Miles said:

This particular thread was not created for you to spew your assimilation rhetoric. It wasn't created for there to be a discussion on what you think is and isn't black music or what it should be called or if there should be a month to acknowledge it. Feel free to start your own thread to discuss it, but this thread is soley to appreciate and learn about black music, period.

Couldn't wait until tomorrow. Another spotlight for today blues

The origins of blues is not unlike the origins of life. For many years it was recorded only by memory, and relayed only live, and in person. The Blues were born in the North Mississippi Delta following the Civil War. Influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into a music for a singer who would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. He would sing a line, and the guitar would answer.

From the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, and the platform of the Clarksdale Railway Station, the blues headed north to Beale Street in Memphis. The blues have strongly influenced almost all popular music including jazz, country, and rock and roll and continues to help shape music worldwide

The Blues... it's 12-bar, bent-note melody is the anthem of a race, bonding itself together with cries of shared self victimization. Bad luck and trouble are always present in the Blues, and always the result of others, pressing upon unfortunate and down trodden poor souls, yearning to be free from life's' troubles. Relentless rhythms repeat the chants of sorrow, and the pity of a lost soul many times over. This is the Blues.

The blues form was first popularized about 1911-14 by the black composer W.C. Handy (1873-1958). However, the poetic and musical form of the blues first crystallized around 1910 and gained popularity through the publication of Handy's "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). Instrumental blues had been recorded as early as 1913. During the twenties, the blues became a national craze. Mamie Smith recorded the first vocal blues song, 'Crazy Blues' in 1920. The Blues influence on jazz brought it into the mainstream and made possible the records of blues singers like Bessie Smith and later, in the thirties, Billie Holiday

The Blues are the essence of the African American laborer, whose spirit is wed to these songs, reflecting his inner soul to all who will listen. Rhythm and Blues, is the cornerstone of all forms of African American music.


Many of Memphis' best Blues artists left the city at the time, when Mayor "Boss" Crump shut down Beale Street to stop the prostitution, gambling, and cocaine trades, effectively eliminating the musicians, and entertainers' jobs, as these businesses closed their doors. The Blues migrated to Chicago, where it became electrified, and Detroit

In northern cities like Chicago and Detroit, during the later forties and early fifties, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James among others, played what was basically Mississippi Delta blues, backed by bass, drums, piano and occasionally harmonica, and began scoring national hits with blues songs. At about the same time, T-Bone Walker in Houston and B.B. King in Memphis were pioneering a style of guitar playing that combined jazz technique with the blues tonality and repertoire

Meanwhile, back in Memphis, B.B. King invented the concept of lead guitar, now standard in today's Rock bands. Bukka White (cousin to B.B. King), Leadbelly, and Son House, left Country Blues to create the sounds most of us think of today as traditional unamplified Blues.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Wyonnie Harris, and Big Mama Thorton wrote and preformed the songs that would make a young Elvis Presley world renown.

In the early nineteen-sixties, the urban bluesmen were "discovered" by young white American and European musicians. Many of these blues-based bands like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Canned Heat, and Fleetwood Mac, brought the blues to young white audiences, something the black blues artists had been unable to do in America except through the purloined white cross-over covers of black rhythm and blues songs. Since the sixties, rock has undergone several blues revivals. Some rock guitarists, such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen have used the blues as a foundation for offshoot styles. While the originators like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and B.B. King--and their heirs Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and later Eric Clapton and the late Roy Buchanan, among many others, continued to make fantastic music in the blues tradition. The latest generation of blues players like Robert Cray and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others, as well as gracing the blues tradition with their incredible technicality, have drawn a new generation listeners to the blues

Janfriend said:

Wow...interesting..thanks Janfriend.

Janfriend said:

Thanks, Janfried, but I am much aware of that, and apparently, somehow a large part of that original post that I posted earlier was deleted,(?) so I went back and edited it and put some of what I could remember was there, although the majority of it seemed to have been erased (?). Anyway, I mentioned that Black Artists (American and non-American) have contributed in many genres of music over the years. I was responding to someone else's response about "opera" not being part of "Black Music" and in my opinion, I compared that to "Negro Spirituals" which I find is just another "form" of opera; which is why I mentioned the great, late "Paul Robeson";also, opera singer "Barbara Hendricks" and the late great "Marian Anderson". It is no secret that we have been a part of every form of music from classical, opera, negro spirituals, folk, country, reggae, calypso, soca, blues, jazz, contemporary jazz, new wave, neo-soul, pop, rock, rhythm & blues, gospel, hip-hop, rap,etc....but thank you for the appreciation as well.
[Edited 6/7/07 20:45pm]

2elijah said:

Part of a previous thread got deleted? I didn't see that.

