Rhythm and blues: Encyclopedia II - Rhythm and blues - Original rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues - Original rhythm and blues

In its first manifestation, rhythm and blues was the predecessor to rockabilly and rock and roll. It was strongly influenced by jazz and jump music as well as black gospel music, and influenced jazz in return (hard bop was the product of the influence of rhythm and blues, blues, and gospel music on bebop) and African tribal beats.

The first rock and roll consisted of rhythm and blues songs like "Rocket 88" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" making an appearance on the popular music charts as well as the R&B charts. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", the first hit by Jerry Lee Lewis was an R&B cover song that made number one on pop, R&B and country and western charts.

Musicians paid little attention to the distinction between jazz and rhythm and blues, and frequently recorded in both genres. Numerous swing bands (for example, Jay McShann's, Tiny Bradshaw's, and Johnny Otis's) also recorded rhythm and blues. Count Basie had a weekly live rhythm and blues broadcast from Harlem. Even a bebop icon like arranger Tadd Dameron also arranged for Bull Moose Jackson and spent two years as Jackson's pianist after establishing himself in bebop. Most of the studio musicians in R&B were jazz musicians. And it worked in the other direction as well. Many of the musicians on Charlie Mingus's breakthrough jazz recordings were R&B veterans. Lionel Hampton's big band of the early 1940s, which produced the classic recording "Flying Home" (tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet) was the breeding ground for many of the bebop legends of the 1950s. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson was a one-man fusion, a bebop saxophonist and a blues shouter.

The 1950s was the premier decade for classic rhythm and blues. Overlapping with other genres such as jazz and rock and roll, R&B also developed regional variations. A strong, distinct style straddling the border with blues came out of New Orleans and was based on a rolling piano style first made famous by Professor Longhair. In the late 50's, Fats Domino hit the national charts with "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That a Shame". Other artists who popularized this Louisiana flavor of R&B included Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Frankie Ford, Irma Thomas, The Neville Brothers and Dr. John.

It was not in the US but through the thriving UK pop scene of the early 1960s that R&B reached the height of its popularity. Without the same kind of racial distinctions that refused it acceptance in the USA, white British performers and listeners adopted this novel style of music without question, and groups such as The Rolling Stones and Manfred Mann brought it to a wider audience. The term fell into disfavor in the 1960s, being replaced by soul music.

It was not until the 1980s that the term R&B regained ordinary usage. During that time, the soul music of James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone had adapted elements from psychedelic music and other styles through the work of performers like George Clinton. Funk also became a major part of disco, a kind of dance pop electronic music. By the early 1980s, however, funk and soul had become sultry and sexually-charged with the work of Prince and others. At that time, the modern style of contemporary R&B came to be a major part of American popular music.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Original rhythm and blues", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki