Jump Blues Overview: A Brief History of Jump Blues Music

Jump blues is a variation of blues music that vaulted 1940s big band artists like Louis Jordan, Roy Brown, and Big Joe Turner into the popular music spotlight. Combining the horns of classic jazz orchestras, the piano and bass idioms of boogie-woogie music, and the iconic shuffle drum pattern, jump blues showed marked influence on the R&B and rock ‘n’ roll music that would quickly follow it.

The typical jump blues band features a small horn section that plays melodies and short, pithy riffs. The horn section is dominated by saxophones, which are technically woodwinds but often referred to as horns. The horns are then backed by a rhythm section consisting of bass, drums, and a chordal instrument—typically piano or electric guitar. The music is up-tempo, drawing influence from both the blues songs of the American South and the big band jazz of urban centers.

From the late 1930s to the late 1940s, jump blues played an important role in America's popular music landscape.

• Born of big bands: Jump blues music was created by breakout stars from the 1930s and 1940s big bands like the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra, and Cab Calloway and His Orchestra. These breakout stars included sax players Louis Jordan, Bullmoose Jackson, Illinois Jacquet, and Big Jay McNeely. They also included singers Louis Prima, Big Joe Turner, Roy Milton, Amos Milburn, and Wynonie Harris.
• Merge toward boogie-woogie and shuffle: The stars of jump blues were schooled in jazz and big band music, and they found popular success when they streamlined their music. Most jump blues songs featured repeated riffs, boogie-woogie bass lines, and shuffle drum patterns. This simplicity made them popular with the general public.
• Direct lineage to rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll: The stars of jump blues directly inspired early R&B and rock 'n' roll artists. Some, like T-Bone Walker and Joe Liggins, began their careers playing jump blues but became far more famous for R&B. Others composed songs that took off when covered by rock artists such as Roy Brown, author of "Good Rockin' Tonight." By the 1950s, rock and R&B performers like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino had seized the popular music scene in cities like New York, Chicago, and New Orleans. Jump blues had been set aside, but it cast a long shadow on these new genres.

A few key artists helped define the jump blues style.

1. 1. Louis Jordan (1908–1975): Louis Jordan was among the most popular of the jump blues artists, which led to the nickname "The King of the Jukebox." Jordan and his group the Tympany Five cut jump blues hits like "Saturday Night Fish Fry," which famously featured a distorted electric guitar—an inspiration to nascent rhythm and blues guitarists that would soon follow.
2. 2. Big Joe Turner (1911–1985): Turner's vocals propelled perhaps the biggest hit of the jump blues era, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll." In 1987, he was enshrined into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
3. 3. Roy Brown (1925–1981): Brown penned the jump blues classic "Good Rockin' Tonight," which hit Number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1948. Today the song gets categorized in multiple genres including jump blues, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll. It has been covered by countless rock musicians including Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, leading some to declare it the first rock 'n' roll song.
4. 4. T-Bone Walker (1910–1975): T-Bone Walker was one of the first electric guitarists to gain popular acclaim. He hailed from more of a traditional blues background than the big band alumni who dominated jump blues. Walker's most famous song in his lifetime was "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)," and he enjoyed numerous hits over a career that spanned nearly fifty years.

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