wikipedia.org 14,743,429 people like this topic EditLike As Your Page...Create a PageShare...Report PagePrivacyTermsAboutR&B Musical Genre Rhythm and blues From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from R&B) Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Rhythm and blues (disambiguation). "R&B" redirects here. For the modern style of music also called "R&B", see Contemporary R&B. Rhythm and blues Stylistic origins Jazz, blues (especially jump and electric), gospel Cultural origins 1940s–1950s, United States Typical instruments Drum kit, bass guitar, saxophone, horns, piano, organ, electric guitar, vocals, background vocals Derivative forms Funk, ska, soul, rock and roll, reggae, disco, beat music, power pop, psychedelic rock, garage rock, pub rock (UK), mod revival Subgenres Contemporary R&B – Smooth jazz Fusion genres Rockabilly Local scenes New Orleans R&B – British R&B Other topics List of R&B musicians, British Invasion, Mod (lifestyle) Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B and RnB, is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. The term has subsequently had a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, the term rhythm and blues was frequently applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term "R&B" became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a newer style of R&B developed, becoming known as "Contemporary R&B". Contents1 Etymology2 History 2.1 Precursors2.2 Late 1940s2.3 Afro-Cuban rhythmic influence2.4 Early to mid-1950s2.5 Late 1950s2.6 1960s and later3 British rhythm and blues4 See also5 References6 Further reading Etymology[edit] Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine coined the term "rhythm and blues" in 1948 as a musical term in the United States. It replaced the term "race music", which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world. The term "rhythm and blues" was used by Billboard in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, when its "Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles" chart was renamed as "Best Selling Soul Singles". Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as "a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans". He has used the term "R&B" as a synonym for jump blues. However, Allmusic separates it from jump blues because of its stronger, gospel-esque backbeat. 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. Well into the 21st century, the term R&B continues in use (in some contexts) to categorize music made by black musicians, as distinct from styles of music made by other musicians. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, and saxophone. Arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, and often hypnotic textures while calling attention to no individual sound. While singers are emotionally engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they remain cool, relaxed, and in control. The bands dressed in suits, and even uniforms, a practice associated with the modern popular music that rhythm and blues performers aspired to dominate. Lyrics often seemed fatalistic, and the music typically followed predictable patterns of chords and structure. History[edit] T-Bone Walker, American Folk Blues Festival 1972 (Heinrich Klaffs Collection 46)Precursors[edit] Louis Jordan, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946 (William P. Gottlieb 04721)The migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s created a new market for jazz, blues, and related genres of music, often performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The precursors of rhythm and blues came from jazz and blues, which overlapped in the Late-1920s,1930s through the work of musicians such as The Harlem Hamfats, with their
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