Rhythm & blues emerged from the African American community in the late 1940s to become the driving force in American popular music over the next half-century. Although sometimes called -doo-wop, - -soul, - -funk, - -urban contemporary, - or -hip-hop, - R&B is actually an umbrella category that includes all of these styles and genres. It is in fact a modern-day incarnation of a musical tradition that stretches back to nineteenth-century America, and even further to African beginnings.

The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999 traces the development of R&B from 1950...