Module 1

Swing and Jump Blues

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

Louis Jordan. From about 1935 to the end of World War II, swing was the popular music in America. Rooted in 1920s jazz, swing featured big bands made up of a horn section, a woodwind section, and a rhythm section, usually around twelve to eighteen musicians. By 1935, swing was a commercial success. Big bands traveled throughout the United States and played dances at various ballrooms. It was the music of the youth, no longer limited to nightclub adult entertainment as it had been throughout the 1920s. In 1937, William “Count” Basie recorded “One O’ Clock Jump,” one of his more popular records that featured his unique brand of swing known as Kansas City jump blues. Basie led his ensemble with his signature boogie-woogie piano style and featured highly skilled musicians known for their ability to improvise.

After World War II, venues for big bands diminished, and reduced profits to maintain touring expenses forced big bands to either scale down their personnel or fold completely. During the post-war era, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five emerged to become a top-selling band for Decca Records. Jordan was the bandleader, sax player, and lead vocalist. The Tympany Five mastered an upbeat dance style known as jump blues. Their songs featured positive, fun, and often humorous lyrics. In 1946, they recorded “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie.” The record reached number one on the rhythm and blues charts and crossed over into the pop Top Ten.

Rhythm & Blues

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, music recorded by black artists and marketed towards black audiences in America was known as race music. It was the umbrella that encompassed several styles including jazz, swing, gospel and blues. In 1947, executives at Billboard Magazine decided to change the category’s name. Jerry Wexler, who at the time worked for Billboard and would eventually move to Atlantic Records, came up with the term “rhythm and blues.” Billboard adopted his idea and renamed their race charts the rhythm and blues charts. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, several artists emerged as the stars of rhythm and blues including Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, and Ray Charles. In 1947, the same year that R&B was established, Wynonie Harris recorded “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” originally a jump blues record written and recorded by Roy Brown. Harris’ record topped the Billboard rhythm and blues chart with his record that featured several elements characteristic of the early rock and roll sound of the mid-1950s.

Rhythm: The Backbeat

Continuing the discussion of rhythm, recall that the beat is the regular pulse heard in music. Early jazz and blues most often grouped beats into phrases of four. As rhythm and blues develop, drummer began to emphasize the backbeat, more specifically beats 2 and 4. Several recordings including the 1947 hit "Good Rockin' Tonight" featured a strong "2 and 4," and moved popular music closer to the rock and roll explosion of the 1950s.

Watch the following breakdown of "Good Rockin' Tonight."

Urban Blues & the Electric Guitar

In 1941, musicologists Alan Lomax and John Work traveled to the Mississippi Delta to seek out and record American folk music for the Library of Congress. Initially looking for Robert Johnson who had passed away three years earlier, they discovered blues musician and tenant farmer McKinley Morganfield, commonly known as Muddy Waters. They recorded Waters at his home on recording equipment stored in the trunk of their car. Two years later, Waters left Mississippi and moved to Chicago. There he began to play at local house parties and clubs. In 1944, he purchased his first electric guitar and began to develop an electrified Delta Blues sound. In 1948, Waters made his first commercial recording for the independent label Aristocrat Records. Brothers Leonard and Phil Chess and entrepreneur Evelyn Aron founded the label in 1947. “I Can’t Be Satisfied” became Waters’ first local hit record. By 1950, Leonard and Phil Chess had bought out Evelyn Aron and Aristocrat Records and formed Chess Records. They began with recording a series of hits by Waters. Their first release was “Rollin’ Stone” in 1950. The record featured Waters singing solo and accompanying himself on electric guitar.

The Women of R&B

Ruth Brown

Ruth Brown was born in Virginia in 1928. Early on, she was exposed to the energetic music of the black Baptist church she attended, where the accompaniment for singing was simply hand clapping and tambourine. She began singing professionally at age sixteen. In 1949, Brown signed with the newly formed Atlantic Records. In 1953, Atlantic released “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” Brown’s biggest hit for the label. The record retained the number one position on the R&B charts for five weeks and reached number twenty-three on the pop charts. “Little Miss Rhythm,” as Brown was known, demonstrated influences of her background in the Baptist church, most notably her tambourine playing and expressive, rhythmically-charged singing.

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and was also a product of the Baptist church. Her father was a Baptist minister. Thornton began her professional career on the black vaudeville circuit and eventually settled in Houston, Texas as a nightclub singer. In 1953, Thornton recorded “Hound Dog,” a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and produced by Johnny Otis. The record reached number one on the R&B charts and became one of the best-selling R&B records of the year. In 1956, Elvis Presley covered “Hound Dog.” His version featured altered lyrics and an arrangement very different from Thornton’s original. “Hound Dog” was Leiber and Stoller’s first of many top hits. The duo would go on to become one of the most prolific songwriting teams in rock and roll history.

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