Race Music

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Matthew A. Killmeier

In the 1930s race music was expanded by the popularity of swing. Swing grew out of big band jazz ensembles in the 1920s. Unlike the jazz bands of the 1920s, however, swing was more often arranged and scored, instead of improvised, and used reed instruments as well as the brass instruments that dominated earlier jazz. Swing in the 1930s was epitomized by the Fletcher Henderson Band which featured Louis Armstrong on trumpet, Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone, and arranger Don Redman. Other notable swing bands during this period included Chick Webb's band, which had vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Lunceford's Band, Duke Ellington's Orchestra, Count Basie's Orchestra, and Cab Calloway's Orchestra.

During the 1940s race records as a distinctly separate catalog of recordings waned due to several factors. The United States' entry into World War II curtailed the production and consumption of recorded music. In 1942 the government rationed shellac, a key component in the manufacture of record discs, which limited the number of releases. Likewise in 1942, the American Federation of Music announced a ban on all recording and as a result the studios were closed for two years. Following the war and the lifting of the recording ban, recording resumed with verve, but the industry concentrated on mass-market sales and neglected their race catalogs. Small labels that emphasized African-American music emerged in the Midwest and South and challenged the status of the major labels. Significantly, these labels--such as Chess, King, and Vee Jay--did not use the nomenclature "race records." Race music during this period was greatly expanded. While blues and jazz titles were still being recorded and released, a diversity of styles, collectively known as "rhythm and blues," began to coalesce. Although race music was still largely produced for and consumed by black audiences, the segregated status of the music and recordings was declining.