Rhythm & Blues

The blues is the strong stream of influence that has fed improvised jazz throughout. A clear sequence can be traced - Folk Blues, Country Blues, Instrumental Blues, Classic Blues, Boogie Woogie Piano, Big Band Blues of the Territory Bands, Kansas City Blues of Basie and Rushing, Chicago Electric Urban Blues ... 

1939 Vocalist Slim Gaillard and bassist Slam Stewart (affectionately known as "Slim and Slam") become almost instantly famous with the catchy 'Flat Foot Floogie'.

1939 Robert Johnson makes his landmark recordings for Vocalion. Many believe that these represent the transition from Country Blues to City Blues. Johnson is strictly following the twelve bar Blues form.

The Chicago urban night club blues and electric guitars - Muddy Waters - exodus from the South to Chicago (1940) - from cabin konde to night club - danceable blues, borrowing the beat from Gospel and feeling from the blues. Lively excitement after the sobriety of Crosby and Sinatra ! - brash urban noise, loud drums, electric guitars, tenor sax, heavy relentless beat, riff after riff, black music for blacks, the itinerant singer becomes jukebox fodder, country blues goes electric.

Muddy Waters - led the field, followed by

Elmore James - slide guitar, rough country blues straight from Robert Johnson.
Rollin' Stone

John lee Hooker

Joe Turner 

Jimmy Rushing

Louis Jordan - 'Shake Rattle and Roll'

Chuck Berry - Muddy's protégé, blending white country with black blues, Chuck was raceless?? and the first black rocker, helped by Alan Freed, he developed the rock rhythm ...

Bo Diddley

Illinois Jacquet

B.B.King - rose to fame on the back of the English Bluesmen!

Fats Domino - New Orleans - almost rock - hard at it in the 40's - 'Hey la bas', 'Blueberry Hill ', 'Ain't that a Shame', 'My Blue Heaven' and Rock 'n' Roll.

Jimi Hendrix - London and Rock.

Rhythm & Blues merged with gospel and the blues to produce soul ... Ray Charles, James Browne and produced pop and Motown ... Diana Ross and The Supremes.

Althrea Franklin

Rhythm and blues - most commonly referred to as R & B, is comprised of a variety of different but related styles. This title often encompasses such styles as jump blues, club blues, black rock and roll, doo wop, soul, motown, funk, disco, and rap. The term rhythm and blues was originally coined in 1949 by Jerry Wexler.

Throughout the 20th century, R & B has been the largest influence on popular music all over the world. The influence can even be seen in forms of rock, country and western, gospel, and jazz. Despite the fact that there are many styles, there are common musical and social elements that link them. The musical rhythm is clearly the most important and distinguishing element.

All the genres of R & B typically depend upon a four-beat measure and a backbeat, the accentuation of beats two and four. However, the specific approach to the expression of this musical time, the 'groove', is the primary differentiation between one genre and another. Except for rap, the performing ensemble is generally divided into a rhythm section and a horn section.
Rhythm and blues originated from the massive social, industrial, and technological upheaval that took place in the United States just prior to and during World War II. Hundreds of black Americans began moving northward into cities as high paying wartime employment opportunities became available. New musical styles were created to meet the emerging tastes of this demographic group. Thus, the new urbane sounds of rhythm and blues were developed. In addition, technological changes in music took place. The invention of the electric guitar and the tape recorder were major influences on rhythm and blues. The recording process was now simplified and companies were developed solely around distributing R & B music.

Club blues, a subdued style of R & B began early as pianists like Nat King Cole and Charles Brown gained greater acclaim. At the same time, jump blues, an up-tempo style that featured horns, began developing. During the l950s rhythm and blues began catering to a teenage audience, rather than an adult one. In addition, black rock and roll developed and forever changed American culture. Many artists began subdividing the basic quarter note into eighth-notes as opposed to the triplet or shuffle subdivision, the subdivision that was most commonly used in earlier rhythm and blues.

Motown and Soul Music:

     The 1960s were marked by three main styles: 1. Chicago soul (influenced by gospel music); 2. Motown sound; and 3) southern soul. Each style had its own key features and musicians who made it popular.

Funk and Disco

During the late 1960s, changes in cultural views began to be articulated by many black Americans. These changes were quickly reflected in rhythm and blues music in the development of funk. Funk de-emphasized melody and harmony and made rhythm the most important element. Disco also developed during this time and rivalled funk's popularity.
Dance and Rap:

     During the 1980s and 1990s, megastar Michael Jackson created new styles that influenced the way modern music is seen. Although his style is unique and unlikely to be followed by anyone lesser than him, he still plays an important part in modern music scene. Rap was the most significant development in popular music during this time period. The roots of rap lie in African and African American verbal games. The first rap recording was "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang in 1979, and it became a novelty hit almost immediately. It wasn't until 1986, however, when Run-DMC re-recorded "Walk this Way" (a popular Aerosmith song) that rap gained popularity among white audiences.

Caribbean Music - the genre of Caribbean Music encompasses a diverse variety of musical styles and traditions from islands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. The styles range anywhere from traditional folk genres such as the Puerto Rican aguinaldo and Jamaican mento to more contemporary music such as salsa and reggae.

In many aspects, it is more common to see a marked diversity than a marked unity in Caribbean music. A few generalizations can be made, however. Most music of this region combines features of music from Africa with features of music from the West. This combination began with the European colonization and slave trade but still continues into the present.

The history of Caribbean music begins with the Native Americans, the first inhabitants of the islands. Traditional tribal music which featured percussion instruments developed but perished along with most of the Native Americans in the 1600s. Subsequent Caribbean music emerged as a result of new relationships between African slaves and European settlers. The settler communities, as opposed to the plantation towns, attracted large numbers of very different people and harboured a very lively music culture.

The next key development came in the twentieth century with the advent of mass media, particularly phonograph records and radio broadcasts. This stimulated the creation of popular dance styles. During the mid-twentieth century, the immigration of Cubans to large cities played a major role in spreading the music of the region. New York City, in particular, emerged as a large centre for Latin and West Indian popular music.

Distinctive Styles - most Caribbean styles may be grouped into the categories of folk, classical, or commercially popular music. Folk styles were derived primarily from African music and tend to be dominated by percussion instruments as well as call and response vocals. Included in this category are the traditional Cuban rumba, the Puerto Rican bomba as well as music associated with Afro-Caribbean religions (such as Haitian, voodoo, and Cuban Santeria). A few styles, however, reflect a more European influence. The Puerto Rican jiharo music and Cuban punto are two key examples.

Local forms of classical music were created in the nineteenth century in Cuba and Puerto Rico as formally trained composers began to infiltrate the area. The most prominent styles in this category are the Cuban contradaza and the habon (a lighter and more rhythmic but also Cuban style).

The best known forms of Caribbean music are the modern, popular genres. They are mostly from Cuba and include the con (the most popular style of Cuban dance music). The chadracha, the listera (a romantic, languid style), and the mambo (an instrumental big band style). Since the mid-1960s, styles like salsa and merengue have become widely popular. The most internationally famous style of Cuban music has clearly been reggae. This style emerged in the late 1960s in Jamaica as a reinterpretation of American R & B music. Singers such as Bob Marley have helped push this style into the international arena.

Latin American Music - Latin America contains a very rich variety of cultural and musical heritages. Certain types of Latin American music represent fairly direct lines to the original cultural sources. (For example, some ballad and dance traditions can be traced directly to Europe.) However, the most prevalent musical styles in much of Latin America are those that are the result of various types and degrees of fusion of many different cultural heritages and musical resources.

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