MUSC 309 Lecture 6: Rhythm and Blues
I. R&B background
A. What is R&B?
1. Marketing label
a. Rhythm and blues records = race records
b. Records primarily by black artists, marketed to African American
consumers
c. Billboard changes chart title in 1949
2. Musical meaning
a. Strongly rhythmic fusion of African American styles
b. Crossover appeal
i. Also popular with white audiences
ii. Hits have potential to cross over to pop, country charts
c . Musical influences –
i. Gospel
ii. Swing jazz
iii. Boogie-woogie
iv. Country blues
v. Popular music
B. Social and Economic Issues of African American society 1945-55
1. Improved economic status
a. World War II stimulated economy
b. More, better paying jobs
2. Pace of great migration increases
a. More migrants from rural south
b. Blacks concentrated in most areas in urban north
3. Civil Rights movement
1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ends legal segregation
2. Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 sparks Civil Rights movement
4. Marginally better access to mass media
a. KFFA in Helena, Arkansas becomes first station to broadcast blues in
1941
b. 1948 WDIA in Memphis becomes first all black station in US
i. B. B. King and Rufus Thomas serve as disc jockeys
a. Radio personalities with own radio shows
b. Popularity of DJs also drives listenership
ii. Within 2 weeks, #1 station in Memphis
a. More African American artists appear on network radio
I. R&B Basics
A. Types
1. Up-tempo, strongly rhythmic blues
2. Electric blues
3. Gospel-influenced styles
4. Doo-wop
5. R&B with strong Afro-Cuban influences
a. Instruments
b. Latin rhythms
B. The “Big Beat” of R&B
1. In many R&B styles, rhythm becomes more prominent than in past
2. Backbeat
a. Accents on second and fourth beats of measure
b. In R&B, usually strongly accented
c. Most often in drums (usually snare)
d. Sometimes reinforced with hand claps or snaps
3. Shuffle rhythm
a. Subdivision of beat, as in rock style beat
b. First note of pair twice as long as second
c. Ex. “swung” eighth notes in jazz
4. Triplets
a. Beat divided into three equal parts
b. Clap a steady beat, then subdivide into triplets
C. The sound of “up-tempo” R&B: Rocket 88
1. Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats
a. Group led by Ike Turner
i. Blues musician from Clarksdale, Mississippi
ii. Also worked as talent scout for independent labels in south
b. Went to Sun records in Memphis to record song about Oldsmobile 88
c. Turner’s saxophone player, Jackie Brenston, sang lead on the track
d. Sam Phillips mistakenly credited Brenston
2. Guitar distortion
a. On way to studio, guitar amp fell of top of the car
b. Tore the speaker cone - part of speaker that vibrates to produce the
frequency being amplified
c. Resulted in distorted, “fuzzy” sound
d. Phillips liked, used on record
i. Make guitar line more prominent
ii. Thought it complemented “booting” sax
3. Honking or “booting” saxophone
i. Alto or tenor sax standard part of R&B bands of ‘40s and ‘50s
ii. Preferred tone color “honking” or “booting”
aa. Harsh, slightly sharp sound
bb. Created by overblowing – more air than needed
cc. Tone color a good match for rough, gravelly timbre of vocalists
4. Triplets
i. Common feature of rhythm and blues
ii. Derived from boogie
aa. Rhythmic feel common to many African American folk dance
styles
i.
Created by alternating quarter (long) and eighth (short) notes
ii.
Rather like shuffle rhythm!
