Blues
Our eclectic music journey starts with the blues as it underpins most of today’s popular music and has even touched classical music. It originated in the African-American communities in the Deep South of the USA and developed from spirituals, work songs and field hollers.
The most widely used is the classic 12-bar progression with it’s call and response patterns.
Sub-genres include Chicago (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter), Delta (Son House, Robert Johnson. Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, Bukka White), Memphis (BB King, Rosco Gordon, Johnny Ace, Bobby Bland), Texas (Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins), West Coast (Lowell Fulsom, Johnny Otis) , New Orleans (Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, Lightnin’ Slim), Country (Brownie McGee, Sonny Terry, Skip James, Rev. Gary Davis. Mississippi John Hurt).
My personal favourite is legendary harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II (“Rice” Miller). Look out for “Checkin’ Up On My Baby”.
Labels include Chess, Modern, Duke, Specialty, Goldband, Excello, Ace
Reggae
The first music played on the Jamaican Sound Systems was American Rhythm and Blues in the late 1940s. When Rock and Roll arrived on the American music scene it had a a negative effect on Rhythm and Blues, which, in turn meant the Jamaican Sound Systems were unable to find new and exclusive sounds for the systems. To resolve this issue the Sound System Operators began to record local artists giving birth to Jamaican Blues. Over time this morphed into Ska, which in turn became Rocksteady, which then developed into Reggae.
Studios include Studio One, Joe Gibbs, Channel One, Black Ark, Tuff Gong
So many different styles – Solo Vocal, Group Vocal, DJ, Instrumental, Dub
The most creative engineers – King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), Scientist (Overton Brown), Lee Perry
And the tightest bands – The Revolutionaries, The Upsetters, The Aggrovators, The Soul Syndicate
And THE riddims – Death In The Arena, Declaration Of Rights, He Prayed, Swing Easy, Satta Amassa Gana
I can vividly remember hearing “Double Barrel” by Dave and Ansil Collins on someone’s portable radio while I was playing football over the park. Just checked and it was number 1 in the UK in 1971 and as a 12 year old I obviously had no idea what it was, where it was from or why I liked it, but that was the seed crystal. Incredibly Trojan had 32 chart hits in the UK between 1969 and 1973.
If that was the seed crystal the absolute life-changer came when someone at work lent me the “King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown” album. Probably around 1977. I still have a copy of that album and still regularly play it. On vinyl the sound is beyond belief. They really don’t make albums like that any more. Both on a creative and a sonic level!
The golden period for me was between 1972 and 1983. A favourite track is a difficult one, but if push came to shove I’d go for “The Way It Is” by Ricky Storm.
Jazz
Jazz emerged in the US around the turn of the 19th/20th century and has been developing and changing ever since. The word that is always used when talking about any form of jazz is improvisation.
There really are so many sub-genres (from Trad to Zen Jazz and everything in-between) I am only going to focus on those I prefer. 
Bebop (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis), Free Jazz (Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Pharaoh Sanders,), Jazz Rock (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham), Modern Jazz (Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Phronesis, Polar Bear, Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin)
My favourite all time track is “‘Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk and can be found on “Genius Of Modern Music Vol 1”
Eclectic music indeed!