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Before Rock and Roll, there were a host of artists and recordings, in a few different genres, that shared the spirit and feel of Rock and Roll. Big Mama Thornton's guitar-driven Gospel, Hank Williams' lean, story-driven Country, Howlin' Wolf's rough Blues: all have strong ties to the music that was yet to come. But perhaps Rhythm and Blues is the most closely related to Rock and Roll. In Fats Domino's view, Rock and Roll was just a new name for the thing he'd been doing since the late 40s.
This chapter looks at pre-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues but also at the ensemble sounds that fed into Rhythm and Blues from popular Jazz. Since the time of his first single in the mid-50s, Chuck Berry has been vocal in crediting Louis Jordan as a primary influence on his writing. Jordan, first fronting a Swing band, helped develop what is sometimes called Jump Blues, recording a string of hits in that vein, the very hits with which Chuck Berry connected as a young man in St. Louis.
The lessons in this chapter will include explorations of Louis Jordan's remarkable career but also look into the Rhythm and Blues that came after that. Atlantic Records, the home of Rhythm and Blues artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, will be given special attention. The label that would one day be the home of not just Aretha Franklin but Led Zeppelin, Atlantic played a major role in guiding popular music from Rhythm and Blues into the Soul years.
lesson:
The Influence of Rhythm and Blues
What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different?
lesson:
World War II and the Shrinking of the Ensemble
How did wartime restrictions and other factors cause popular music ensembles to shrink in size during the 1940s, helping to set the stage for the small “combos” of Rock and Roll?
lesson:
The Zoot Suit: Style and Swing in the Wartime Economy
What was the cultural, social, and historical significance of the zoot suit during the period of World War II?
lesson:
Lydia Mendoza: Tejano Life and Music on the Mexico/Texas Border
How does Lydia Mendoza’s Tejano music connect to the history of Texas and the influence Mexico has had on that state?
Video
video:
Good Rockin’ Tonight
<p>Before Rock and Roll, there were a host of artists and recordings, in a few different genres, that shared the spirit and feel of Rock and Roll. Big Mama Thornton's guitar-driven Gospel, Hank Williams' lean, story-driven Country, Howlin' Wolf's rough Blues: all have strong ties to the music that was yet to come. But perhaps Rhythm and Blues is the most closely related to Rock and Roll. In Fats Domino's view, Rock and Roll was just a new name for the thing he'd been doing since the late 40s.</p> <p>This chapter looks at pre-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues but also at the ensemble sounds that fed into Rhythm and Blues from popular Jazz. Since the time of his first single in the mid-50s, Chuck Berry has been vocal in crediting Louis Jordan as a primary influence on his writing. Jordan, first fronting a Swing band, helped develop what is sometimes called Jump Blues, recording a string of hits in that vein, the very hits with which Chuck Berry connected as a young man in St. Louis.</p> <p>The lessons in this chapter will include explorations of Louis Jordan's remarkable career but also look into the Rhythm and Blues that came after that. Atlantic Records, the home of Rhythm and Blues artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, will be given special attention. The label that would one day be the home of not just Aretha Franklin but Led Zeppelin, Atlantic played a major role in guiding popular music from Rhythm and Blues into the Soul years.</p>
video:
Tra La La
<p>Before Rock and Roll, there were a host of artists and recordings, in a few different genres, that shared the spirit and feel of Rock and Roll. Big Mama Thornton's guitar-driven Gospel, Hank Williams' lean, story-driven Country, Howlin' Wolf's rough Blues: all have strong ties to the music that was yet to come. But perhaps Rhythm and Blues is the most closely related to Rock and Roll. In Fats Domino's view, Rock and Roll was just a new name for the thing he'd been doing since the late 40s.</p> <p>This chapter looks at pre-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues but also at the ensemble sounds that fed into Rhythm and Blues from popular Jazz. Since the time of his first single in the mid-50s, Chuck Berry has been vocal in crediting Louis Jordan as a primary influence on his writing. Jordan, first fronting a Swing band, helped develop what is sometimes called Jump Blues, recording a string of hits in that vein, the very hits with which Chuck Berry connected as a young man in St. Louis.</p> <p>The lessons in this chapter will include explorations of Louis Jordan's remarkable career but also look into the Rhythm and Blues that came after that. Atlantic Records, the home of Rhythm and Blues artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, will be given special attention. The label that would one day be the home of not just Aretha Franklin but Led Zeppelin, Atlantic played a major role in guiding popular music from Rhythm and Blues into the Soul years.</p>
