Styles: Jump Blues (aka Boogie-Woogie) 4

As is the case with every post-war rhythm and blues style, jump blues vocalists engaged in substantial vocal ornamentation. These included full-throated sound production, adding vibrato at the end of lyric lines, rhythmically accenting various syllables in unexpected places, scooping into notes from below, and adding multiple kinds of shakes and other vocal effects on individual words or notes. However, as exemplified by Louis Jordan, extended melismas A group of many notes (usually at least five or six) sung melodically to a single syllable. were not common because of the genre's faster tempos, whether shouting or singing.

Many of the lyrics found in jump blues recordings followed the typical three-line stanza or AAB structure of blues lyrics. However, artists such as Louis Jordan often wrote or recorded text-heavy narratives that significantly diverged from the blues lyric format, whether set in a twelve-bar structure or not. Jordan's approach to lyric writing enabled him to enjoy substantial crossover success with White audiences. Consequently, he was to have a considerable influence on Chuck Berry's lyric writing in the 1950s. As stated previously, while the voice is preeminent in rhythm and blues music, the saxophone contributed to the development and recognition of rhythm and blues.