Mighty Instrumentals R&B-Style 1959

Now available at a much cheaper price. 1960 may have been the big year for Instrumentals, but back in 1959, several white instrumentals acts were already making a dent in the pop charts, among them the Virtues, the Rebels, the Rock-A-Teens and the Fireballs. Duane Eddy had broken through in ‘58 but in 1959 he had no less than seven singles on the Hot 100. Johnny & the Hurricanes had their first success this year with three big hits. Black artists, however, had less mainstream success. Jimmy Beck sneaked in at #82 for two weeks with Pipe Dreams, Larry Kerrin’s The Hunch was a hit for both Paul Gayten and the Bobby Peterson Quintet; Bill Doggett had three discs in the R&B charts but apart from a couple of organ hits for Preston Epps and ‘Dave Baby’ Cortez, that was it for R&B instrumentals chart-wise. If you’re knocked out by what you hear from 1959, just wait till you find out what was on offer in 1960 and 1961.