you know they really feel the music. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/5 "2006-10-19T10:59:42Z")
Stevie Wonder. And another jazz musician – pianist Marcus Redmond. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/6 "2006-10-19T11:05:04Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] And another jazz musician – pianist Marcus Redmond. [/QUOTE] :smack: Marcus **Roberts**. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/7 "2006-10-19T11:36:14Z")
Don’t forget Diane Schuur and George Shearing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/8 "2006-10-19T11:41:00Z")
**Giles** ’s #2 hypothesis is one reason. What’s a blind person to do? Also, many blind folks have an enhanced sense of sound/music, since they don’t have all that visual clutter to distract them. Thirdly, people are idiots and revel in the “hey, lookie, that blind guy sure can play that piano!” thing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/9 "2006-10-19T11:44:09Z")
Oops, forgot to mention that the “hey, lookie, that blind guy sure can play that piano!” thing was less prevalent after Rock N Roll and television became popular, which might explain the jazz/blues preference. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/10 "2006-10-19T15:24:52Z")
I just have to throw this in here, because it’s tangentially relevant, but mostly because I love it: [How To Sing The Blues](http://www.analogman.com/singblues.htm) "12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if: a. you’re older than dirt b. you’re blind c. you shot a man in Memphis d. you can’t be satisfied No, if: a. you have all your teeth b. you were once blind but now can see c. the man in Memphis lived. d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund." ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/11 "2006-10-19T15:31:01Z")
Blind Willie Johson was left alone to beg on the street and play music by his Daddy. I think that is someone making a career change for you. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/12 "2006-10-19T18:59:55Z")
Slide trombones. Those things are dangerous as hell. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/13 "2006-10-19T19:48:18Z")
And to state the blindingly obvious, being an accomplished classical musician requires the ability to read music. Jazz, Blues, styles deriving from a lot of improvisation over basic structures don’t require reading as much as they require ears and a prodigious memory. Also, they don’t require the prancing around stage that Rock and Rap often do. While some stellar rock musicians may be able to get away parking themselves in one spot onstage, it’s extremely rare. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/14 "2006-10-19T20:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=mack] And to state the blindingly obvious, being an accomplished classical musician requires the ability to read music. Jazz, Blues, styles deriving from a lot of improvisation over basic structures don’t require reading as much as they require ears and a prodigious memory. [/QUOTE] I was working my way through the thread thinking exactly the same thing. In nearly any other form of music, if you lose your place in a tune, or forget what comes next, it is really hard to fake it well enough not to sound horrible. Audiences know the tunes, and know what is supposed to come next. With jazz, it is EXPECTED that you will improvise and take a tune in new directions, based on whim, inspiration, or just forgetting what you usually put next. Having it NOT be the same every performance is what keeps audiences returning to live jazz performances. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/15 "2006-10-19T21:00:43Z")
Don’t forget [Rahsaan Roland Kirk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk), who, after suffering a stroke, managed to play two saxes at the same time, not only blind, but with _one arm_. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/16 "2006-10-20T15:51:56Z")
These all seem like perfectly reasonable… um… reasons. But as a lifelong blues fan, I always suspected the hooch. Most of the old blind guys playing the blues started out in the Mississippi delta playing on the farm/reservation/front porch of a shack/etc. Not exactly your well-to-do type people. I have no hard facts on the matter, but I always imagined that at least one of the players had a bathtub still and they were sharing the results out of a big jug with three X’s on the front while they played toghether on a hot, steamy, delta night. A little too much of a badly brewed batch and the world goes dim. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/17 "2006-10-20T16:25:09Z")
I think you are just uninformed, the tradition of blind musicians goes back hundreds of years. A good example is in the Ukraine with its blind bandura players. [Blind musicians - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_musicians#Bandurists_and_lirnyky_in_Ukraine) I think it may just seem like a majority of blind musicians play jazz and blues because it was and is a more popular form of music in the United States ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/18 "2006-10-20T23:59:26Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Maybe I’m just underinformed but I can’t think of any blind rock musicians, or rappers. [/QUOTE] Roy Orbison? And ummm… Tommy? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/19 "2006-10-20T23:59:32Z")
As a guitar player, I was amused, while reading Ray Charles’ memoir, that when he was just a kid starting out in music, he laid down a firm ground rule that he would never play a guitar. He thought the image of a blind, black guitar player was too much of a cliche. As far as I know he never did touch a guitar in his life, though he did have guitarists in his big bands. Kind of sad, that. I’m sure if he’d relented in that attitude he would have made it more than worthwhile. (BTW having played both guitar and piano, I have always found guitar substantially easier to play without using my eyes, but that’s probably just me.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049/20 "2006-10-21T00:12:50Z")
Don’t forget Jeff Healy. He’s a rocker, but he gravitates toward the bluesier end of the rock spectrum. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-blind-blues-and-jazz-musicians/377049.md?page=2)