Rhythm+and+Blues

By Byron Fan

Rhythm and Blues has many characteristics and has a wide range of styles. Consisted of a mixing of country and city blues, electric/amplified instruments, and has an urban tone to it. It’s considered to be/defined as a very popular genre of African-American music. R&B had several meanings throughout it’s history based on the period at the time. Here is the history of this genre. When African-Americans moved to more urban cities during the 1930s, they introduced jazz and blues, which later evolved in to Rhythm and Blues. The electric guitar, piano, and saxophone became more and more used. During the 1940s, it was coined for the replacement for black music. The instruments of R&B have arrived along with top songs. It became more heavy jazz with a consistent beat. Jump blues was used for this specific type of R&B.