walking upstream…
Little Richard
photo: tgc-topps gum cards · public domain ↗Little Richard
sourcesWikipedia · PBS American Masters · The Conversation
Richard Wayne Penniman grew up in Macon, Georgia, singing in church and soaking up the gospel shouters, jump-blues bandleaders, and flamboyant rhythm-and-blues showmen he heard on the road and in Atlanta's clubs. After journeyman years on the chitlin' circuit and a run of tame early sides, a 1955 session in New Orleans for Specialty Records yielded 'Tutti Frutti,' whose frantic tempo, pounding piano, and ecstatic hollering helped set the template for rock and roll. Across a startling 1955-57 streak of hits he welded sanctified gospel fervor to boogie-woogie piano and a screaming, falsetto-whooping delivery, becoming one of the founding architects of rock and roll and a model of pop flamboyance for the generations that followed.
the sound in question
1955
Tutti FruttiLittle Richard
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe1940s · Gospel / Rock and roll
As a boy in Macon, Richard sang Tharpe's gospel numbers, and by his own account and biographers' telling he was invited up to perform on her stage at the Macon City Auditorium around 1947 - an early validation that steered him toward a performing life. Her fusion of sanctified gospel joy with a hard-driving beat is a root of his ecstatic, shouting delivery.
listen: upstream & here
1944
Strange Things Happening Every DaySister Rosetta Tharpe
1956
Long Tall SallyLittle Richard
listen forPut Tharpe's 'Strange Things Happening Every Day' next to 'Long Tall Sally' - both ride a relentless, hand-clapping, church-derived drive while the lead voice pushes past ordinary singing into a joyous, full-throated shout.
Billy Wright1940s-50s · Rhythm and blues / Jump blues
Richard befriended the Atlanta rhythm-and-blues singer Billy Wright around 1950 and took him as a model for both his look - the towering pompadour, pancake makeup, and pencil mustache - and his intense, gospel-tinged blues-shouting; Wright's connections also helped land Richard his first recording session in 1951.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
1950
Stacked DeckBilly Wright
1957
Keep A-Knockin'Little Richard
listen forPlay Wright's 'Stacked Deck' before 'Keep A-Knockin'' - both are belted, high-energy blues shouts in which the singer rides a churning band with a hoarse, testifying urgency that lives in attack and holler more than in melody.
Louis Jordan1940s · Jump blues / R&B / Swing
In his medicine-show and early-band days Richard performed Jordan material - he has recalled singing 'Caldonia' as the first R&B he ever sang - and Jordan's jumping, horn-driven, comic uptempo boogie is a direct ancestor of Richard's saxophone-lined, shuffling rockers.
listen: upstream & here
1945
CaldoniaLouis Jordan
1956
Rip It UpLittle Richard
listen forSet Jordan's 'Caldonia' against 'Rip It Up' - both gallop on a boogie-shuffle beat with honking saxophone and a grinning, wisecracking vocal that turns a night-on-the-town lyric into pure forward momentum.