Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies
Louis Jordan in New York City, c. July 1946
Big Joe Turner was a key figure in early R&B, blending blues and rock.
Dizzy Gillespie was instrumental in blending Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz.
Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley beat" is a clave-based motif.
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, s
American blues singer Ma Rainey (1886–1939), the "Mother of the Blues"
Musicologist John Lomax (left) shaking hands with musician "Uncle" Rich Brown in Sumterville, Alabama
Sheet music from "Saint Louis Blues" (1914)
Bessie Smith, an early blues singer, known for her powerful voice