Not all varieties of the blues are sad and down-tempo. A prime example of a style of the blues that doesn’t feel so “blue” at all is Jump blues. This up-tempo and energetic style of blues music became popular in the 1940’s and thrilled audiences at the time as it was just the kind of music to get you up, close to someone and moving with them.
Jump blues was the music that came
just before R&B, and is a step in the musical evolution that brought us
rock and roll. Without Jump blues, and the musicians who played it, the current
musical landscape would look very different.
Styles of blues music: Jump blues
Back in the days of the 1940’s,
music was a much more flexible than what we may see it as now. Few musicians
woke up and said ‘I’m a blues player and only a blues player.’ Jump blues
evolved because jazz musicians, notably horn players, moved back and forth
between blues, jazz and big bands.
Jump blues itself evolved mainly
from traditional blues music that had started to
incorporate more and more musicians since it moved from the Delta to the big
cities up North. Horn sections became common and this lead to a brighter,
brassier sound being made by blues bands - Jump blues were not far off from
starting the moment a horn player was first invited to play with a blues band.
The first bands to play Jump blues
Jump blues evolved from traditional
blues by a gradual addition of horns and other players. Some of the earliest
bands and artists to fall under the Jump blues genre include:
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The Tympany Five
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Lionel Hampton
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Louis Jordan
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Jack McVea
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Earl Bostic
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Arnett Cobb
Every artist here was a part of a
larger band that would back them up and provide that big sound that got
audiences up off their seat and shaking what they were once sitting on.
The instruments of Jump blues
Jump blues fully embraced the big
band ethos and incorporated anywhere from five to ten instruments, or more, on
stage at once. You would expect to see an electric guitar, drums, upright bass,
piano, horns and a saxophone at a Jump blues concert.
The saxophone was a big component
of the Jump blues style, perhaps almost as important as a dynamic vocalist. No
matter the combination of instruments, they all had to come together in a way
that got people jumping!
Modern Jump blues performers
Jump blues underwent a tremendous
revival in the early to mid 1990’s with the swing revival and the success of Brian Setzer’s
big band orchestra. Brian still plays a mix of blues, Jump blues and swing at
all of his concerts and continues to push the genre forward with his dynamic
and searing guitar virtuosity.
Other modern Jump blues performers
include Roomful of Blues, The Lucky Few, Mitch Woods, The Mighty Blue Kings and
Lavay Smith. They all play a mix of big band and blues that is easily defined
as Jump blues by all those who hear it and know the classic bands.
