“The evolution of big sound”

[Illustration by Jim Flora. From the Life article ”The Sound Flowed Out of Old Musical Streams,” May 21, 1965. Click for a larger view.]

Found while looking, as usual, for something else. The text at the bottom right reads

This drawing shows the evolution of big sound. At bottom are the three major streams. Country and western continues to prosper, produced today’s star, Roger Miller. Gospel is not widely popular but has deeply influenced the blues. The blues spawned jazz, which has come a long cool way from hot Dixieland. All came together since since the 1950’s to form rhythm and blues and its successor, big rock ’n’ roll sound.

This picture of things is not perfect: the category country and western came long after Jimmie Rodgers; James Brown and Hank Williams and Chicago blues (Muddy Waters &c.) are missing; the idea of early blues (Skip James &c.) is largely a matter of 1960s white-blues-fanatic taste. But it’s remarkable how much this picture got right.