Welcome To The FReeper Canteen!
~ Pre-Rock *n* Roll ~
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~ Mayhem Music Theme ~
Pre-History of Rock N Roll
We call this the *roots* section! Beginning a musical journey and task such as the *History of Rock n Roll* is often a foolish venture into the insane. The more information you find tends to create other issues such as checking facts from here to there. If one book, website, or *expert* states something, you will find at least 20 others that disagree. So? It becomes a task to weed through what is relevant and vital to take you on this journey. Why are we doing this? The answer is simply explained like this--it's our history. It takes the good, bad, and ugly of our history and creates one of the finest exports of American spirit and creativity the world has seen. Of course most of the musical genres are based from the homelands of earlier Americans. However, it took some great Americans to sell it to the rest of the world and sometimes to fellow Americans. The second answer is even quicker to explain--because we can! What we hope to accomplish? Education, amusement, entertainment, and hopefully a better understanding and appreciation of those Americans that came before us. It is also a hope that the next generations of Americans will preserve our history through music. The sources and links used for this particular thread and those in the next few weeks come from the following: (This only a small sampling!) Browse at your leisure! The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame
Roughstock - History of Country & Western
Roots & Rhythm
Rockabilly Hall Of Fame
The Blue Highway (overview of Blues musicians)
The Blues *One of the best resources online
American Roots Music
Billboard
Sun Records
Rock *n* Roll from Answers.com
Digital Dream Door - Fantastic Online Music Index
The History Of Rock N Roll
History Of Rock Music
Memphis Rock n Soul Museum
MerleFest - (Merle and Doc Watson Festival)
American Routes
Zydeco Music
History Of Jazz Music
The Jubilee Singers
From Jazz To Swing
Big Band Database - The largest online resource for information
Gospel Music
American Folk Music
Popular Songs in American History
You may not agree with everything on these websites. We most certainly didn't. It just gives you a short overview of what we're trying to accomplish. From one of the websites:
A short Timeline: 1877
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Thomas Edison invents the phonograph for playing back stored sounds. The first recording he makes is "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
1915
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The Chicago Automatic Machine and Tool Company invents the jukebox that plays records (as opposed to the cylinder recordings type of player that had been around since 1889).
1917
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In 1917, the first jazz record was issued in the U.S. when Nick LaRocca’s Original Dixieland Jazz Band released "The Dixieland Jazz Band One-Step."
1929
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The 78 rpm record is introduced.
1931
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Adolph Rickenbacker invents the electric guitar
1936
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Billboard puts out its first record sales chart in 1936.
1938
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Bluesman Robert Johnson records his first record -
Pete Johnson and Joe Turner cut their first boogie records in Kansas City -
Boom of boogie woogie in Chicago -
Telefunken helps develop magnetic tape for use with tape recorders. -
John Hammond's 'Spirituals to Swing' concert in NYC -
Saxophonist Louis Jordan leaves Chick Webb's sax section to form his Tympany Five. This might well mark the beginnings of what we know as Rock and Roll
1939
- Leo Mintz founds a record store in Cleveland, the "Record Rendezvous", specializing in
black music
1942
- Louis Jordan launches "jump blues" (rhythm and blues) with "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie "
- Los Angeles bluesman T-Bone Walker incorporates jazz chords into the blues guitar with "I
Got A Break Baby" - Savoy is founded in Newark (NJ) to promote black music
1943
- King Records is founded in Cincinnati by Syd Nathan to record hillbilly. In 1946 adds race music.
1945
- Les Paul invents "echo delay", "multi-tracking" and many other studio techniques
- Johnny Otis assembles a combo for "Harlem Nocturne" that is basically a
shrunk-down version of the big-bands of swing - Jules Bihari founds Modern Records in Los Angeles, specializing in black music
1946
- Muddy Waters cuts the first records of Chicago's electric blues
- Carl Hogan plays a powerful guitar riff on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman"
- Lew Chudd founds Imperial Records in Los Angeles, specializing in black music
- Specialty Records is founded by Art Rupe in Los Angeles to specialize in black popular
music
1947
- Billboard writer Jerry Wexler invents the term "rhythm and blues" for electric blues
- Roy Brown writes and cuts "Good Rockin' Tonight" in Texas
- Chess Records is founded in Chicago by two Polish-born Jews, Leonard and Phil Chessm to promote blues and later rhythm and blues
- Ahmet Ertegun founds Atlantic Records in New York to promote black music at the border between
jazz, rhythm and blues and pop
1948
- Detroit R&B saxophonist Wild Bill Moore releases "We're Gonna Rock We're
Gonna Roll" - John Lee Hooker records Boogie "Chillen'" for Modern Records, a a single, which topped the
R&B charts in 1949. - Columbia introduces the 12-inch 33-1/3 RPM long-playing vinyl record
- Homer Dudley invents the Vocoder (Voice Operated recorder)
- Memphis' radio station WDIA hires Nat Williams, the first black disc jockey
- The magazine Billboard introduces charts for "hillbilly" and "race" records
1949
- Fats Domino cuts "The Fat Man," a new kind of boogie
- Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" reaches the top of the country charts
- Scatman Crothers cuts "I Want To Rock And Roll" (1949), with Wild Bill Moore on
saxophone - RCA Victor introduces the 45 RPM vinyl record
- Todd Storz of the KOWH radio station starts the Top 40 radio program
- The Billboard chart for "race" records becomes the chart for "rhythm and blues" records
- Aristocrat changes its name to Chess
- Dewey Phillips (white) deejays race music show 'Red Hot and Blue' in Memphis (Delta blues, Chicago blues, boogie)
1951
- The white Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed decides to speculate on the success of Leo
Mintz's store and starts a radio program, Moondog Rock'n'Roll Party, that broadcasts
black music to an audience of white teenagers - The first rock and roll record, Ike Turner's Rocket 88, is released
- The first juke-box that plays 45 RPM records is introduced
- Howling Wolf and Joe Turner popularize the "shouters"
- Gunter Lee Carr cuts the dance novelty "We're Gonna Rock "
1952
- Bill Haley Saddlemen become the Comets
- Bob Horn's Bandstand TV program airs from Philadelphia every weekday afternoon
- The Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed (aka Moondog) organizes the first rock and roll
concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball - Les Paul invents the Gibson guitar, the first solid-body electric guitar
- Sam Phillips founds Sun Records and declares "If I could find a white man who sings with
the Negro feel, I'll make a million dollars" - Charles Brown's "Hard Times" is the first hit by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to enter the
charts - Little Richard's first records released
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~ The Roots ~
*Americana*
Definition: This is a clever term for *American Roots Music* or *American Folk Music*.
