Sign In
 
 
 
 

Blues Jazz

 
 

Description of Blues Jazz

 
So much jazz has roots in the blues, but this style is a closer hybrid of two. Blues Jazz starts with the steady beat and classic chord structure of the blues and laces it with instrumental improvisation. It developed in the 1940s and '50s in the jazz-friendly blues of artists like drummer/vocalist Roy Milton and his Solid Senders, and in the swinging vocals of blues shouter Jimmy Rushing. Artists like genre-hopping drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie continue to revisit Blues Jazz, keeping the style alive and well into the '90s.
 

Filed Under

 
Jazz  >  Blues Jazz
 

Blues Jazz Key Artists

 
Al Hibbler

Hibbler's jazz & blues soaked
vocals took him from Duke
Ellington'd band to solo
stardom.

Dinah Washington

Steeped in the blues,
Washington excelled at
jazz, pop and R&B.
Washington's jazz- and
blues-soaked vocal style...

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson

Vinson always played a hot
jazz sax but it was his
haunting blues falsetto that
put him over the top.

Hadda Brooks

The lovely Miss Brooks
helped define sophisticated
boogie woogie and West
Coast blues.

Ike Quebec

A tenor sax player known
for his distinctive, powerful
sound, Quebec played both
energetic Swing and
mellower Soul-Jazz.

Jimmy Rushing

With or without Basie,
Rushing's barrel-chested,
blues-drenched, banshee
vocals smack you upside
the head.

Joe Williams

Williams became a star with
Count Basie's band in the
1950s and just kept getting
bigger and better through
out the decades.

King Curtis

This soulful saxophonist
was a key part of the 1960s
Atlantic Records jazz, blues
and R&B sound. Curtis had
many instrumental R&B hits...

Lou Rawls

A much-loved singer who
treads the line between
jazz and R&B, Lou Rawls'
elegant voice brings the
game to a whole new leve...

Ray Charles

This national treasure has
combined Gospel with the
best of secular music to
help give birth to soul, rock
and hard bop. Charles' sil...

Electronics

Listen to any song in the catalog through home audio systems, MP3 players, mobile apps and more.

Get Unlimited Music

Listen to anything and everything with a Rhapsody Subscription.

Follow Us

On Twitter and Facebook.
AMG - Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
© 2001-2009 Listen.com, a subsidiary of RealNetworks