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"R&B" redirects here. For a newer definition of the term R&B, see Contemporary R&B. For other uses, see Rhythm and blues (disambiguation).
| Rhythm and blues | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Jazz, blues, and gospel music |
| Cultural origins: | 1940s United States |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar - Bass - Harmonica - Trumpet - Saxophone - Drum kit - Piano - Organ - Keyboard |
| Mainstream popularity: | Significant from 1940s to 1960s; iconic afterwards |
| Derivative forms: | Rock and roll - Soul music - Funk - Ska - Reggae |
| Subgenres | |
| Contemporary R&B - Doo wop | |
Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists.
Writer/producer Robert Palmer defines "rhythm & blues as a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans."Palmer, Robert (1995-09-19). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. Harmony. ISBN 978-0517700501. He has used the term R&B as a synonym for jump blues.Palmer, Robert [1981-05-21]. Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta. Viking Adult. ISBN 978-0670495115. Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that rhythm and blues was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts. Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin,Mary Katherine; Bastin,Bruce [September 1993]. Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press.
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In 1947, the term rhythm and blues was coined as a musical marketing term in the United States by Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine.Sacks, Leo. "The Soul of Jerry Wexler", New York Times, 1993--08-29. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. It replaced the term race music (which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world.Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin,Mary Katherine; Bastin,Bruce [September 1993]. Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press, 314. In that year, Louis Jordan dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs, and two of the top five songs were based on the boogie-woogie rhythms that had come to prominence during the 1940s."Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1947", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. Jordan\'s band, the Tympany Five (formed in 1938), consisted of him on saxophone and vocals, along with musicians on trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums.[1] [2] Lawrence Cohn described the music as "grittier than his boogie-era jazz-tinged blues".Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin,Mary Katherine; Bastin,Bruce [September 1993]. Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press, 173. Robert Palmer described it as "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat".Palmer, Robert (1982-07-29). Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta, paperback, Penguin, 146. ISBN 978-0140062236. Jordan\'s cool music, along with that of Big Joe Turner and Wynonie Harris, is now also referred to as jump blues.
In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name Blues and Rhythm. That year found the Wynonie Harris song "Good Rockin\' Tonight" in the #2 spot, following band leader Sonny Thompson\'s "Long Gone" at #1.The Vocal Group Harmony Web Site"Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1948", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
In 1949, the term rhythm and blues replaced the Billboard category Harlem Hit Parade. Also in that year, "The Huckle-Buck", recorded by band leader and saxophonist Paul Williams, was the #1 R&B tune, remaining on top of the charts for nearly the entire year. Written by musician and arranger Andy Gibson, the song was described as a "dirty boogie" because it was risque and raunchy.Andy Gibson (II) - Biography Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers\' concerts were sweaty riotous affairs that got shut down on more than one occasion. Their lyrics, by Roy Alfred (who later co-wrote the 1955 hit "(The) Rock and Roll Waltz"), were mildly sexually suggestive, and one teenager from Philadelphia said "That Hucklebuck was a very nasty dance."Hucklebuck!Hucklebuck! Also in 1949, a new version of a 1920s blues song, "Ain\'t Nobody\'s Business" was a #4 hit for Jimmy Witherspoon, and Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five once again made the top 5 with "Saturday Night Fish Fry".Billboard.com - Year End Charts - Year-end Singles - Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Working with African American musicians, Greek American Johnny Otis, who had signed with the Newark, New Jersey-based Savoy Records, produced many R&B hits in 1951, including: "Double Crossing Blues", "Mistrustin\' Blues" and "Cupid\'s Boogie", all of which hit number one that year. Otis scored ten top ten hits that year. Other hits include: "Gee Baby", "Mambo Boogie" and "All Nite Long".Billboard.com - Biography - Johnny Otis The Clovers, a vocal trio who sang a distinctive sounding combination of blues and gospel, had the #5 hit of the year with "Don\'t You Know I Love You" on Atlantic Records.The Vocal GroupsBillboard.com - Biography - Johnny OtisClovers Don\'t You Know I Love You & Other Favorites CD Also in July 1951, Cleveland, Ohio DJ Alan Freed started a late-night radio show called "The Moondog Rock Roll House Party" on WJW-AM (850).Digital Case - Search Results Freed\'s show was sponsored by Fred Mintz, whose R&B record store had a primarily African American clientele. Freed began referring to the rhythm and blues music he played as rock and roll.
