A Brief History of R & Bby Eric Starr and Nelson Starr

R & B is a general term used to describe the pop music of black America. R & B dates back to
around 1930, and it is still being performed today. In addition to the obvious influence of the
blues, early R & B contained elements of gospel and folk. It also culled from the syncopated
rhythms of jazz.
The term R & B was invented by Jerry Wexler and Billboard magazine in the late 1940s. It was
seen as a softer description for what was previously known as race records. For all intents and
purposes, Atlantic Records, in the late 1940s and 1950s, was the first record label to advertise
music as rhythm and blues. In fact, R & B's popularity is due in large part to the marketing
strategies of Turkish-born record executives Ahmet and Nasuhi Ertegun.
What does the term R & B really mean?
R & B is a catchall phrase used by record companies to label popular music by black artists. Since the 1960s, subgenres of R
& B have become more prevalent as record companies seek to market musical styles like brand names. One such brand name
is contemporary R & B. This style of music differs greatly from the music Jerry Wexler wrote about in the 1940s.
Although it's hard to pinpoint R & B's humble beginnings, it emerged after the blues migrated
north. This occurred after both world wars. R & B's predecessors, or arguably its earliest
practitioners, were urban jump-blues stylists Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, and others. In the
1950s, black musicians of various backgrounds found success under the R & B umbrella. Early
luminaries included Ruth Brown, Bobby Bland, and the so-called father of R & B, Ray Charles. In
reality, Ray Charles was hardly the originator of R & B. However, he was R & B's most visible
figure in the 1950s and 1960s.
It's not always easy to tell the difference between R & B and its stylistic cousins, forerunners, and
offshoots. For example, Ray Charles made forays into jazz, country and western, and mainstream
pop. Dinah Washington was a distinguished jazz singer and R & B artist. Hank Ballard (composer
of the song The Twist) was arguably an early rock-and-roll singer. When you listen to these and
other R & B artists, you will hear a potpourri of musical styles. Despite this, traditional R & B
usually contains the following elements:
Bluesy melodies and improvisation
Passionate, preacher-like vocal performances
Use of a backbeat (snare drum strikes on beats two and four)
Tightly synchronized bass and drums (On bass, early patterns were four-beat walking lines. Later, eighth-note grooves
and syncopated sixteenth-note patterns were employed. The drummer typically mimicked bass patterns on his kick
drum.)
Timbral variety (You might hear a smooth-toned singer followed by a growling saxophone.)
The use of a twelve-bar blues form (not an ironclad rule)