JUMP BLUES OR JUMP SWING?

As a label for a style, you’ll see people talking about T-Bone Walker playing ‘jump blues’ or Louis Jordan playing ‘jump swing’, but what’s the difference? Ask ten people and you’ll probably get ten different answers, and they’re all right. It’s useful to have labels to facilitate discussion, but it’s hard to figure out where to draw the line.

WHAT MAKES YOUR BIG HEAD SO HARD?

Take “Caldonia” by Louis Jordan for example. Jordan and his band come from the swing tradition, but they clearly sound different from Benny Goodman. They’ve got swinging rhythm in common, but the Tympany Five put a stronger emphasis on the blues. So it’s rhythm and blues, right? Well, the band plays with plenty of both, and Caldonia follows the 12-bar blues structure, but the piano part is in a boogie-woogie style. So is it boogie-woogie or rhythm and blues? Or jump blues, or jump swing?

JUST ONE MUSICIAN’S OPINION

I’d say all of the above. I’d also say that rhythm and blues is the perfect catch-all term. The music that filled so many jukeboxes, rocked so many radios, and moreover, helped Americans cut loose in the post-war boom is rhythmically focused and drenched in the blues. ‘Rhythm and Blues’ encompasses the syncopation, the groove, and the feeling in that music. The only problem is that it’s been used so much in it’s abbreviated form that it’s colloquially associated more with Boyz II Men than Fats Domino.

SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?

As a catch-all term for the music in between swing and rock & roll, I prefer ‘jump’. Like swing, rock, and roll, it’s a verb that evokes the feeling of the groove. It’s short and sweet, but distinctive enough to work as a label. It can be used as a modifier to describe ensembles (swing band, rock band, jump band). Most importantly, it’s used to describe good times and solid grooves.

This joint is jumpin!

Fats Waller, 1937