iii. Listen for triplets in piano part
iv. Shuffle rhythm in guitar and triplets complement each other
aa. Triplets in 4/4 time
1
2
3
4
x x x x x x x x x x x x
bb. Shuffle
x x x
x x x x
x
III. Jump Blues
A. Descends from swing bands of the '30s and '40s
1. Particularly heavily blues influenced groups like Count Basie
2. Stripped down instrumentation
a. Two or three horns
b. Plus percussion section
B. Add vocalist to the mix
1. Usually male singer with strong, blues voice
2. Called "blues shouters"
C. Songs a mixture of hokum blues, jazz, and popular music
D. Up-tempo numbers with shuffle rhythms, often boogie-woogie feel
E. Riff-based accompaniments
1. But not as smooth as swing jazz
2. More raucous, "honking" sound
F. Syncopated, four- or eight-beat rhythms
G. Lots of showmanship involved
H. Earliest, and most successful of these was Louis Jordan
1. Arguably, 1st R&B artist
2. Rhythm and blues - one side of blues as evolved after WWII
3. Ex. Choo-choo-ch-boogie
a. Four-beat shuffle rhythm and boogie-woogie walking bass
b. Entirely riff-based
i. Permeates entire texture
ii. Including melody
iii. Kind of gimmicky opening sax riff
iv. Horn riff under verses
c. Not a 12 bar blues - verse and refrain form
d. Boogie woogie piano solo
e. Followed by verse/refrain
f. Sax solo - built from riffs
g. Compare to Tight Like That
IV. Electric blues
A. New style develops in cities as result of Great Migration
1. New environment, social conditions, concerns
2. Typical blues venue shifts from small jukes to larger clubs
3. Informed by country blues style
a. Clear ties to Mississippi Delta blues
b. Little influence from commercial music styles
4. Collective performance the norm
B. Blues band
1. guitar
2. upright bass
3. drummer
4. harmonica or piano
5. Role of each instrument becomes standardized
C. Characteristics
1. More regular forms than country blues
a. 12 or 16 bar blues,
b. verse/chorus blues form
c. Verse/chorus blues form where either verse or chorus is a 12-bar blues
2. Dense, often riff-based texture
3. Strong rhythm section laying in backbeat
4. Electronic amplification
a. Some blues players using electric guitars in early 1930s
b. Becomes norm after WWII
c. Requires amplification of singer, bass, and harmonica as well
5. Call and response, with vocal like responses from harmonica or guitar
D. Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield, 1915-1983)
1. "Discovered" in Mississippi in 1941 by Alan Lomax, while recording
for Library of Congress
2. Moved to Chicago shortly after
3. Major influence on every blues player since
4. Hoochie Coochie Man
a. Waters, accompanied by piano, bass, harmonica
b. Verse
i. Stop time: now almost blues cliché
ii. Big nasty 1 1/2 beat riff, followed by 2 1/2 beats for vocals
c. Chorus
i. Laid back shuffle rhythm
b. 8-bar blues
d. dense texture
e. Multiple rhythmic layers
f. Hoodoo lyrics
i. Hoodoo = Southern African American folk magic
ii. Contains some African retentions
aa. High John the Conqueror root
bb. Black cat bone
cc. Mojo
V. The Latin tinge, part 2: New Orleans R&B
A. Afro-Cuban influence surfaces in rhythm and blues in New Orleans
B. Professor Longhair (Roy Head)
1. Few major hits
2. But very influential – mentors large number of younger New Orleans musicians
3. Professor Longhair's Blues-Rhumba
a. Walking bass
b. boogie-woogie piano
c. eight beat shuffle rhythm
d. "reverse" clave rhythm, or 2+3 son rhythm
i. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
X X
X
X X
ii. As opposed to
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
X
X
X
X
X
C. Fats Domino
1. Native of New Orleans
2. Very much influenced by sound of Professor Longhair and Latin-influenced
boogie-woogie
3. Signature of many of his songs - fast, even triplets
4. Thick, dense sound, particularly in middle register
5. What qualities do you hear in “Mardi Gras in New Orleans”?
a. Thick texture, often polyrhythmic as well
b. Clave rhythm
c. 12-bar blues form
D. Bo Diddley, by Bo Diddley (Elias McDaniel)
1. The Bo Diddley Beat (aka “hambone” rhythm)
a. Compare to clave rhythm
b. Slight modification, but clearly Afro-Cuban origin
c. Connected to patting juba?
i. Children’s game
ii. By extension, keeping time by “patting” on parts of body
2. Essentially, children's song that is REALLY funky
3. Note the maracas
a. Latin percussion instrument
b. Before this, rarely used outside of Latin music
c. Articulates eight beat rock rhythm
4. Accompaniment a single chord
5. Rhythm constitutes main interest of song
V. Not quite R&B -- doo-wop
A. Background
1. History of quartet singing in African American culture
a. Important social role in African American life after Civil War
b. Often attached to barbershops (surprised)?