^^sure did,not surprised, won't stop me from posting though..lol!
[
[Edited 6/7/07 22:57pm]

Miles said:

GREAT POST!!

Janfriend said:

You guys really should watch the youtube link I posted. The first composer "Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges" was a hugely popular composer in France. A contemporary of Mozart and Haydn... Sadly, it seems like many of his works were lost...

http://www.chevalierdesai...ltext.html

coolcat said:

Thanks, I will check it out.

coolcat said:

Janfriend said:

I included the links to parts 2 and 3 of the documentary in my original post.

Afronomical said:

So "assimilation" is bad? You'd like to be segregrated just for this thread alone, but be part of the conversation everywhere else? Isn't conversation and tolerance of different views at the basis of defeating racism?

This isn't thread jacking. This is an open forum. You don't choose or intimidate whomever has an opinion. Please, keep posting these interesting african american an artist and maybe we'll all learn more.

Rev said:

No, you missed the point of Jan's post. She said if you wanna discuss the issues of "Black music should just be called 'Music'" then start your own thread and do so; don't turn THIS thread into a P&R thread. And she's right and I agree completely.

Afronomical said:

Dig it. Music is music. It can be expressed through different distinctions in groove patterns and tones which is based on origin.

SISTER ROSETTA THARPE
GOSPEL-FOLK SINGER
c. 1915 - 1973



"Rosetta Nubin was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, circa 1915. She was an active singer of gospel-folk in the 1930's and 1940's. Her early training was in religious singing. She played acoustic and later amplified guitar well behind vocals. Rosetta performed with many other great artists of her day including Cab Calloway and Lucky Millinder. In 1942 she had two hits "That's All" and "Shout, Sister, Shout." She sang regularly as a single in New York clubs and in 1957 traveled to England with the Chris Barber Jazz Band. Her performing continued into the 1960's, traveling one more time overseas to France in 1966. Sister Rosetta Tharpe died on October 9, 1973 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania."


Those who attended Prince's Vegas shows remember when he sang "Down by the Riverside" that was one of the songs Ms. Tharpe also sung. In the first part of that paragraph where they mention "gospel folk" to me that sounds that same as "negro spiritual".music.
[Edited 6/8/07 10:40am]

Jimmy Witherspoon, aka "Spoon"
VOCALIST & BASSIST
(Arthur L. Porter Lifetime Achievement Award Winner)




"Vocalist and bassist, born in Gurdon, Arkansas in 1923, he sang in church from the time he was five. His mother played piano, and instilled in him the virtues and values of fundamental religion. When he was in his teens, Spoon made his break to see the world. He moved to Los Angeles and worked as a dishwasher-cook before joining the Merchant Marines in 1941.

In 1944 he joined the Jay McShann Band for four years, and then on his own he unleashed "Ain't Nobody's Business," acknowledged to be a classic performance. He followed it with two secondary hits, "No Rollin' Blues" and "Big Fine Girl."
He then toured Europe and the U.S., singing with such musicians as Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Red Garland, John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Shelly Manne and innumerable other world-renowned jazz luminaries."
[Edited 6/8/07 10:43am]

Janfriend said:

Isn't it a bit unrealistic to think that once a thread is started you can control who posts on it and what they say?

R. Nathaniel Dett, an important composer that combined black spirituals with classical/romantic ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...aniel_Dett

A quote taken from http://www.nathanieldettc...iodett.php:

"There was poured into the astonished and delighted ears of the world an indigenous music, sung by its own creators, a music as fresh as the morning, as intimate as the breath and as vital as the heartbeat."
- R. Nathaniel Dett

(MAESTRO) JAMES DEPREIST (b. 1936)

AFRICAN AMERICAN CONDUCTOR
25 Years at Helm of Oregon Symphony
Biography:www.jamesdepreist.com



"Recording for me is absolutely essential.
What we do as musicians normally evaporates
as soon as it's created.
That's the nature of concerts"-- Maestro James DePreist

"Tokyo & Juilliard The American conductor James DePreist is the nephew of the great African American singer Marian Anderson. James DePreist, newly appointed Permanent Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Julliard School and Laureate Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. Widely esteemed as one of America's finest conductors, James DePreist, during the past three decades has served as Music Director of L'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Sweden's Malmö Symphony, L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Oregon Symphony.

