Enslaved people would sing work songs while working the plantations and religious spirituals in church. Combined with the African rhythms, these musical styles were the foundation of blues.

Jazz and blues are types of music that can trace their roots back to the early 20th Century, in the southern United States. Jazz was very popular as it was a fresh, new sound. Different styles of ...

Though jazz and classic blues are really early twentieth-century black music ... the American slave trade--had already taken on special significance in the history of black music-making in America.

Mamie Smith made history in February 1920 when she ... He writes about blues and jazz for Universal Music. He also writes album sleeve notes for Verve Records. As a teenager, he saw BB King ...

Jazz blends elements from varied traditions, including African and African American, religious, brass band, and blues styles. The improvisational music that results has a syncopated rhythm ...

The instrument hasn’t always been a central player in jazz, but the best guitarists have taken up the challenge of finding ...

December 31, 2024 • NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich turns us on to lesser known corners of music from 2024: blooming drone-folk, richly textured jazz, Somali garage-rock, medieval metal and a ...

The daughter of piano players, Houston’s "Swamp Boogie Queen" was drawn to the sounds of Little Richard and Fats Domino.

David Evans, an ethnomusicologist at the University of Memphis, explain some of the history behind blues music, especially the stripped-down, raw style of music called Delta blues. Mai Cramer ...

and selfless commitment to Black music paved the way to perform, record and befriend a vast constellation of foundational ...