2. Most visible examples: gospel quartets
B. Doo-wop, or vocal harmony groups
1. Basically, gospel vocal quartet sound, but with secular lyrics
a. Important precursors
i. Mills Brothers
ii. Ink Spots
2. Mostly urban phenomenon of ‘40s and ‘50s
3. Major characteristics
a. Harmonizing in thirds
b. Falsetto obbligato – requisite high part
c. Prominent bass singer
d. Songs are 12-bar blues, verse/chorus, or AABA form
e. Emphasis on rhythmic accentuation
i. Often via scat singing
ii. Using voice to imitate instruments or percussive sounds
iii. Also important in bebop – new jazz sound of 1940s
aa. Small ensembles replace big bands
bb. Melodies convoluted, chromatic
.
cc. Disjunct melodic lines and wide leaps
dd. Rhythmically aggressive
4. Frequently crossed over to pop charts, often in cover versions
a. Hit songs re-recorded by a different group
b. Most often, R&B hits covered by white artists
a. But re-make that could be played on pop radio stations
b. And appeal to mainstream, white audience
c. Often single artist or group did covers of particular R&B artists
a. Crew Cuts – re-did Orioles tunes
b. Most infamous – Pat Boone covers of Buddy Holly tunes
c. Also black groups that covered white pop hits
i. These often involve new interpretation
ii. Different arrangements, stylistic shifts
C. Comparing gospel quartets and doo-wop
1. Compare The Chords Sh-Boom to Jesus I'll Never Forget
2. Differences a. Sh-Boom more like pop song
b. How?
i. Harmonies -- more complex than blues, but not much
ii. Melody
iii. verse/chorus form, not based on blues
iv. Triplets in background vocals (“na na na na na na”) in chorus
3. Similarities
a. Vocal percussion (light)
b. Harmonies in vocals
c. No significant instrumental accompaniment
D. Epitome of the slow doo-wop style - Flamingos, I Only Have Eyes for You
1. Slow tempo
2. Very much influenced by pop
3. Triplets in accompaniment
4. Scat singing in riff-based accompaniment -- doo-wop-ch-bop
5. Fairly complex harmonies
E. Coasters the opposite of most doo-wop
1. Fair assessment?
2. Listen to Young Blood – how is it different from Sh-Boom?
a. Heavy backbeat
b. Humor
c. Tells a story
d. breaks
e. Faster tempo
f. More percussive backing vocals
VI. Gospel influences in rock and roll
A. Important component of R&B
B. Amplified by performers with strong gospel backgrounds
C. Sam Cooke
1. Former lead singer of Soul Stirrers
2. Began recording secular material in 1956
3. Pioneered pop/gospel style
4. Ex. You Send Me
a. Gospel traits?
i. Melismatic flourishes
ii. Effortless control of full vocal range
iii. Emotional connection to material = soul
b. Pop?
i. Arrangement
aa. discreet instrumentals
bb. white background singers in pop style
cc. Subdued time keeping
D. Ray Charles
1. Raised in Florida, but influenced by West Coast R&B pianists like Nat King
Cole and Charles Brown
2. Earliest recordings in blues crooner style
3. Moves to New Orleans, starts to incorporate gospel influences
a. Some early songs essentially secularized gospel
b. “Getting happy” feeling
4. What's gospel in I Got A Woman (Besides that's it’s a gospel song)?
a.
Exuberance – “getting happy” feeling
b.
Vocal melismas
c.
Falsetto range
d.
Gospel shout
5. What’s R&B/blues?
a. Lyrics about relationship
b. Stop time
c. Electric bass
d. 8 beat rock rhythm on cymbal
6. What about What’d I Say?