In 1969 James DePreist made his European conducting debut and won a Martha Baird Rockefeller grant. In 1976 DePreist became Music Director of the Quebec Symphony, Canada's oldest orchestra, where he remained until 1983. In 1980 he was named Music Director and Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, which two years later he guided into the ranks of the major United States orchestras

National Medal of Arts In 2005, James DePreist was notified by the National Endowment for the Arts that he was to be honored with the National Medal of Arts for his contribution to American musical life as a distinguished conductor. He received the medal in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House in November, 2005"



(You can visit Africlassical.com to find more information on Black Artists/Musicians/Composers in Classical Music)
[Edited 6/8/07 11:15am]

Big Spotlight for today Gospel

Anthem music, later called 'spirituals', and much later
'gospel' music, while having a direct and vital link to Africa is
distinctly American music. A music so much a part of the fabric of
the sum of American music that much of the popular idioms of today
can be traced, with little effort, to gospel music

Tribal African music of four hundred years ago differed from
European and white American music in one major regard: secular music
did not exist in African traditions. Besides sacred music, Europeans
sang about love, war, and drinking, as well as the recent historical
events of nearby villages, or far off countries. While many of these
songs mentioned God in some manner, many still remained secular and
popular among the village and country folk.
All African music was naturally sacred and the concept of
singing secular music was alien to them. Their music can be seen to
satisfy four main functions in the fabric daily life, they are:
religious, agricultural and sexual fertility, hunting, and war. In
this regard African music has more in common with Native American
music than European music since song was used as a means of being in
harmony with nature and the cosmos.
One predominant style of music that is still retained and was brought
to America during the slavery period of the early 1600s to 1865, is
the call and response pattern in which a leader sings a line and the
entire group answers. Typical styles also included drums and other
percussion instruments played a complex rhythmic accompaniment.
(Sound familiar? A good example of this call and response style with
syncopated rhythms can be heard by Ray Charles who used this to great
advantage on his hit "What'd I Say").

From the need to subjugate, or from fear, many American slave
owners did not allow blacks to use traditional African instruments,
nor could they play or sing their native music. Gradually much of
the words and melodies were forgotten and disappeared in North
America. It is because of this ban on their musical ancestral link,
that a new African American style of music was created. New songs
were created using the African traditions of harmony, call and
response, behind a strong rhythmic meter mixed with European
traditions of harmony and musical instruments. Gospel songs created
by blacks used Christian subjects with African vocal and rhythmic
influences. The church became a sanctuary for black slave
expression. It was the only place that groups of slaves could
congregate without fear of white supervision. Though not all slave
holders allowed religious instruction or permission to worship and
had to meet secretly.
The enslavement of blacks in the American Colonies began
during the 1600's. Slavery flourished in the South, where large
plantations grew cotton, tobacco, and other crops. The plantations
required many laborers. Work songs and "field hollers" were used to
ease the drudgery of hard labor in the fields, later they were sung
while laying railroad track, or while working in places such as the
many turpentine camps in the mid 1800s.
Slavery was less profitable in the North, where economic activity
centered on small farms and industries. By 1860, the slave states
had about 4 million slaves. The slaves made up nearly a third of the
South's population. Since demographically, more blacks lived in the
South, the birth of gospel music became endemic first in the South
before it was finally spread to the rest of white America. First,
through traveling minstrel shows in the late 1800s, then through
vaudeville and sheet music in the early 1900s, and finally through
records in the early 1920s. Many of the songs and melodies were
embraced by whites and began to greatly influence white religious and
popular American music.
By the early 1800s it was common for slaves to perform for
their masters, and later in front of polite white society in larger
musical ensembles, but it wasn't until the end of the Civil War that
European musical instruments were abundantly available to former
slaves. Instruments were literally left on battlefields that were
befriended by new black owners. Instruments were cheap and freed
blacks used what little new income they had to purchase or barter for
them. Although some blues forms existed in the early 1800s, as the
end of the 1800s drew near the first black secular music, the "blues"
began to evolve almost instantly and simultaneously all over the
states and territories, where ever large groups of blacks lived.
Technically the field holler was the first musical style to
move away from religious themes and concerned its self with work only
(and much can be said about the double meanings of many gospel songs,
such as Swing Low, Sweet Chariot which on the surface is about life
in the hereafter, but any slave knew it was about the promise of life
in the here and now devoid of slavery. "home" wasn't necessarily
heaven, but of freedom instead. Some historians argue that all early
gospel songs were codified songs of protest). However, blues was the
first solely secular form of African American based music with the
birth of ragtime and jazz following closely behind

