Soul Jazz

Soul jazz is a subgenre of Jazz that appeared during the 1950s, when Gospel, Rhythm & Blues and later Soul started to influence the style of prolific jazz musicians such as Horace Silver, whose composition "The Preacher" quickly became a staple of the genre. The characteristic "groove" of soul jazz became especially popular during the late 1950 and the early 1960s, when Hard Bop was becoming the leading form of jazz. Hence, both genres developed in close association with each other to the extent that a great deal of soul jazz fell within the scope of hard bop.

During the first half of the 1950s, R&B-influenced jazz emerged as an alternative to both Cool Jazz and Bebop. The appearance of soul jazz represented the fusion of different Afro-American musics as a response to the "white" sound of West Coast jazz; all of this during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. Soul jazz hits in this era include Illinois Jacquet's "Port of Rico" and Jimmy Forrest's "Night Train". When hard bop evolved out of bebop in the mid-1950s, many ensembles fully embraced soul jazz, giving rise to a movement that would last until the late 1960s. Amongst the first to explore the combination of hard bop and soul jazz were a first generation of tenor saxophonists with a swing and bebop background as well as notable r&b influences. These included Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Gene Ammons and Ike Quebec, who were followed by a younger generation with Stanley Turrentine, Houston Person and Grover Washington, Jr.. Besides the tenor saxophone, the quintessential soul jazz instrument was the Hammond B-3 electric organ. The first and most crucial organist in the history of soul jazz was Jimmy Smith. His lead was followed by other important figures such as Johnny Hammond, Baby Face Willette, Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes and Jack McDuff. The popular organ trio configuration usually included guitarists such as Grant Green, Kenny Burrell and Pat Martino.

Some of the most representative soul jazz albums were produced during the mid-1960s. These include Soul Message by Richard "Groove" Holmes, Let 'Em Roll by Big John Patton, Alligator Bogaloo by Lou Donaldson and That's Where It's At by Stanley Turrentine, which features heavily gospel-influenced pianist Les McCann. As the end of the decade approached, soul jazz began to evolve into more adventurous styles of jazz, notably Jazz-Funk. Hard bop had already developed into freer forms such as Post-Bop, and other experimental genres like Free Jazz were also prevalent. The most important artist to take soul jazz beyond its original boundaries was Freddie Hubbard, who combined soul jazz with jazz-funk and post-bop in his two critically acclaimed albums of the early 1970s, Red Clay and Straight Life. However, by the mid-1970s soul jazz was already considered old-fashioned and, even though new artists such as Charles Earland managed to keep the style alive, it has remained largely eclipsed by more popular jazz genres ever since.