Jump blues
| Jump blues | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1930s, United States |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | |
| Fusion genres | |
Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, usually played by small groups and featuring saxophone or brass instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as part of the swing revival.
Jump blues evolved from the music of big bands such as those of Lionel Hampton and Lucky Millinder. These bands of the early 1940s produced musicians such as Louis Jordan, Jack McVea, Earl Bostic, and Arnett Cobb.
Blues and jazz were part of the same musical world, with many accomplished musicians straddling both genres. Jump bands such as the Tympany Five, which came into being at the same time as the boogie-woogie revival, achieved maximum effect with an eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie style.
Lionel Hampton recorded the stomping big-band blues song "Flying Home" in 1942. Featuring a choked, screaming tenor sax performance by Illinois Jacquet, the song was a hit in the "race" category. When released, however, Billboard described the tune as "an unusually swingy side...with a bright bounce in the medium tempo and a steady drive maintained, it's a jumper that defies standing still". Billboard also noted that Benny Goodman had a hand in writing the tune "back in the old Goodman Sextet Days".Billboard went on to state that "apart from the fact that it is Lionel Hampton's theme, "Flying Home" is a sure-fire to make the youngsters shed their nickels—and gladly." Five years later Billboard noted the inclusion of "Flying Home" in a show that was "strictly for hepsters who go for swing and boogie, and beats in loud, hot unrelenting style a la Lionel Hampton....The Hampton band gave with everything, practically wearing itself out with such numbers as 'Hey Bop a Re Bop', 'Hamp Boogie' and 'Flying Home'"
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