Jump Piano Blues
Located in 1 route
Jump Piano Blues puts blues piano inside a horn-driven jump-band or small-combo R&B setting, emphasizing boogie left hand, riffing saxophones, shouted vocals, backbeat, and dance tempo. It is punchier and more extroverted than solo piano blues, usually built for dancers and jukeboxes rather than introspective listening.
History
The style grew out of boogie-woogie's late-1930s popularity, Kansas City swing, and wartime small bands that could deliver big-band excitement with fewer players. Pete Johnson's work with Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburn's Houston-to-Los Angeles R&B hits, Joe Liggins' band, Roy Milton's Solid Senders, and Charles Brown's smoother Nat Cole-influenced blues all helped define the piano's role in jump blues. The idiom became a direct stepping-stone to early rock and roll, doo-wop R&B, and 1950s blues shuffles.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Arnold Shaw, Honkers and Shouters
- Peter J. Silvester, A Left Hand Like God
- AllMusic
- The Blues Foundation