Rhythm & Blues
tagStarted 1947Peak 1949–1959Last big hit still active
In this family context, Rhythm & Blues refers to the original postwar wave that grew out of jump blues, boogie, jazz, and blues into Black popular music’s central language before soul fully took over. It keeps shuffle feel and blues harmony in play, but uses a broader range of songs, grooves, and vocal approaches than strict jump blues.
History
Britannica notes that the term was adopted in the late 1940s as a replacement for older chart labels and that music associated with Louis Jordan’s small-combo approach helped define its first mainstream shape. Over the 1950s it widened rapidly—absorbing crooners, shouters, pianists, and future soul architects—while still carrying jump-blues DNA in its riffs, backbeats, and humor.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica on jump blues and first-wave rhythm and blues
- Rock Hall on Louis Jordan’s jump-blues role
- Britannica on Big Joe Turner and the shouter tradition