Welcome back everyone! This time in Music History 333 we will be discussing R&B Atlantic records and the beginning of Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Atlantic Records was started in 1947. Their goal was to create a record company that focused on African American artists and attract a larger African American audience. This is a R&B independent label. Tom Dowd was the engineer of Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson and later Jerry Wexlerw were all major contributors to the company. However, the company is known as “The house that Ruth Brown built”. Ruth Brown is know as miss rhythm. Her famous song “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” was a hit and later covered by white artists. Ruth Brown started in church and at one time did 71 shows in a row! Touring made money and that was the goal for record companies. She was very successful but did not become rich because of the control of white studio owners. Ray Charles 1930-2004 is one of the most inspiring and influential artists of his time. He lost his sight from age 4-7 from Glaucoma, attended the school for the blind and learned to read music in brail. He was very talented and had a career at age 14. He moved to seattle at age 18. His style was a combination of gospel and R&B. He has many hit songs but the main one we talked about in class was “I Got A Women” which some lyrics in the song are more likely known by our generation from Kanye West’s song “Gold Digger”.  I personally like Ray’s version better. It is obviously more original and has a cool beat too it.

The beginnings of Rock n Roll or “Big Beat” blues is finally beginning to become more current and touch on the meat of the class. Music History from 1945 to present day. The song by artists Jackie Brenston and producer Sam Phillips was one of the first recognized as Rock n Roll. The song came out in 1951, just shortly after WWII ended. At the time automobiles just became more popular in society due to the war being over, and Jackie Brenston’s song Rocket 88 had everybody listening. It represented freedom and mobility and was sort of a youth movement. Rock & Roll is a slang term for sex. Alan “moondog” Freed named it that. This genre included R&B, Jump Blues (Rhythm), Urban Blues (Guitar), Doo-Wop (singing) , country (strait ahead two beat, and story telling) , and Tin Pan Alley (Songwriting). Other artists that contributed to Rock n Roll are Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Coasters, The Shirelles (women), Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Flamingos etc. Popular producers and song writers included Leiber & Stoller, Sam Phillips, Carole King & Jerry Goffin, Dorothy LaBostrie. Each of these artists have their own special style or twist they bring to the table. Little Richard is famously known for is energetic performances, Chuck Berry used country and R&B as an influence in his music more than most of the other artists, and is known for the duck walk. Buddy Holly was able to get past just covering stuff. He has a distinctive vocal sound and is similar to the way elvis uses his voice.

Welcome back fellow bloggers, heres my second post!

We began to cover the more of the African American influence on music during the early 1900’s and multiple different genres and artists that made music what it is today. We started with the blues. The blues was an is considered African American Folk music. This began in the early 1900’s but started to be recored around the 1920’s. Blues is a major part of Jazz, the foundation for Rock ‘n’ Roll and black gospel. Lyrics included  A A B format, rhythm and strophic. Much of the song topics of early blues is about love, and misfortune. The first popular blues is “classic blues” from the 1920’s. It was recored in the north by Jazz and theater performers. It has been modified by the vernacular blues style. Many groups included female singers and Jazz bands. One example is St. Louis Blues composed by W.C. Handy, artist was Bessie Smith and playing the trumpet was Louis Armstrong. This song came out in 1925. The next genre developed was “Country Blues”. Male singers and guitar are common components to country blues. One of the best known country blues singers is Robert Johnson. His hit song was “Cross road blues” in 1936. This was recorded in the south. Some say it was rediscovered in the 60’s and was a major influence to Rock. Early “R&B” began to emerge in 1945. The term R&B stands for “Race Records” and was invented in the 1920’s-40’s by a man named Ralph Peer. 1949- today R&B stands for rhythm and blues or “race & black” the term coined by Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records, and used by there Billboard for their chart. The next genre is “Jump Blues” and the main name you need to know is Louis Jordan. He is made a song in 1946 called Choo Choo Ch-Boogie which became a huge hit. This was post war, recession time in America and many people needed a more positive outlook or sound. Urban blues was covered as well and artists such as T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters immediately come to mind. This genre is a continuation of country blues, it is guitar based and the electric guitar began to emerge into popularity in large, noisy clubs. T- Bone Walker originated the electric blues sound. Gospel music or “the good news”. This genre is African American religious music. A lot of people began to sing during church services. This genre emerged in the 1920’s-30’s and was a combination of the blues but with spiritual/gospel hymns. Georgia Tom or Thomas Dorsey bounces between blues and church music and became a popular name. In the 40’s gospel took a turn and we began to see gospel quartets, by the 50’s there were gospel soloists. Mahalia Jackson is a famous gospel singer and yes she is a women! She is famous for her “Move On Up a Little Higher” in 1948. Mainstream blues is another type of blues, which relates to classic blues in a way. Popular artist Charles Brown and his hit song Driftin’ Blues 1950 had a smoother sound and fewer country illusions.

Welcome to my Blog for Music History: 333 The first week and a half we began to graze the surface of the early history behind popular music.

When I saw this class as a liberal studies elective, I became intrigued and wanted to know more of what we would be learning. After I became aware that it would covering topics about popular music from 1945- present day, I thought it would be the right class for me to learn something completely new for a change. It is good to get out of your comfort zone every once and I saw this as an opportunity to switch it up a little bit. I have little to zero experience with music. I mean zero! The most musical experience I have is from elementary music classes, chorus, and middle school music classes. I have never learned to play an instrument. I guess some of has to do with the social environment I grew up in, neither my mother, father, sister or close friends played instruments, and if they did while they were inside at they’re piano lesson, I was outside riding my bike or playing sports.   I love listening to the radio, cd’s and going to concerts. It is not that I do not enjoy the music, I actually love and admire it. There is a lot of time, discipline, passion and dedication that goes into creating/selling music.

Walking into the first class it was an understatement to say that I was nervous. I had no idea what to expect, and did not recognize a single face in the class. Dr. Baumer, our professor did an excellent job going over the basics elements of music such as the beat, tempo, meter, rhythm, accents, melody, harmony, form, verse, chorus, style and pitch. These all pretty basic terms, but for me it was completely foreign. We began to talk about Pre-popular music and the influence of african americans made on the music industry. Most of these topics are pre 1945 but necessary to cover in order to fully understand the origin of most popular music we here today and throughout history. Dance music: folk dances, waltz, polka, quadrille and 2 step (March). These are all examples of pre history dance music. Music Theater: Opera, vaudeville, music theater, minstrelsy all forms of musical theater. Next we started talking about minstrelsy. This is a popular stage entertainment featuring songs, dances and comic dialogue in highly conventional patterns. At this time, African Americans were played by white people with black face paint, commonly known as “blackface”. By the early to mid 19th century this was commonly seen as a form of entertainment for whites. One famous minstrelsy actors covered in class was Thomas Dartmouth Rice. He was most famously popular for his character Jim Crow. Most people today have heard of Jim Crow, he has to deal with segregation in the U.S. he is a made up character that is considered offensive.

Overall, up to this point I enjoy the class. There is a lot of information to take in, but it is all interesting.