stage name Bo Diddley, which was also the title of the first single he recorded for Checker (a subsidiary of Chess) in 1955. The song featured the distinctive jerky rhythm based on the ‘patted juba’, an African tribal beat adopted by street performers in Chicago, but known subsequently as the ‘Bo Diddley beat’. Diddley was also known for his ...
musician Pinetop Perkins. Inspired by other bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters and Elmore James, he took up the guitar. Turner formed The Rhythm Kings in the late 1940s, and in 1951, they made what many consider to be the first rock’n’roll record, ‘Rocket 88’, credited on the label to Jackie ...
(Instrumental group, 1922–25) The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK) were one of the major white groups in early New Orleans jazz; after a run at Chicago’s Friar’s Club in 1922, they recorded with Paul Mares (trumpet), George Brunis (trombone), Leon Roppolo (clarinet), Jack Pettis (alto sax), Elmer Schoebel (piano), Lew Black (banjo), Steve Brown (bass) and Frank Snyder (drums). ...
Rhythm & blues (R&B) music evolved out of jump blues rhythms during the late-1940s, but it also had riffs and lyrics that were beginning to point more towards the emergence of rock’n’roll. Using sparser instrumentation than jump blues, R&B was based upon traditional blues chord changes played over a steady backbeat. R&B placed more emphasis on the singer ...
New Orleans. Surprisingly, the banjo was also used in blues, where its role was much more like that of a guitar. Ragtime used the banjo mainly as a rhythm instrument, working together with the drum section, and its qualities as a solo voice were increasingly overlooked. It soon began to give way to the guitar, and ...
, the bass drum originated in the Middle East. It is a large instrument with a cylindrical body and two heads, and is the drum used to keep the rhythm in marching bands. The modern orchestral bass drum (100 cm/70 in diameter and 50 cm/20 in long) is double headed and rod tensioned. Although single-headed orchestral bass drums were popular ...
, the sousaphone is particularly suited for the American marching band. It was also a regular part of Dixieland bands, adding some beef to the bass part in the rhythm section. It is rarely seen in Europe. Saxophone Musicologists say, with justification, that the saxophone is a wind instrument because it combines a clarinet mouthpiece and an oboe-like ...
of tone. Natural trumpets and kettledrums found their way into large-scale pieces, although because they could only play a handful of notes, they tended only to reinforce the rhythm, though high solo trumpet parts were occasionally written (such as in Bach’s second Brandenburg Concerto). Natural horns were sometimes included too, as they had become more reliable and could ...
set in motion by currents of air generated by a hand-operated bellows. As the player’s hands incline outwards, the bellows ‘inhale’; as they contract, they ‘exhale’. Pitch and rhythm are controlled by studs or buttons at both ends. These are manipulated by the fingers, while the thumbs and/or the heels of the hand are anchored to the sound ...
Barrel-shaped drums are usually constructed either from a single log, which is carved into a barrel shape like Japanese byou-daiko drums, or made like a wine barrel from staves of wood glued together or bound with metal strips, as in conga and bongo drums. Barrel drums can have two heads or a single head, and are played ...
open position, notated + and o respectively, making a short or a sustained sizzling sound as the two cymbals vibrate against each other. A typical jazz or swing rhythm exploits this feature of the cymbal. Other Cymbals Rhythms are played on the ride or bounce cymbal (45–52 cm/18–21 in diameter), which is designed to have a clean articulation and ...
an instrument that uses synthesized or sampled sound to emulate drums or other percussion, and allows the user to programme rhythmic patterns that can be chained together into songs. Rhythm Machines The history of the drum machine dates back as far as the 1930s, when Leon Theremin (1896–1993) was commissioned by composer Henry Cowell (1897–1965) to produce the hugely ...
the Middle East, with the dumbek becoming popular only in the twentieth century. When playing both the dumbek and frame drums, the dominant hand plays most of the rhythm, as the other hand holds the drum and adds in light fills. The dumbek is played by holding the drum under the left or non-dominant hand arm with the ...
and operation to the electric guitar, but is actually a descendent of the upright acoustic double bass. The double bass had long been an integral part of the jazz rhythm section, but the increasing need to compete with amplified instruments – not to mention the transportation problems caused by its sheer bulk – made players and manufacturers seek amplified ...
(often from other people’s records). Either way, the sample can then be played musically by connecting a keyboard to the sampler. Drum machines have changed the approach to providing rhythm in music. There are two types: the type that produces a continuous beat to a pre-set pattern, and those that are played in ‘real time’ using sticks. A key ...
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An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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David Bowie
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