The earliest roots of rock and roll can be seen in jazz and blues music. Jazz was most often played with big bands but smaller combinations of bands started to evolve late in the music era that included guitar, stand-up bass, piano, drums, and a horn section. These bands soon created a jazz and blues hybrid sound. One of the first musicians to combine jazz and blues was Louis Jordan who originated the “jump blues”, an up-tempo, hard driving, blues-based dance music (Kallen 14). Jordans jump blues inspired many musicians including Wynonie Harris, an R&B singer that is credited with pioneering rock in roll in 1947.
Shortly after jump blues bands started playing their music it evolved into something closer to rock. Bill Haley officially made the new genre “rock” music when his song “(Were Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” appeared in the movie Blackboard Jungle in 1955, breaking rock into the mainstream (Kallen 14). Although Haley is credited for bringing rock to mainstream, other black artists such as B.B. King, Little Milton, Howling Wolf, and Ike Turner were the true pioneers of the rock music style but were not as popular because of their race. After the success of Haley, a Memphis studio owner, Sam Phillips was desperately looking for a rock artist that could become mainstream, Sam had previously recorded for other talented black artists but their music wasnt getting as much attention because of racial prejudice. Phillips dream of promoting a rock musician became true when a young man named Elvis Presley recorded a demo in his studio in 1954 (Kallen 18). Shortly after recording, Presley recruited a band and created a new fresh sound no one had heard so far. Elvis broke into the mainstream with his hit “Heartbreak Hotel,” changing the course of music forever. Other artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis capitalized on the sound of Elvis but did not achieve the designated place in history.
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