Without rhythm and blues, or R&B, there would be no such styles of music as rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music or soul music. Emerging after 1945 in African American communities in northern and western cities in the United States, R&B fused elements of jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) and blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) into an entirely new sound based around vocals, piano, saxophone, bass, and drums. Hip, usually danceable, and often funny, R&B most importantly spoke to the needs of black Americans in urban centers.

Rhythm and blues emerged when it did for a number of reasons. During World War II (1939–45), many African Americans had moved from the rural South to the urban North. The new conditions they found there prompted the need for a new kind of music...