Editing Riff (section)

== Usage in jazz, blues, and R&B ==

In [[jazz]], blues and [[rhythm and blues|R&B]], riffs are often used as the starting point for longer compositions. Count Basie's band used many riffs in the 1930's, like in "Jumping at the Woodside" and "One O Clock Jump". [[Charlie Parker]] used riffs on "Now's the Time" and "Buzzy". Oscar Pettiford's tune "Blues in the Closet" is a rifftune and so is Duke Ellington's tune "C Jam Blues".  Blues guitarist [[John Lee Hooker]] used riff on "[[Boogie Chillen]]" in  1948.<ref>[https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/best-guitar-riffs/ Best Guitar Riffs]. Retrieved 28 July 2021.</ref>

The riff from [[Charlie Parker]]'s [[bebop]] number "Now's the Time" (1945) re-emerged four years later as the [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] dance hit "[[The Hucklebuck]]". The verse of "The Hucklebuck", which was another riff, was "borrowed" from the Artie Matthews composition "[[Weary Blues]]". Glenn Miller's "[[In the Mood]]" had an earlier life as [[Wingy Manone]]'s "Tar Paper Stomp". All these songs use [[twelve-bar blues]] riffs, and most of these riffs probably precede the examples given (Covach 2005, p.&nbsp;71).

In classical music, individual musical phrases used as the basis of [[European classical music|classical music]] pieces are called [[ostinato]]s or simply phrases. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or [[Lick (music)|lick]]-like ostinatos in [[modal jazz|modal]] music and [[Latin jazz]].