The History of R&B series of CDs is the first attempt to put together a comprehensive cross-label compilation showcasing the most important and influential records in the rise of Rhythm & Blues. Volume Two investigates the transition from race music through sepia to Rhythm & Blues; the growing importance of radio; the rise of the independent record labels, the 45rpm record and the jukebox and looks at the rhythms behind the blues from shuffle and jump through rumba to rock’n’roll and beyond. We have defined R&B as the accidental synthesis of jazz, gospel, blues, ragtime, country, pop and Latin into a definable form of black music, influencing all popular music from the 1950s to the present day. Other useful definitions include Robert Palmer's in Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, as ‘a catchall rubric used to refer to any music that was made by and for black Americans’, or Chip Deffaa's in Blue Rhythms as 'popular music that arose in black communities after the swing era and before the arrival of the Beatles.
