Early R&B and The Birth of Rock & RollImportant dates-1947 Brooklyn Dodgers sign Jackie Robison -1948 Columbia Records introduces the LP

-1949 RCA Records releases the first 45rpm record

-1951 “Rocket 88” considered to be 1st R&R single released

-1951 Billy Ward and the Dominos “60 Minute Man” crosses to Pop Charts-the song is soon banned on many radio stations for racy lyrics

-1952 Cleveland DJ Alan Freed popularizes the term “Rock&Roll”

The Blues• Early blues–Began in the rural south pre-civil war–Began to flourish after the civil war (Mississippi

Delta & Rural Louisiana especially)

–Mixes with ragtime & dixieland–Moves north beginning with WWI & WWII–Moves along Mississippi eventually Chicago– LISTENING JOURNAL– Youtube: LEADBELLY: WHERE DID YOU

SLEEP LAST NIGHT

Chicago (the roaring 1920s)

• Chicago was prosperous• Many job opportunities• Close to Detroit, model T’s and model A

Fords• Prohibition (1920-1933)• Gangsters ruled Chicago• Like the Storyville, Chicago provided

musicians with many night clubs to play• Recording studios mostly in Chicago and

New York• Independent record labels

Boogie-Woogie Piano• Great depression of the 1930s• Solo Piano often replaced bands to save money• Rent parties• Ostinato Bass– Eight beats to a measure– Bass pattern repeated in left hand– Right hand improvises using “rifts”

• BOOGIE-WOOGIE• Reached its peak in the early 1930’s• Word boogie first appears on a record in1928 by Chicago’s

Pine Top Smith

• LISTENING JOURNAL

• *Youtube - Pine Tops Boogie• *Youtube - Meade Lux Lewis

MUDDY WATERS (Chicago electric blues)

• Grew up in the Mississippi Delta• Moved to Chicago in 1943• Bought his 1st electric guitar in 1944 • (Sidenote……….Electric guitar inventor – LES PAUL)

• 1st Electric Band(1946) Chicago archetype• Country/City blend reflected post WWII sound• Signed with Chicago’s Aristocrat Records (Owned

partly by the Chess Brothers-later Chess Records)

• LISTENING JOURNAL• I CAN’T BE SATISIFIED (1st release on Aristocrat 1948)

HOWLIN’ WOLF

• Chester (“HOWLIN WOLF”) Burnett• Also on Chess Records w/ raw electric Delta sound• Grew up and had early career in Mississippi• 1948 at age 38 moved to Memphis & “plugs in”• Moves to Chicago in 1952 & quickly gains attention• Rivalry between him and Muddy Waters• Records a series of hits later recorded by Jimi

Hendrix, Led Zepplin, and The Yardbirds• Known for onstage antics • LISTENING JOURNAL• “HOW MANY MORE YEARS”

BO DIDDLEY

• Born “Otha Ellas Bates McDaniel” in Mississippi 1928• Moved to Chicago in 1936• Was a street musician for many years• Landed a steady gig at the 708 Club• 1955 signed with Chess & Leonard Chess

renamed him Bo Diddley after a local comedian• Another hit cementing Chicago’s new electric

delta blues sound w/guitar as the main instrument

• LISTENING JOURNAL• “BO DIDDLEY- BO DIDDLEY”

• BB KING / Modern Records

• One of the most respected and successful blues musicians

• Born 1925 in Mississippi• Went to Memphis 1946• Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam

Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. (Elvis,Johnny Cash,ect..)

• Signed with Modern Records out of LA which gave Chess Records stiff competition

• Also working for Modern Records = Ike Turner as a talent scout

• Ike Turner and the Rhythm Kings / Tina Turner

• BB KING / Modern Records• In the 1950’s had many hit songs on the R&B

charts• Play countless concerts & sold millions of records• First Blues Musician to have huge crossover hit

with “The Thrill is Gone” on both R&B and Pop charts

• Continues to maintain a solid career performing & recording with modern Blues & Pop artist such as U2, Phish, & Eric Clapton

• LISTENING JOURNAL

• Every Day I Have The Blues = BB KING

• Rocket 88 (Original Version 1st Rock and Roll song) - Ike Turner and his Rhythm Kings credited to vocalist = Jackie Brenston

• FATS DOMINO & IMPERIAL RECORDS

• Born in New Orleans & started to play piano at age 9.• As a teenager work in a bed spring factory by day and

local bars playing piano at night.• Signs with Imperial (out of LA) in 1949• 1st single “FAT MAN” sells 1 million copies.• Had 43 records make the Billboard charts

• LISTENING JOURNAL• BLUEBERRY HILL

• RAY CHARLES & ATLANTIC RECORDS

• Atlantic Records owned by Turkish immigrants• Named for the Atlantic Ocean they crossed• Ray Charles & Ruth Brown 2 key artist• Both had a gospel influenced sound• Ray Charles was born 1930 in Georgia & grew up in

Florida• Moved to Seattle signed with Atlantic and became

good friends with a young Quincy Jones.• Had a group that backed Ruth Brown on tour.• Released “I Got A Woman” in 1952 & began to be

recognized as a songwriter and artist.

