What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
The term "rhythm & blues" was invented as a marketing term in the late 1940s, but it quickly replaced the term race records to describe popular African American recordings and remained the dominant term to describe popular African American music through the mid 1960s. Early 1950s rhythm & blues was a direct descendant of Jump Blues and the blues shouters, who may be categorized as either jump-blues or rhythm & blues, are generally credited with the first Rock & Roll recordings. .