video:
Influences
<p>Before Rock and Roll, there were a host of artists and recordings, in a few different genres, that shared the spirit and feel of Rock and Roll. Big Mama Thornton's guitar-driven Gospel, Hank Williams' lean, story-driven Country, Howlin' Wolf's rough Blues: all have strong ties to the music that was yet to come. But perhaps Rhythm and Blues is the most closely related to Rock and Roll. In Fats Domino's view, Rock and Roll was just a new name for the thing he'd been doing since the late 40s.</p> <p>This chapter looks at pre-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues but also at the ensemble sounds that fed into Rhythm and Blues from popular Jazz. Since the time of his first single in the mid-50s, Chuck Berry has been vocal in crediting Louis Jordan as a primary influence on his writing. Jordan, first fronting a Swing band, helped develop what is sometimes called Jump Blues, recording a string of hits in that vein, the very hits with which Chuck Berry connected as a young man in St. Louis.</p> <p>The lessons in this chapter will include explorations of Louis Jordan's remarkable career but also look into the Rhythm and Blues that came after that. Atlantic Records, the home of Rhythm and Blues artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, will be given special attention. The label that would one day be the home of not just Aretha Franklin but Led Zeppelin, Atlantic played a major role in guiding popular music from Rhythm and Blues into the Soul years.</p>
video:
Soundies: Black Music
<p>Before Rock and Roll, there were a host of artists and recordings, in a few different genres, that shared the spirit and feel of Rock and Roll. Big Mama Thornton's guitar-driven Gospel, Hank Williams' lean, story-driven Country, Howlin' Wolf's rough Blues: all have strong ties to the music that was yet to come. But perhaps Rhythm and Blues is the most closely related to Rock and Roll. In Fats Domino's view, Rock and Roll was just a new name for the thing he'd been doing since the late 40s.</p> <p>This chapter looks at pre-Rock and Roll Rhythm and Blues but also at the ensemble sounds that fed into Rhythm and Blues from popular Jazz. Since the time of his first single in the mid-50s, Chuck Berry has been vocal in crediting Louis Jordan as a primary influence on his writing. Jordan, first fronting a Swing band, helped develop what is sometimes called Jump Blues, recording a string of hits in that vein, the very hits with which Chuck Berry connected as a young man in St. Louis.</p> <p>The lessons in this chapter will include explorations of Louis Jordan's remarkable career but also look into the Rhythm and Blues that came after that. Atlantic Records, the home of Rhythm and Blues artists including Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, will be given special attention. The label that would one day be the home of not just Aretha Franklin but Led Zeppelin, Atlantic played a major role in guiding popular music from Rhythm and Blues into the Soul years.</p>
Print Journalism
article:
Ahmet Ertegun And The History Of Atlantic Records
"WHEN I FIRST started Atlantic Records," reflects the label founder, Ahmet Ertegun, "I intended to make good blues and jazz music, as well as some pop music. My main interest was in jazz and blues." In the nearly 45 years since Ertegun and his original partner Herb Abramson first got together with this idea (and $10,000 from Ertegun's dentist), Atlantic has become one of the most consistently successful companies in music. So much the paradigm of the post WWII growth of the music business, Charlie Gillett used them for his model in his chronicle, Making Tracks. "The late 50s were a time...
article:
Leiber And Stoller : The Blues (1950-1953) & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years
JERRY LEIBER AND MIKE STOLLER. They rank alongside Berry as rock ‘n’ roll’s wittiest composers and their influence as record producers has been immeasurable. As writers they were the first to bring satire and a social conscience to rock; as producers they ushered out the simplicity of an era in which groups were pulled off the streets to "doo-wop" and "doo-wah" into a microphone for three minutes. From these primitive beginnings to monaural overdubbing, the very first eight-track studios and on into the realms of the technological future-shock, Leiber and Stoller have directed all the phases of post-war record production....
article:
Louis Jordan
The King of Jive Who Made The Good Times Roll IF BILL HALEY AND ELVIS PRESLEY have to be dubbed the father and king of rock’n’roll, then Louis Jordan must be considered its godfather. Practically all of the black American rhythm and blues, rock’n’roll and early soul stars who upset the Fifties have cited Jordan as the main man of their youth and several of the white rock’n’rollers have acknowledged his influence or recorded his songs. Certain elements of rock’n’roll were developing even before Jordan appeared on the scene and others cropped up after his heyday. But most were completely...