Jump blues

Last updated

Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, jazz, and boogie woogie usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. [2] Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as part of the swing revival.

Contents

Origins

Alto saxophonist Louis Jordan in New York, July 1946 Louis Jordan, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946 (William P. Gottlieb 04731).jpg
Alto saxophonist Louis Jordan in New York, July 1946

Jump blues evolved from the music of big bands such as those of Lionel Hampton and Lucky Millinder in the early 1940s. The typical jump blues lineup consisted of 5-7 members including sax, bass, drums and piano and/or guitar. [3] The genre produced musicians such as Louis Jordan, Jack McVea, Earl Bostic, and Arnett Cobb. [4] Jordan was the most popular of the jump blues stars; other artists who played the genre include Roy Brown, Amos Milburn, and Joe Liggins, as well as sax soloists Jack McVea, Big Jay McNeely, and Bull Moose Jackson. Hits included singles such as Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry", Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight" and Big Jay McNeely's "Deacon's Hop". [5]

Jordan with his Tympany Five Louis Jordan's Typany Five, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948 (William P. Gottlieb 04751).jpg
Jordan with his Tympany Five

One important stylistic prototype in the development of R&B was jump blues, pioneered by Louis Jordan, with ... His Tympany Five ... three horns and a rhythm section, while stylistically his music melded elements of swing and blues, incorporating the shuffle rhythm, boogie-woogie bass lines, and short horn patterns or riffs. The songs featured the use of African American vernacular language, humor, and vocal call-and-response sections between Jordan and the band. Jordan’s music appealed to both African American and white audiences, and he had broad success with hit songs like "Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby" (1944). [6]

Blues and jazz were part of the same musical world, with many musicians straddling both genres. [7] Jump bands such as the Tympany Five, which came into being at the same time as the boogie-woogie revival, achieved maximum effect with an eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie style. [8]

Jordan's "raucous recordings" with the Tympany Five like "Saturday Night Fish Fry", one of the first to feature a distorted electric guitar, [9] "literally made its listeners jump to its pulsing beat". [10] At least two other Jordan records are viewed as jump blues, "Caldonia" and "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie". [11] Jordan's jump blues combined good-natured novelty lyrics (some with suggestive double meanings); pushing the tempo; strengthening the beat; layering the sound with his bluesy saxophone and playful melodies. [12]

Lionel Hampton Drummer-and-Vibrafonist-Lionel-Hampton-during-a-show-in-Stockholm-consert-hall-142452987990.jpg
Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton recorded the stomping big-band blues song "Flying Home" in 1942. [2] Featuring a choked, screaming tenor sax performance by Illinois Jacquet, the song was a hit in the "race" category. [5] [13] Billboard described "Flying Home" as "an unusually swingy side...with a bright bounce in the medium tempo and a steady drive maintained, it's a jumper that defies standing still".

Both Hampton and Jordan combined the popular boogie-woogie rhythm, a grittier version of swing-era saxophone styles as exemplified by Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, and playful, humorous lyrics or verbal asides laced with jive talk. [13]

As this urban, jazz-based music became more popular, musicians who wanted to "play for the people" began favoring a heavy, insistent beat. which appealed to black listeners who no longer wished to be identified with "life down home". [14]

Jump groups, employed to play for jitterbug dances at a much lower cost than big bands, became popular with agents and ballroom owners. The saxophonist Art Chaney said "[w]e were insulted when an audience wouldn't dance". [8]

Jump was especially popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s, through artists such as Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Charles Brown, Helen Humes, T-Bone Walker, Roy Milton, Billy Wright, Wynonie Harris, Louis Prima, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. [2] [15] Less frequently mentioned, Goree Carter also recorded some jump blues; his "Rock Awhile" is said by Robert Palmer to be an appropriate candidate for the title of first rock and roll record. [16]

By the mid-1950s, some jump blues songs had become core standards, with songs like "Train Kept a Rollin" played by rock groups including the Yardbirds, Aerosmith and Motorhead.[ citation needed ] "Five Guys Named Moe" was covered in the 1980s by the Honeydrippers. [5]

The term "rock and roll" had a strong sexual connotation in jump blues and R&B, but by the time DJ Alan Freed referred to rock and roll in the mid 1950s, "the sexual component had been dialled down enough that it simply became an acceptable term for dancing". [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, electric blues, gospel, and jump blues, as well as country music. While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhythm and blues</span> Music genre originating in the 1940s in the United States

Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within the African-American community in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was starting to become more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American history and experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of societal racism, oppression, relationships, economics, and aspirations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Joe Turner</span> American singer (1911–1985)

Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fame was due to his rock and roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Jordan</span> American musician, songwriter and bandleader (1908–1975)

Louis Thomas Jordan was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "the King of the Jukebox", he earned his highest profile towards the end of the swing era.

Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since the 1870s. It was eventually extended from piano to piano duo and trio, guitar, big band, country and western music, and gospel. While standard blues traditionally expresses a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly dance music. The genre had a significant influence on rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

Blues rock is a fusion genre and form of rock music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock. From its beginnings in the early to mid-1960s, blues rock has gone through several stylistic shifts and along the way it inspired and influenced hard rock, Southern rock, and early heavy metal.

