Jump Blues

Jump blues crossed the color line when it was still unfashionable — and even a little dangerous — to do so. With white practitioners such as Louis Prima and black artists like Louis Jordan, it directly presaged the birth of rock 'n' roll, when the racial barriers would finally be breached for all time.

Put your cat clothes on! The success of his "Shake, Rattle and Roll" gave Joe Turner the impetus to remake it as "Flip Flop and Fly," and Louis Jordan's "Jack, You're Dead!" was later covered by Joe Jackson, which just goes to demonstrate the durability and vibrancy of the songs themselves.

One classic feature of many jump blues tunes is a big, fat, honkin' sax, and you can't find a better practitioner than Big Jay McNeely. One of the other "Bigs," Mama "Hound Dog" Thornton, also jumps into the fray. Dig the boogie-woogie rhythms and the not-too-subtle undertones. Work it out!

One of the reasons that it's so hard to document the precise birth of rock 'n' roll is that its predecessors sounded so similar. In fact, many historians cite "Rocket 88" as rock's debut track. In any event, jump blues has a beat, you can (have to, really) dance to it, and if it sounds like it's just about a mere half-a-degree away from being Chuck Berry or Little Richard, that's because it is.