Foundations of R&B music

1. FOUNDATIONS OF R&B
MUSIC

2. ORIGINAL R&B MUSIC
• R&B was a term originally used during the 1940s in reference to popular
African American urban music of the time.
• R&B in its original form was sourced almost entirely in the USA, though other
Western countries used the term in discussion of the music.
• Previously the term ‘race music’ had been donned to describe the music
created by African American musicians but after WW11 the term was
viewed with more offense and the name R&B was coined, meaning: rhythm
and blues.

3. ORIGINAL R&B GROUPS:
• Harlem Hamfats
• Louis Jordan
• Leroy Carr
• T-Bone Walker

4. R&B MUSIC GENRE
• R&B as a recognisable musical genre has developed from the 1940s to the
present day.
• Though still a category that is dominated by black artists, the sound and
development of the genre has become much more distinctive. A mixture of
styles such as electric blues, gospel and soul, the genre quickly became
knows as ‘Contemporary R&B’, as it utilised both ‘rhythm’ and ‘soul’.

5. MODERN R&B ARTISTS
• Beyoncé
• Stevie Wonder
• Chris Brown
• Justin Timberlake
• R. Kelly
• Mary J Blige