The origins of rock and roll are complex. Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. It derived most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier blues, the beat-heavy jump blues, boogie woogie, up-tempo jazz, and swing music. It was also influenced by gospel, country and western, and traditional folk music. Rock and roll in turn provided the main basis for the music that, since the mid-1960s, has been generally known simply as rock music.

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded boogie-woogie song was in 1916. By the 1930s, Swing bands such as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Louis Jordan all had boogie hits. By the 1950s, boogie became incorporated into the emerging rockabilly and rock and roll styles. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s country bands released country boogies. Today, the term "boogie" usually refers to dancing to pop, disco, or rock music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Liggins</span> American R&B musician (1916-1987)

Joseph Christopher Liggins, Jr. was an American R&B, jazz and blues pianist and vocalist who led Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers in the 1940s and 1950s. His band appeared often on the Billboard magazine charts. The band's biggest hit was "The Honeydripper", released in 1945. Joe Liggins was the older brother of R&B performer Jimmy Liggins.

Huey Pierce "Piano" Smith was an American R&B pianist and session musician whose sound was influential in the development of rock and roll.

"Saturday Night Fish Fry" is a jump blues song written by Louis Jordan and Ellis Lawrence Walsh, best known through the version recorded by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. The recording is considered to be one of the "excellent and commercially successful" examples of the jump blues genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby</span> Song written and performed by Louis Jordan

"Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a song written by Louis Jordan and Billy Austin. The song's first recording, by Jordan, was made on October 4, 1943. It was released as the B-side of a single with "G.I. Jive" with the title "Is You Is or Is You Ain't ". The song reached No. 1 on the US folk/country charts, number two for three weeks on the pop chart, and number three on the R&B chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caldonia</span> Jump blues standard

"Caldonia" is a jump blues song, first recorded in 1945 by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. Although credited to Fleecie Moore, his wife at the time, Jordan is the actual songwriter. The song was a hit for Jordan as well as several other musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roll 'Em Pete</span> 1939 song performed by Big Joe Turner

"Roll 'Em Pete" is a boogie-woogie song, originally recorded in December 1938 by singer Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson. The recording is regarded as one of the most important precursors of what later became known as rock and roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Higginbotham</span> Musical artist

Irene Higginbotham was an American songwriter and concert pianist. She is best known for co-writing the Billie Holiday song "Good Morning Heartache" (1946).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tympany Five</span> American dance band

Tympany Five was a successful and influential American rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double bass, guitar and piano.

The Widespread Depression Orchestra was a nine-piece jazz ensemble founded in 1972 at Vermont's Marlboro College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop</span> 1946 single by Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra

"Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" is a 1946 song by Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra. The song's lead vocals were performed by Lionel Hampton himself and the recording featured Herbie Fields on alto sax. The song went to number one on the R&B Juke Box chart for sixteen non-consecutive weeks and reached number nine on the national pop charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitch Woods</span> American pianist and singer

Mitch Woods is an American modern day boogie-woogie, jump blues and jazz pianist and singer. Since the early 1980s he has been touring and recording with his band, the Rocket 88s. Woods calls his music, "rock-a-boogie," and with his backing band has retrospectively provided a 1940s and 1950s jump blues style.

Carl D. Hogan was an American jazz and rhythm and blues guitarist and bassist. He is known for playing the lead guitar riff on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman " which was later imitated by Chuck Berry for his hit "Johnny B. Goode".

References

  1. ↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music. p. 912
  2. 1 2 3 4 Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 170. ISBN   1-904041-96-5.
  3. ↑ "The History of Jump Blues: High Energy Groove and Expressive Feel".
  4. ↑ Dietsche, pp. 9–10.
  5. 1 2 3 Considine, J. D. (5 December 1993). "The missing link in the evolution of rock and roll JUMP BLUES". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Puryear, Mark. "Tell It Like It is: A History of Rhythm and Blues | Smithsonian Folklife". Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Archived from the original on 2020-10-25. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  7. ↑ Wald, p. 198.
  8. 1 2 Dietsche, p. 9.
  9. ↑ Dawson, Jim; Propes, Steve (1992). What Was the First Rock 'N' Roll Record?. Boston & London: Faber and Faber. ISBN   0-571-12939-0.
  10. ↑ "Louis Jordan: 'Jukebox King'". NPR. March 4, 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Perone, James E., Listen to the Blues! Exploring a Musical Genre,ABC-CLIO, 2019 ( ISBN   9781440866159), p. 93.
  12. ↑ "Jump Blues – Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll". Ampopmusic.com. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  13. 1 2 Palmer, p. 134.
  14. ↑ Palmer, p. 146.
  15. ↑ O’Neal, Jim (November 10, 2016). "Big Joe Turner". Blues.org. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  16. ↑ Lomax, John Nova (December 1, 2014). "Roll Over, Ike Turner". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 19 December 2022. Citing its unmistakable resemblance to Chuck Berry's later work, its lyrical instruction to "rock awhile," and the way the guitar crackled through an overdriven amp
  17. ↑ "The unexpected origins of music's most well-used terms". BBC. October 12, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2021. its meaning covering both sex and dancing

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.