• RAY CHARLES & ATLANTIC RECORDS

• First big hit “What’d I Say” in 1959 song built off a simple piano riff with suggestive moaning from the Raeletts.

• Some U.S. radio stations banned the song.

• LISTENING JOURNAL• WHAT’D I SAY

• LITTLE RICHARD

• By 1955 early R&B artist were getting “older” and a new generation of high energy artist appeared that would become known as “Rock & Roll” artist.

• Little Richard & Chuck Berry, significantly younger & wilder than most R&B artist became very popular among white teens.

• Richard & Berry considered “Fathers of Rock & Roll”• Little Richard born 1932 in Macon ,GA• Sang in a Baptist Choir as a yout, joined traveling

circuses & broadway shows as a teen and at 18 signed with Camden Records as Boogie Woogie Blues artist.

• LITTLE RICHARD

• At 19 his father was killed and he supported his family by washing dishes in the Macon Bus Station & singing at night.

• He eventually signed to Specialty Records out of LA in 1955 as a blues singer.

• At first recording session he played “Tutti Frutti” on a break.

• Producer liked the sound and they recorded it, eventually selling 200,000 copies in a week.

• LISTENING JOURNAL• “TUTTI FRUTTI

• CHUCK BERRY

• Grew up in a middle class nice neighborhood in St. Louis, MO

• Family sang in church• Listened to a lot of country music as a boy but

also Muddy Waters• In the early 1950s bought his first guitar and

began playing bars in St. Louis with an R&B trio that included Johnnie Johnson on piano

• 1955 travels to Chicago and meets Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters after a show.

• CHUCK BERRY

• Asks Muddy Waters what his chances are of “making a record” and Muddy sends him to Leonard Chess.

• Gives Leonard Chess a demo of an original country song and he is blown away.

• Signs with Chess and releases “Maybelline” a country song with a R&B boogie-woogie beat.

• Within a couple months the song was TOP 5 on Billboard.

• Many other hits including “Johnny B Goode” “Sweet Little Sixteen” “Reelin & Rockin” etc…

• LISTENING JOURNAL• ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN

• ALAN FREED & ROCK AND ROLL DJS

• During the 1950s TV freed radio space for more diverse music as networks NBC,ABC,CBS moved programming.

• Many R&B DJs became advocates for new music & even convinced some stations to switch formats.

• Teens (always interested in new tech) listened to DJs on a new device….The Portable Transistor Radio which was installed in many new cars.

• Alan Freed was a popular super-promoter of R&B in OHIO on the classical station WKST.

• He played R&B records at night when the classical broadcast were finished.

• ALAN FREED & ROCK AND ROLL DJS

• He called his show “The MoonDog Show”• When he moved show to NYC an old panhandle named

“The MoonDog” threatened to sue him over the name.• He renamed it the “Rock n’ Roll House Party”• He made the name “Rock n’ Roll” a house hold word &

the first to exclusively use the term to describe the music he played.

• YOUTUBE – ALAN FREED part1

• PAT BOONE & RADIO SEGREGATION

• In the early 1950s Radio was just as segregated a American society.

• Most White Top 40 stations refused to play music by Black artist of any kind.

• Most White parents refused to let allow their teens to listen to Black artist of any kind.

• However R&B and Rock & Roll were becoming VERY VERY Popular and the White Top 40 stations wanted to cash in.

• The answer= White artist covering popular Black artist songs

• PAT BOONE & RADIO SEGREGATION

• Eventually the term “Rock n’ Roll” became associated with the White Stations and “R&B” with Black stations.

• Of all the White artist covering Black R&B artist the most popular was PAT BOONE.

• One of Pat Boone’s biggest hits was the R&B hit by Little Richard “Tutti Frutti”.

• Many thought artist like Pat Boone were not true R&B or Rock n’ Roll artist and they watered down the music.

• Record labels began looking for White Artist that would excepted by all fans of Rock n’ Roll.

• LISTENING JOURNAL• TUTTI FRUTTI – PAT BOONE

** WATCH HISTORY OF ROCK n’ ROLL – DVD 125:00 – 54:20