The first Billboard Harlem Hit Parade - February 1941

World War 2 marked a sea change in the music industry. The requirements of the war for men, machinery and raw materials caused a dramatic shift in the entertainment industry. Music and entertainment did not stop, records continued to be manufactured and to sell. In fact it was in February 1941, while war raged across Europe, that Billboard introduced its first chart exclusively for Black music. They called it ‘The Harlem Hit Parade’, the first song to top the chart, of just ten records, was Take it and Git by Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy. Kirk, a 44 year old Kentuckian, and his twelve piece swing band from Kansas City had been playing together, in one form or another, since 1929 and by 1935 Mary Lou Williams, a gifted pianist, was a featured artist. 

Like many other swing bands they had  foot in jazz, another in pop but their blues influences were strong, as was boogie woogie. In 1942 Kirk issued Boogie Woogie Cocktail, a showcase for Mary Lou’s swinging left hand. That boogie woogie beat was steeped in the Barrelhouses across the Southern states and was a primary link between blues and rock 'n' roll.