Soul-Jazz: Where Jazz, Blues And Gospel Meet

March 2024 ยท 1 minute read

As a jazz subgenre, soul-jazz began to flourish in the early 1960s. A groove-oriented style built from the bottom up, soul-jazz usually begins with the bass player: You take a strong bass line, establish a steady groove between the bass and drums, and then embellish that groove with riffs and melody lines that draw heavily from gospel, blues and R&B. Here are five classic examples.

For more entries the Take Five sampler, click here. Subscribe to the Jazz Notes newsletter.

This story originally ran Dec. 15, 2008.

Soul-Jazz: Where Jazz, Blues And Gospel Meet

Related NPR Stories

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7zRZ6arn19nfXJ8jmloaGhkZIZ5fpZybmlqX6i8triMo5izsl2staa%2BxGahmrKqYq%2BtwcSsZJqmlGK0sL%2FPnqNmpZWawQ%3D%3D