Ruth Brown, on the Atlantic Records label, placed hits in the top 5 every year from 1951 through 1954: "Teardrops from My Eyes", "Five, Ten, Fifteen Hours", "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" and "What a Dream". Faye Adams‘s "Shake a Hand" made it to #2 in 1952. In 1953, the R&B record-buying public made Willie Mae Thornton\'s original recording of Lieber and Stoller\'s Hound Dog the #3 hit that year."Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1953", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. That same year The Orioles, a doo-wop group, had the #4 hit of the year with Crying in the Chapel.The Orioles Record Label Shots. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
In 1954 the Chords\' Sh-Boom became the first hit to cross over from the R&B chart to hit the top 10 early in the year. Late in the year, and into 1955, Hearts of Stone by the Charms made the top 20..]]"."Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 page 111 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1
Fats Domino made the top 30 of the pop charts in 1952 and 1953, then the top 10 with "Ain\'t That a Shame".Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pages 111 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1 Ray Charles came to national prominence in 1955 with "I Got a Woman". It was an upfront use of gospel music conventions in an R&B context. Big Bill Broonzy said of Charles\' music: "He\'s mixing the blues with the spirituals... I know that\'s wrong."Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin,Mary Katherine; Bastin,Bruce [September 1993]. Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press, 173. At the urging of Leonard Chess at Chess Records, Chuck Berry had reworked a fiddle tune with a long history, "Ida Red". The resulting "Maybellene" was not only a #3 hit on the R&B charts that year, but it also reached into the top 30 on the pop charts. Alan Freed, who had moved to the much larger market of New York City, helped the record become popular with white teenagers. Freed had been given part of the writers\' credit by Chess in return for his promotional activities; a common practice at the time.Billboard.com - Biography - Chuck Berry Also at Chess Records in 1955, Bo Diddley\'s debut record "Bo Diddley"/"I\'m A Man" climbed to #2 on the R&B charts and popularized the Bo Diddley beat.
Two Elvis Presley records made the R&B top five in 1957: "Jailhouse Rock"/"Treat Me Nice" at #1, and "All Shook Up" at #5, an unprecedented acceptance of a non-African American artist into a music category known for being created by blacks."Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1957", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. Nat King Cole, a former jazz pianist who had had #1 and #2 hits on the pop charts in the early 1950s ("Mona Lisa" at #2 in 1950 and "Too Young" at #1 in 1951), had a record in the top 5 in the R&B charts in 1958, "Looking Back"/"Do I Like It".
In 1959, two black-owned record labels, one of which would become hugely successful, made their debut: Sam Cooke\'s Sar, and Berry Gordy\'s Motown Records.Palmer, Robert (1995-09-19). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. Harmony. ISBN 978-0517700501. Brook Benton was at the top of the R&B charts in 1959 and 1960 with one #1 and two #2 hits. Benton had a certain warmth in his voice that attracted a wide variety of listeners, and his ballads led to comparisons with performers such as Cole, Sinatra and Tony Bennett.Simon, Tom. Brook Benton Biography. Retrieved on 2007-12-23.
Sam Cooke‘s #5 hit "Chain Gang" is indicative of R&B in 1960, as is Chubby Checker\'s #5 hit "The Twist". "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1959", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 1960", Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. By the early 1960s, the music industry category previously known as rhythm and blues was being called soul music, and similar music by white artists was labeled blue eyed soul.Palmer, Robert (1995-09-19). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. Harmony, 82. ISBN 978-0517700501. In 1961, Stax Records introduced Memphis soul with the Mar-Keys\' "Last Night", an instrumental featuring horns, electric organ, and drums.[3] sample The record label also released Carla Thomas\'s "Gee Whiz", which featured violins, piano, drums and backup singers.]http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/mediaplayer.asp?ean=610583191929&disc=2&track=14] sample of "Gee Whiz" That same year, Motown had its first million-seller with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles\' "Shop Around".Palmer, Robert (1995-09-19). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. Harmony, 83,84. ISBN 978-0517700501.
By the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk. In the 2000s, the acronym R&B is almost always used instead of the full rhythm and blues, and mainstream use of the term usually refers to contemporary R&B, which is a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from popularity.
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