Rhythm and Blues is a by-product of the World War II migration of southern Blacks to major urban centers in the North and on the East and West Coasts. An estimated five million African Americans abandoned their jobs as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, domestics, and general laborers, anticipating better economic and educational opportunities and an escape from racial oppression. They found high-paying jobs in wartime industries, but discriminatory housing practices led to the growth of segregated urban communities. African Americans established a dynamic entertainment district in every major city where they settled, transforming rural traditions into urban forms of expression. These vibrant styles captured the spirit, pulse, and tempo of the city, and often incorporated new technologies such as electric instruments and amplification.

Combos

Working together in cities, blues singers and jazz musicians created a new musical genre–rhythm and blues. Former swing band members reduced the 12–16-member ensemble to a seven- or eight-piece group consisting of rhythm section, alto and tenor sax, and trumpet. Jazz musician Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (that featured Jordan on vocals) provided the model for this rhythm and blues combo style heard in “Caldonia” (1945). These combos, popular from the1940s through the early-1950s, retained the boogie-woogie foundation, the shuffle beat, and the riffing horn patterns from swing. Notable instrumental combos include those led by saxophonists Paul Williams, Big Jay McNeely, Harold Singer, and Wild Bill Moore. The rockin’ style of instrumental combos, heard in “The Deacon’s Hop” (1948) by Big Jay McNeely and “We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll” (1948) by Wild Bill Moore established the foundation for “rock ‘n’ roll.” Rhythm and blues combos often featured blues singers such as Wynonie Harris, Mabel Scott, Amos Milburn, and Big Joe Turner, who moaned and shouted the blues in ways that reflected a range of feelings and emotions. The vocals of Etta James, Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown (“Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” 1953) and LaVern Baker often conveyed a gospel flavor.

Vocal Harmony Groups

Vocal harmony groups performed in the 1930s and ’40s with jazz bands and as independent groups. Pioneers like the Mills Brothers (“Paper Doll,” 1942), Delta Rhythm Boys (“Certainly Lord,” 1953), Ink Spots, and the Charioteers featured smooth harmonies based on barbershop, jazz, and sacred music. These groups, as well as the Ravens (“Old Man River,” 1947), established the model for the 1950s teenage a cappella groups that popularized the vocal harmony style on inner city street corners and the stoops of crowded apartment buildings as well as in parks and school gyms. Many of these “bird” groups (e.g., Swallows, Penguins, etc.), sang in a romantic style emulating the Orioles (“It’s Too Soon to Know,” 1948), who began recording in the late 1940s. Although they primarily sang a cappella, producers added sparse instrumentation, including guitar and drums played with brushes, to their commercial recordings. The Spaniels and the Moonglows added a rhythmic foundation to the “romantic” vocal group style. The bass voice imitated the string bass, singing nonsense phrases like “doo-doo-wop.” “Sincerely” (1954) by the Moonglows illustrates this “doo-wop” style—a style later defined as rock ‘n’ roll.

Rhythm and Blues in the Mainstream: Uptown R&B

In the mid-1950s, record labels began producing rhythm and blues music for consumption beyond African American communities (referred to as Uptown R&B). Targeting mainstream audiences, producers applied crossover formulas to the productions of vocal harmony groups. They, for example, replaced rhythm and blues elements with familiar pop production formulas: sing-along refrains replaced call-and-response structures; “pop” vocal harmonies substituted for those associated with the blues and gospel traditions; orchestral arrangements (strings, marimba, tympani, and percussion) replaced rhythm and blues combos; and Latin-flavored rhythms, especially the “cha-cha” beat, substituted for swing rhythms and heavy backbeats on 2 and 4. Examples include “Only You” (1955) by the Platters and “There Goes My Baby” (1959) by the Drifters. Artists also recorded pop standards known as Tin Pan Alley songs written by professional songwriters hired by music publishers beginning in the early 20th century. They wrote ballads, novelty songs, vaudeville and dance songs, among other styles. Some of the most frequently recorded pop standards include “Over the Rainbow,” “Stormy Weather,” “Summertime,” “Georgia On My Mind,” and “At Last.”

The New Sounds of Young America

By the mid-1950s, songwriters in their late-teens and early twenties were writing hit songs that mirrored their youthful experiences and fantasies. All female groups (“girl groups”) joined their male counterparts recording these songs. The Chantels’ “Maybe” (1957), The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (1960), The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel ” (1962), and The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” (1963) were among the popular girl groups that inspired the formation of teenage girl groups who later signed with Motown Records. The Miracles’ “Shop Around” (1960), The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” (1961), Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heatwave” (1963), The Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go” (1964), and their male counterparts, The Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do” (1964) became the next generation of teenaged groups. They represented Motown’s “Sound of Young America.”

One branch of rhythm and blues lyrics derive from everyday experiences and relationships of adults; they often satirized daily life, illustrated in song titles such as “What’s the Use of Getting’ Sober (When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)” (1942), “R.M. Blues (1946),” “Old Maid Boogie (1947),” “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (1948), and “Elevator Boogie” (1948). Many of these songs employ double entendre, a linguistic device that masked sexual innuendo. Novelty lyrics are common in rhythm and blues and provided humorous commentaries on everyday events in Black life, as found in “Beans and Cornbread” (1949), “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens (1946)” and “Saturday Night Fish Fry” (1949). Relationship songs, especially about romance, are common, for example “There Goes My Baby” (1959), “This Magic Moment” (1960), and “All I Could Do Was Cry” (1960).

The other branch of lyrics mirrors the worldviews, experiences, relationships, and fantasies of teenagers. Songs like “Searching” (1957), “Dedicated to the One I Love” (1961), “Do You Love Me” (1963) and “Dancing in the Streets” (1964).