Soul is a crossover style music (gospel, jazz and blues) that succeeded breaking into mainstream pop market in the 60s.
By the late 50s, jazz had mutated into a number of subgenres, such as bebop and cool jazz, which is too esoteric to the mainstream audience. Pioneers like Sam Cooke and Ray Charles has started writing more easy-listening tunes mixed together form and beat from jazz and blues and antiphonal singing from gospel.
In the 60s, composers started moving away from blues I-IV-V form and applying antiphonal singing but not confined to gospel styles. Significantly, fancy soloing was largely absent as well.
Labels such as Stax, Atlantic and Motown hired house session musicians (check out “Booker T & the MG’s” and “the Funk Brothers”) to record with the associated singers. Those labels used a small group of amplified combo with brass section in the recordings. Hence, you may find soul music in that era share many common rhythmic characteristics.
Soul has become prevalent among Caucasian audience in the USA and the UK, Caucasian musicians released soul music album thus. That’s what we called “Blue-eyed Soul” nowadays.
Overall, soul music is more about the vibe and groove instead of the technique itself, the simplicity and innovation of soul music achieved remarkable success in the 60s to mid 70s.
Suggested Song List
– Ray Charles – Tell Me How Do You Feel
– Wilson Pickett – In a midnight hour
– Sam Cooke – Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
– Otis Redding – (Sitting on) The dock of the bay
– Aretha Franklin – Ain’t Nobody (Gonna turn me around)
– Dusty Springfield – Spooky
(Article written by Jonathan Lai)