Tag Archives: Boogie Woogie

1 - Influences on R&B

1 – Influences on R&B

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Table of Contents

1 – Influences on R&B

There are five major genres listed below that have an influence on R&B music, which is basically, the blues, jazz, gospel, folk and country & western (C&W). This is misleading, I know, there are hundreds of subgenres. And myriads of influence. I’ll be concentrating on rhythm & blues (R&B) for this blog so I’ll briefly mention these parent and influential genres that make up the whole of truly indigenous American music.

 A) The Blues

Music from a mystical past, out into a recorded time, rural to urban, the great-grandfather of modern music. Encompassing Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, BB King, and Eric Clapton and beyond. 19th century – 21st century.  

1) Rural Blues – Acoustic blues sprouted up generally from the American deep south, and specifically “the Delta”, Texas, New Orleans, Memphis and many other southern locations. WC Handy, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith & Ethel Waters, and more. The 1920s & 1930s.

2) Transitional Blues – Blues progressed by becoming modern and plugging into electricity, now the guitar could keep up and lead the band. Muddy Waters, Tampa Red, Leadbelly, Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr and Big Bill Broonzy among others. 1938-1947. 

3) Urban Blues – Electric Blues guitar becomes an art form and leads the bands into heavy amplified territories in dance music and R&B. Chicago Blues, UK Blues. T-Bone Walker, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Blues Revival, and Eric Clapton. 1948-Present

  

B) Jazz*

Another mysterious music splintering off from the blues and becoming its own technically proficient musical genre. Consisting of many phases from (1890s-1960s) and many sub-genres like Dixieland, Swing, Be-bop, Hard Bop, Free & Avante Gard. Below is a listing of specific styles of jazz that were influential in the development of rhythm & blues.

1) Swing jazz – Swing jazz as a dance music was very influential to the bands of early jump blues and R&B. Andrew Sisters, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway. 1935-1946

2) Boogie-woogie – A jazz piano style that splintered off of “stride” piano and gave a blues structure to R&B. Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Jimmy Yancey, Pinetop. 1929, 1938-1946

       

C) Gospel

Gospel music is sacred music. The black church brought forth a highly animated and spiritual music, that went on to inspire popular secular modern music. Mahalia Jackson, Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin. 18th century – 21st century.

D) Folk Music*

Many forms of folk music were imported to America, country blues, hillbilly, Bluegrass, country stomps, Vaudeville, jug bands, Texas troubadours and ring shouters, there are too many genres to list. 17th century – 21st century. 

E) Country & Western*

There are many forms of Country & Western sub-genres such as country pop, bluegrass, outlaw country, heartland country, Western Swing, honky-tonk, rockabilly, Nashville Sound, Bakersfield Sound and many more. 19th century – 21st century.

 

* Please note that these genres are way too big for this blog to cover. 

3 - Music Theory for the Lay Person

The Back Beat Revolution

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The Back Beat Revolution

From a drummer’s perspective, “Rhythm & Blues” or “R&B” was a musical revolution. It was the revolution of technology and a trick of the rhythm, where the “back-beat” came about as the dominant rhythm in the last half of the 20th Century. Back when R&B was fresh and new, the “swing beat” derived from a lazy shuffle beat, had been the popular dance beat for more than 50 years, with its emphasis on the “down-beat”.

Recording equipment in the Jazz age was very delicate. It didn’t take much for the drums to get the needle skipping and jumping across the lathes. However, starting in the late 40s and the hi-fidelity of the early 1950s, the technology started to improve enough to be able to handle the high decibel snare rim shots from say Gene Krupa in the Benny Goodman band or Ralph Jones of Bill Haley & the Comets.

Previously, during the swing era of the 1930s and before, there was a great disparity between music that was “live” and therefore much louder than recorded music due to the limits of the technology involved. While the “live” bands it took a whole “rhythm section” of guitars, banjo, piano, bass/tuba, rhythm instruments and drums to keep up with the sheer high volume of the horns and reeds sections this made it necessary for equal stress to all four beats of the count in 4/4, “One, Two, Three, Four“.


Common_time_signatures

Counting Rhythms

In rhythm music theory, “common time” notated as 4/4, “four/four time” or “four/quarter time” or as a large “C” for common, is depicted to the right of the G-Clef above, also depicted are 2/2, “two/halves” or “cut time” (a “C” with a line through it), as well as “two/quarter”, “three/quarter” and “six/eighths” note time signatures.

Time Signatures

The bottom number tells you the type of note to play, in this case it is a “quarter note”; and the top note tells you “how many notes or pulses are in a measure” or bar of music (a measure or bar is a unit of music, in this case of 4 beats).

Top Number:                     3 – (Number-of beats in a measure or bar)

Bottom Number:             4 – (Use quarter notes to count out “one, two, three”)

                                                                     OR

Top Number:                     6 – (Number-of beats in a measure or bar)

Bottom Number:             8 – (Use quarter notes to count out “one, two, three, four, five, six”)

 

This time signature can be counted in several ways such as “One, Two, Three, Four; One, Two, Three, Four” stressing the One count of each measure. Another way to count in the time signature of 4/4, which helps with marching and dancing, is on the down-beats, “One, Two, Three, Four; One, Two, Three, Four” which has its accents on the down-beats  or the odd-beats of one and three. You can also keep time by saying or thinking “Left, Right, Left, Right” in marching or “Right, Left, Right, Left” in dancing.