As with most countries, there are songs that were written specifically about an event, everyday life, celebrations, or songs that were made for social awareness. The list below is just a sampling of these songs. If you want a better listing, please visit here. In truth, folk music is storytelling in a lyrical way.
*Keep in mind most of the early American songs were composed lyrically by Americans, but the music was usually taken from England, Ireland, Scotland, or elsewhere.*
Enjoy!
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~ The Roots ~
*Ragtime*
Definition: Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900–1918. Ragtime is a dance form written in 2/4 or 4/4 time, and utilizing a walking bass, that is, the bass note played legato on the 1-3 beats with a staccato chord played on the 2-4 beats. Much ragtime is written in Sonata form, with four distinct themes and a modified first theme appearing in the work. Ragtime music is syncopated, with the melodic notes landing largely on the off-beats.More Information:
Ragtime originated in African-American musical communities, in the mid/late 19th century, and descended from the jigs and marches played by all-black bands common in all Northern cities with black populations (van der Merwe 1989, p.63). By the start of the 20th century it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African-American syncopation and European classical music, though this description is oversimplified. Credit belongs here. We do have some very old recordings, but it would be very hard to distinguish the sound. We do offer you the *King Of Ragtime*. Keep in mind, ragtime music was played before Scott Joplin. He just popularized it. Most folks believe ragtime must only be piano compilations. For the most they were, but not all the time. This is merely a sampling to give you an idea of what style of music we're discussing!
Enjoy!
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~ The Roots ~
*The Blues*
Definition: The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. The form evolved in the United States in the communities of former African slaves from spirituals, praise songs, field hollers, shouts, and chants. The use of blue notes and the prominence of call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of the blues' West African pedigree. The blues has been a major influence on later American and Western popular music, finding expression in ragtime, jazz, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, and country music, as well as conventional pop songs.
The phrase the blues is a synonym for having a fit of the blue devils, meaning low spirits, depression and sadness. An early reference to this can be found in George Colman's farce Blue devils, a farce in one act (1798). Later during the 19th century, the phrase was used as a euphemism for delirium tremens and the police. Though usage of the phrase in African American music may be older, it has been attested to since 1912 in Memphis, Tennessee with W. C. Handy's "Memphis Blues".[1][2] In lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood.[3] Credit belongs here.Below follows a small sampling of earlier Blues musicians. For more Blues music, check for acad1228's *Dose Of Da Blues*. If you love the early blues, then you'll love this section!
Enjoy!
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~ The Roots ~
*Western Swing*
Definition: This very popular style of Country Music developed in Texas and Oklahoma the 1930's and saw enormous popularity in the 40's. The style is a blend of big band, blues, dixieland, and jazz, among others. Musically, it contributed the drums and Hawaiian Steel Guitar to Country Music. It was a Saturday night dance type of music which combined the style of jazz and big band swing with the culture of the Southwest. Credit belongs here.One of the ways to get folks into country music is to take the *W* side of C & W. Western Swing influence on Rockabilly was evident years later. If you listen to Western Swing, you'll notice how most of the genres seemed to have it's own versions of the popular music of the time. In other words, city folks were into Big Bands and Swing Jazz. While their country counterparts, were swinging with Western Swing.
Enjoy!
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~ The Roots Pt. 1 ~
*Jazz Music*
Definition: Jazz is an original American musical art form, originating around the early 1920's in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. It is characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. Jazz has been described as "America's Classical Music".We could spend a few weeks doing the influence of Jazz music on Rock *n* roll. However, we don't have that much time. We will do a tribute to Jazz music later on in the year. And besides, the following is merely a sample!
Enjoy!
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