Hal Singer, a tenor saxophonist and bandleader whose 1948 hit record “Corn Bread” helped establish a new sound in popular music, died on Aug. 18 at his home in Chatou, a suburb of Paris. He was 100.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Arlette Singer, who said his health had deteriorated in recent years.

Mr. Singer’s saxophone carried him through a long career that was rooted in jazz but also paralleled the birth of rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll in the 1940s and ’50s. He shared stages with the likes of Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles and earned the nickname by which he became known professionally, Cornbread, with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WUKwN2h_M" rel="nofollow - “Corn Bread,” an instrumental that topped the R&B charts and put him on the musical map.

That record showcased “a much raunchier style than most guys were playing,” the singer, songwriter and music historian Billy Vera said. With its robust honks and screams, he added, “Corn Bread” packed in “more punch, more soul, more emotion,” and helped establish the sound that preceded guitar-centric rock ’n’ roll.

Mr. Singer picked up the violin when he was a child and moved on to saxophone and clarinet during his teenage years. The sax stayed with him while he studied agriculture at what is now Hampton University in Virginia, and it eventually lured him into dropping out and pursuing music full time.

Early in his career, he worked with the bands of Terrence Holder, Ernie Fields and Nat Towles. In 1943, he made his way to New York with the pianist Jay McShann’s big band; after leaving McShann, he performed alongside jazz greats like the trumpeters Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge.

A few years later, Mr. Singer played a memorable saxophone solo on Wynonie Harris’s jukebox hit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9auUfitVA" rel="nofollow - “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” widely regarded as a precursor of rock ’n’ roll. In 1948, he joined the Ellington orchestra — “the dream job of any musician,” Mr. Vera said. But after finding success a year later with “Corn Bread,” he left to lead his own group.

After about a decade on the road, Mr. Singer became a regular at the Metropole Cafe, a jazz club in Manhattan, where he teamed with Charlie Shavers. By the early 1960s, he had embraced soul jazz, a subgenre that blended jazz, gospel and R&B.

Shortly after moving to France in 1965, Mr. Singer met Arlette Verdickt, who worked in public relations and later became a computer engineer; the couple married three years later. In addition to his wife, Mr. Singer is survived by two daughters, Stéphanie and Lina Singer, and four grandchildren.