 

Counting the Back Beat

The “Back-Beat” is counted as “One, Two, Three, Four” which has its accents on the up-beats or the even beats two and four, which at faster meters such as 116 to 120 beats per minute (bpm) or allegro moderato, is a very easy pulse for dancing. This “Back-Beat” pulse has been used in all of the modern R&B derived dance music of the late twentieth century including “classic R&B”, “Doo-Wop”, “Rock & Roll”, “Soul”, “Disco”, “House & Techno”, “Modern Dance Music”, “Electronica” and many other forms of dance music.

With a drum-set you can further subdivide the “back-beat” count as shown below, counted as “One-And, Two-And, Three-And, Four-And” or “Bass-And, Snare-And, Bass-And, Snare-And” where the bass drum gets the down-beats, on the one and the three, and where the snare drum hits the accents, defining the “back-beat” on the Two and the Four beats. The hi-hat cymbals keep a steady count of (8), eighth notes, counted as ” One, And, Two, And, Three, And, Four, And” as seen below.

350px-Characteristic_rock_drum_pattern (1)

Tempos

The tempo of a song is very important, it is not merely a question of fast or slow but all the variables between fast or slow and its extremes. Songs at 120 beats per minute is standard for a good dance beat, close to the human heart rate at exercise. At this rate, dancing is very healthy for you, many people use music in concert with their jogging and other exercise routines.

Slower tempos of andante (76 to 108 bpm) or andantino (80 to 108 bpm) were used for ballads and love songs in popular music and also in slow metered country & western songs, for dancing it was just a good excuse to get close to your partner. Then there were the mid-tempo songs of moderato 108-120 bpm, where the great radio friendly, storytelling, hook that would stick in your mind for hours, songs off the radio in the 1950s came of age.

 

Pulse and Meter

Some of the slower tempos had a triple meter “One, two, three; One , two, three” rather than the duple pulse of “One, two; One, two”. Another popular rhythm in R&B, derived from the Boogie Woogie beat in Jazz which is a triple meter counted either as “One-Trip-Let, Two- Trip-Let” or as “One, Two, Three; Four, Five, Six”, which basically takes a duple meter like the one below-left and subdivides it into a triple meter like the figure below-right.

250px-Simple_duple_drum_pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, remember, top note tells you how many beats, and the bottom note tells you which note to use. In the figures above-left, quarter notes are counted, in the figure on the right, eighth notes are used to count. Notice how these examples of a duple meter and a triple meter can be mixed and intertwined.

So, simply by putting an accent on the Two and the Four of a rhythm in common time, popular music was transformed. The philosophy of the heart, the Thub-Dub, Left-Right, binary in nature and syncopation, “If there is a boom, then there is a snap”.

 

 

2 - Boogie-woogie

Boogie Woogie

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Boogie Woogie

Boogie Woogie is a dance music genre derived or related to various forms of music like the blues, jazz, and particularly stride piano and ragtime in the early 20th century. The consensus among some musicologists is that the style of piano started in northeast Texas as early as the 1870s particularly in the Piney Woods among the lumber and turpentine camps as well as the Harrison and Marshall Counties in Texas. The polyrhythmic sound and cadence of Boogie Woogie (then called “Fast Western” music) was influenced by the “Texas Western Railroad Company” workers.

The origins of the term Boogie Woogie are unknown, though it is believed to have come from certain African dialects. The blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson referred to the bass figure of the music style as “Booga Rooga”. The style of piano music was heard and then acquired by musicians early in the 20th century by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton as piano music and then was acquired by many Texan guitarists like Lead Belly (who knew Blind Lemon Jefferson).

Later, during the mass migration of African Americans from the south up to the north western cities, the music became known also as house-rent party music. These “rent parties” started as a way for black renters to meet the monthly rent payments when many were suffering from poverty and unemployment. This became a common practice in the late 19th century up through to the mid-20th century in the cities up and down the Mississippi river (in particular, St. Louis and of course Chicago). These rent parties had the effect of incubating great forms of African American music like ragtime, Stride, Jazz and Boogie Woogie.

Boogie Woogie started out primarily as piano music (as solo piano, duet and even triplet pianos) where it was easily played in the juke joints, barrel houses, bar rooms of the rural south and then later, in rented apartments in the urban cities of the mid-west.

As the migration continued up the Mississippi river, Chicago became the hub of boogie woogie music, as well as all the other contemporary forms of music; Jazz, Ragtime, Urban Blues and Stride in the decades before and including the Roaring 20s. Boogie Woogie then was being played by guitars and small and larger jazz combos that used trumpet(s), trombone(s), of course piano, stringed double bass and drums.

