Today I asked ChatGPT whether cellos can play the blues. I got a nice polite response which assured me that they can and here is a video by Cris Campbell to make the point:
There’s also a nice article in Jazz Times.
Well, I’m not a cellist, nor particularly a blues enthusiast, but I am interested in fusions of instruments that are normally associated with classical performance with more contemporary genres.
So I had a go myself. I set out to create a piece that uses cello and string orchestra to play bluesy melodies. I didn’t fully succeed as the end result sounds a lot more romantic than it does down and dirty. However, it reinforced what I’ve known in every artistic form in which I have participated – that what you end up with is not necessarily what you intended.
Does that really matter? Here’s Blue Ayari:
