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Rhythm and blues

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical genres, styles,
eras and events

   Rhythm and blues (aka R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining
   jazz, gospel, and blues influences — first performed by African
   American artists.

   The term was coined as a musical marketing term in the United States in
   1947 by Jerry Wexler at Billboard magazine. It replaced the term race
   music (which originally came from within the black community, but was
   deemed offensive in the more positive postwar world,), and the
   Billboard category Harlem Hit Parade in June 1949. The term was
   initially used to identify the rocking style of music that combined the
   12 bar blues format and boogie-woogie with a back beat, which later
   became a fundamental element of rock and roll. In 1948, RCA Victor was
   marketing black music under the name Blues and Rhythm. The words were
   reversed by Wexler of Atlantic Records, the most aggressive and
   dominant label in the R&B field in the early years.

   In “Rock & Roll: An Unruly History” (1995) Robert Palmer defines
   "rhythm and blues" as a catchall rubric used to refer to any music that
   was made by and for black Americans. In his 1981 book “Deep Blues”
   Palmer used "r&b" as a synonym for jump blues. Lawrence Cohn, author of
   “Nothing But the Blues”, writes that rhythm and blues was an umbrella
   term invented for industry convenience, which embraced all black music
   except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold
   enough to break into the charts.

   By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to
   describe soul and funk. Today the acronym R&B is almost always used
   instead of the full rhythm and blues, and mainstream use of the term
   refers to a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that
   originated as disco became less favorable.

Original rhythm and blues

                         Original Rhythm and blues
   Stylistic origins:     Jazz, blues, and gospel
   Cultural origins:      1940s United States
   Typical instruments:   Guitar - Bass - Saxophone - Drum kit - Keyboard
   Mainstream popularity: Significant from 1940s to 1960s
   Derivative forms:      Rock and Roll - Soul music - Funk
                                 Subgenres
                                  Doo wop

   In its first manifestation, rhythm and blues was one of the
   predecessors to rock and roll. It was strongly influenced by jazz, jump
   blues and black gospel music. It also influenced jazz in return; rhythm
   and blues, blues, and gospel combined with bebop to create hard bop.
   The first rock and roll hits consisted of rhythm and blues songs like
   Rocket 88 and Shake, Rattle and Roll, which appeared on popular music
   charts as well as R&B charts. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On, the first
   hit by Jerry Lee Lewis, was an R&B cover song that reached #1 on pop,
   R&B and country and western charts.

   Musicians paid little attention to the distinctions between jazz and
   rhythm and blues, and frequently recorded both genres. Numerous swing
   bands (i.e, Jay McShann's, Tiny Bradshaw's, and Johnny Otis's) also
   recorded rhythm and blues. Count Basie had a weekly live rhythm and
   blues broadcast from Harlem. Even a bebop icon Tadd Dameron arranged
   music for Bull Moose Jackson and spent two years as Jackson's pianist
   after establishing himself in bebop. Most of the R&B studio musicians
   were jazz musicians, and many of the musicians on Charlie Mingus'
   breakthrough jazz recordings were R&B veterans. Lionel Hampton's big
   band of the early 1940s — which produced the classic recording Flying
   Home ( tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet) — was the breeding ground
   for many of the bebop legends of the 1950s. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
   was a one-man fusion; a bebop saxophonist and a blues shouter.

   The 1950s was the premier decade for classic rhythm and blues.
   Overlapping with other genres such as jazz and rock and roll, R&B
   developed regional variations. A strong, distinct style straddling the
   border with blues came out of New Orleans, and was based on a rolling
   piano style first made famous by Professor Longhair. In the late 1950s,
   Fats Domino hit the national charts with Blueberry Hill and Ain't That
   a Shame. Other artists who popularized this Louisiana flavor of R&B
   included Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Frankie Ford, Irma Thomas, The
   Neville Brothers and Dr. John.

   At the start of their careers in the 1960s, British rock bands like The
   Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and the Spencer Davis Group were
   essentially R&B bands.

Contemporary R&B

                             Contemporary R&B
   Stylistic origins:     Funk, soul music, and pop music
   Cultural origins:      Early 1980s US
   Typical instruments:   synthesizers - Keyboard - Drum machine
   Mainstream popularity: Moderate since 1980s around the world,
                          especially in recent years in the United States
                                 Subgenres
                                Quiet Storm
                               Fusion genres
             New Jack Swing - Hip-hop soul - Neo soul - 2Step
                               Other topics
                                 Musicians

   It was not until the 1980s that the term R&B regained ordinary usage.
   During that time, the soul music of James Brown and Sly & the Family
   Stone had adapted elements from psychedelic rock and other styles
   through the work of performers like George Clinton. Funk also became a
   major part of disco, a kind of dance pop electronic music. By the early
   1980s, however, funk and soul had become sultry and sexually-charged
   with the work of Prince and others. At that time, the modern style of
   contemporary R&B came to be a major part of American popular music.

   R&B today defines a style of African-American music, originating after
   the demise of disco in 1980, that combines elements of soul music, funk
   music, pop music, and (after 1986) hip hop in the form known as
   contemporary R&B. In this context only the abbreviation "R&B" is used,
   not the full expression.

   Sometimes referred to as " urban contemporary" (the name of the radio
   format that plays hip hop and R&B music) or "urban pop", contemporary
   R&B is distinguished by a slick, electronic record production style,
   drum machine-backed rhythms, and a smooth, lush style of vocal
   arrangement. Uses of hip hop inspired beats are typical, although the
   roughness and grit inherent in hip hop are usually reduced and smoothed
   out.

R&B in the 2000s

   By the 2000s, the cross-pollination between R&B and hip hop had
   increased to the point where, in most cases, the only prominent
   difference between a record being a hip hop record or an R&B record is
   whether its vocals are rapped or sung. Mainstream modern R&B has a
   sound more based on rhythm than hip hop soul had, and lacks the
   hardcore and soulful urban "grinding" feel on which hip-hop soul
   relied. That rhythmic element descends from new jack swing. R&B began
   to focus more on solo artists rather than groups as the 2000s
   progressed. As of 2005, the most prominent R&B artists include Usher,
   Beyoncé (formerly of Destiny's Child), and Mariah Carey whose music
   often blurs the line between contemporary R&B and pop.

   Soulful R&B continues to be popular, with artists such as Alicia Keys,
   R. Kelly, John Legend, Toni Braxton, American Idol winner Fantasia and
   the brand new singer [[ showcasing classic influences in their work.
   Some R&B singers have used elements of Caribbean music in their work,
   especially dancehall and reggaeton.

   Quiet storm, while still existent, is no longer a dominant presence on
   the pop charts, and is generally confined to urban adult contemporary
   radio. Most of the prominent quiet storm artists, including Babyface
   and Gerald Levert, began their careers in the 1980s and 1990s, although
   newer artists such as Kem also record in the quiet storm style. Its
   influence can still be seen in singles such as Mariah Carey's " We
   Belong Together".

   In addition, several producers have developed specialized styles of
   song production. Timbaland, for example, became notable for his hip hop
   and jungle based syncopated productions in the late-1990s, during which
   time he produced R&B hits for Aaliyah, Ginuwine, and singer/rapper
   Missy Elliott. By the end of the decade, Timbaland's influences had
   shifted R&B songs towards a sound that approximated his own, with
   slightly less of a hip hop feel. Lil' Jon became famous for a style he
   termed crunk & B, deriving its influences from the Southern hip hop
   subclassification of crunk music. Jon gave R&B artist, Ciara, the title
   of "The First Lady of Crunk & B", and Brooke Valentine the Colombian
   CHARLIE RANDALL and Usher have also recorded R&B songs with strong
   crunk influences.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_and_blues"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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