The first hit song of Boogie Woogie was a tune called “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie”, which hit #20 on the charts in February of 1929 by Pine Top Smith. He lived only a month after his hit when he was shot at age 24 in a night club. This might have prompted Elton John’s album titled “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Just the Piano Player”, which was said to be a comeback joke between Groucho Marx and Elton.

Hersal and George Thomas from Texas who migrated to Chicago are cited as being very influential in the 2nd & 3rd decades of the 20th century (1910s-1920s) with the piece “The Fives”. “The Fives” had most of the modern bass figures in it such as the walking, shuffle and chordal bass, as well as broken octaves (used in ragtime stride). The Fives are considered the first use of Boogie Woogie in a jazz band as found in Joseph Samuels’ Tampa Blue Jazz Band in 1923.

Later on, in the 30s piano artists like Jimmy Yancey who influenced Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, who would all carry the torch of Boogie Woogie into the 1940s. Incidentally, Jimmy Yancey wouldn’t record a song until 1939 when he caused a stir with his unique light-handed style. Meade Lux Lewis recorded “Honky Tonk Train Blues”, released in 1930. Albert Ammons was influential with the song “Boogie Woogie Stomp” in 1936. Pete Johnson (who played with Big Joe Turner) had an influential record with the 12-bar blues, Boogie Woogie style “Roll ‘Em Pete” released in 1938 and considered one of the first Rock & Roll records, if not a precursor to the future genre.

Pine Top influenced Jimmy Dorsey, the big band leader, who recorded a version of Pine Top’s Boogie called simply “Boogie Woogie”, a #3 hit (with a million sales) in 1938 which re-entered the charts in 1943, 1944 and 1945 during the revival Boogie Woogie craze.

2 - Boogie-woogie

The Boogie Woogie Revival

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The Boogie Woogie Revival

Boogie Woogie would experience a revival in 1938-39, culminating in Columbia Records, John Hammond produced popular records “From Spirituals to Swing” concerts which were recorded on two occasions in Carnegie Hall. This propelled a renewed Boogie Woogie craze that would last well into the 1940s.

“From Spirituals to Swing” recordings featured Jimmy Yancey, Albert Ammons and the song “Swanee River Boogie”, Meade Lux Lewis and his hit song “Freight Train Blues” and of course Pete Johnson’s and Big Joe Turner’s “Roll ‘Em Pete” made the concerts and accompanying records very successful. The night clubs in New York City, especially on 52nd Street, gave way to the Boogie Woogie craze in the 40s.

This had a big influential effect on Swing Jazz, as many big bands started incorporating Boogie Woogie tunes into their sets. The Will Bradley Orchestra had a string of hits with the original version of “Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar” hitting #2, and also another #2 hit with “Scrub Me Mama, With A Boogie Beat” and the #10 “Down the Road A Piece”, all with Ray McKinley singing and all in 1940 spilling into 1941.

Glenn Miller had a hit in 1940 with the #7 hit “Boog It”. The Andrews Sisters had several Boogie Woogie hits like the late 1940 #2 hit “Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar” and the famous pre-World War II hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” in 1941. The Boogie Woogie craze was fueled by the fact that the Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug dances were very compatible with the boogie “beat”.

Lionel Hampton, one of the three “Fathers” of Jump Blues and R&B (as well as Count Basie and Louis Jordan) had a string of boogie hits, including the 1944, #23 hit “Hamp’s Boogie Woogie” and the 1946, #9 hit “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop”, which became very popular. Louis Jordan, had a string of boogie hits starting with the #6 “Caldonia Boogie” in 1945, the #7 hit “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” just to name a few. Count Basie also had several boogie hits such as the b-side, #10 hit “Mad Boogie” in 1946.

At the same time, many C&W (Country & Western) artists had hits in the boogie styled derivative genres called Country Boogie, Hillbilly Boogie or Western Boogie. Remember boogie started in Texas. These were precursors to Rockabilly. Johnny Barfield had a hit record with a “Boogie Woogie” in 1939. Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack had a million plus seller with the Benny Carter/Gene DePaul/Don Raye penned #9 hit “Cow Cow Boogie” in 1942.

The Delmore Brothers had a boogie hit with “Freight Train Boogie” which was also very influential to Rock & Roll and Rockabilly. Arthur Smith & His Cracker Jacks had several Country Boogie hits, such as the #25 crossover electric guitar hit “Guitar Boogie” in 1948 as well as the C&W hit “Banjo Boogie”. Tennessee Ernie Ford had a boogie hit with the #15 crossover hit “Shot Gun Boogie” in 1951.

And also, we can’t forget that Bill Haley started out his career as a C&W artist as “Bill Haley and The Saddlemen” before going Rock & Roll with “The Comets”. He recorded several Country Boogies like “Green Tree Boogie” in 1951, as well as the C&W (Rockabilly) version of Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” (a couple of months after the original R&B release). Bill Haley & the Saddlemen then released “Sundown Boogie” in 1952 as well as a cover of Jimmy Preston’s “Rock This Joint” which was considered to be the first Rockabilly song.