Jump blues facts for kids

Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, usually played by small groups and featuring saxophone or brass instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as part of the swing revival.

Jump was especially popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s, through artists such as Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Charles Brown, Helen Humes, T-Bone Walker, Roy Milton, Billy Wright, Wynonie Harris, Louis Prima, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.

Revival

Jump blues was revived in the 1980s by artists such as Joe Jackson and Brian Setzer and is performed today by bands including Roomful of Blues, the Lucky Few (Denver, Colorado), and Mitch Woods and His Rocket 88s. Contemporary swing bands, such as Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers and the Mighty Blue Kings, continue the tradition.

Images for kids

• 

  Jordan in New York, July 1946

• 

  Louis Jordan's Tympany Five

• 

  Lionel Hampton

See also

In Spanish: Jump blues para niños