Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats · Jackie Brenston was an American singer and saxophonist from Clarksdale in Mississippi. His year of birth is uncertain: dates between 1927 and 1930 have been given. After his military service he learned to play tenor saxophone and in 1950 joined Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm, as a saxophonist and sometimes singer.

Music and breakthrough

In March 1951 the band recorded in Memphis in Sam Phillips's studio, on B.B. King's advice. One of the songs was Rocket 88, on which Brenston sang lead and was credited as the writer. The song leans on the jump blues about a car, and Brenston himself said that it was borrowed from Cadillac Boogie by Jimmy Liggins. Turner insisted that he wrote the music. Phillips licensed the recording to Chess Records in Chicago, which released the record under the name Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats instead of Turner's. The record reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and sold about half a million copies.

Influence

Rocket 88 is regarded as one of the first rock 'n' roll records. Phillips himself said it was the first, although others name other records. The success paid for Sun Records, which Phillips started a year later. The music blends the rhythms of jump blues with a heavy, distorted guitar and a swinging saxophone. Brenston left the band afterwards and had little further success. He died in 1979.

Listening

• 
  Rocket 88 · Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, 1951
  Apple Music ↗

See also

• Rhythm and blues