The term "Gospel" existed before W.W.II, but other terms such
as "anthems", "spirituals", and "jubilees" were more common. After
W.W.II a former blues musician and son of a preacher (who used to
accompany the widely popular blues singer Bessie Smith), Thomas A.
Dorsey, converted back to the church and turned his considerable
talents to writing religious music. T.A. Dorsey, best known for
"Precious Lord, Take My Hand", is of a pivotal post W.W.II importance
when we consider the three elements of his business acumen:
He is the first black man to start a black owned music publishing
company in America. Although he published his own music and others,
he had the acumen to include singer Sallie Martin as a partner. He
wrote the songs and secured the rights to other songs. Sallie Martin
then became a glorified sales rep. She traveled from coast to coast
performing and selling music sheets to black churches. It is
Dorsey's distinctive style of writing that the majority of choirs use
today. A combination of the old hymnody of Watts, and of the African
"call and response" sung in country churches.
This distinctive style of religious music he insisted should
be called "Gospel". He wanted to disassociate what he felt was a
modern style of black religious music from the days of slavery and
the distasteful nostalgia of antebellum South. Surprisingly the
gospel term stuck retiring "anthems", "spirituals", and "jubilees"
as an anachronism of past black religious music.
Secondly, he was the first black promoter on a large scale to
promote the better choirs, quartets, and solo singers in and, more
importantly, out of the church. With much controversy among the
faithful, he was the first to advertise the religious concerts, and
charge money to see them. (The first on record were the Fisk Jubilee
Singers. It is also interesting to note that black Historian W.E.B.
DuBois sang with and promoted the Fisk group one summer in the late
1800s). By doing this, T.A. Dorsey had helped create a star system.

Four Main Branches of Modern Gospel Music:

Now that gospel music has added the element entertainment not
seen prior to T.A. Dorsey's promotion, solely religious music
stations had already began to appear nationwide, but principally in
the South in the 1940s. By the 1950s radio began including gospel
music as part of its regular programming along with popular secular
music, and so four main styles or "branches" of gospel music emerged.
Each branch, although directly related, can be easily identified for
obvious reasons.

*****Choirs- When the term "gospel" music is mentioned, perhaps
the first thing that a novice congers in the mind is a rousing choir.
Even today in the 21st century the style of gospel choirs remains
fixed in the Dorsey template. For this reason among the four
branches this is the most modern form. Choirs today range from
"traditional" musical accompaniment, typically piano and or organ,
bass, drums (tambourine), and possibly guitar. Bigger studio
productions rarely include strings and more commonly a horn section
might be added. Since the 1980s synthesizers have been the only
noticeable addition. Vocally, choirs have remained stable in
approach. A soloist or two is accompanied by the traditional call
and response that harkens back to the field hollers and African roots
music. Some choirs are crossing over to a black urban pop style, or
a more white oriented "Christian Music" style, and becomes less
recognizable as true gospel choir music. "Oh, Happy Day" recorded
in 1968 by the Edwin Hawkins Singers to this day remains the only
million seller in gospel music history, and has added to the notion
by the novice that this is the only extant form of gospel.
* A capella Quartets- Another very popular form of gospel,
the quartets has two distinct periods. Prior to W.W.II the a capella
quartets emerged. This style of singing is directly related to white
barbershop quartet harmonization. What is known as "Southern Gospel"
is really a "sanctified" barbershop quartet style of singing by white
singers. Where black quartet singing differs from barbershop and
Southern Gospel style singing is the addition of a lead singer with
three part harmony. It is common for black quartets to have five six
or seven members, but since they adhere to the barbershop harmonic
template they are still considered and called a quartet group. Black
quartet singers are predominantly the purview of male singers. Few
women a capella quartet singers can be found on record. Choirs and
solo singers by tradition are still today preferred by women. The
best known of the a capella quartets were the Golden Gate Jubilee
Singers, later known as the Golden Gate Quartet. With the advent of
electrical instruments, many of the a capella quartets jumped on the
bandwagon, so to speak.
* Progressive Quartets- While still singing in the quartet
tradition, this electrification of a capella was eventually called
"progressive quartets" and are separate enough in style to form a
fourth branch. Similar in motivation to country singers, the a
capella quartets turned to electrified instruments after the war in
order to be heard by larger audiences. The addition of electric
guitar, bass, piano and drums became the standard instrumentation for
what was later called "progressive gospel". Groups like the Five
Blind Boys of Alabama, the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Soul Stirrers
gained almost instant success once they switched to electrified
instrumentation. The late 1950s and early 1960s is considered the
"Golden Era of Gospel" especially for the progressive quartets. For
good reason the Soul Stirrers have been inducted into the Rock n'
Roll Hall of Fame as being an essential influence on the shape of
Rock n' Roll. Many of the groups in the 50s and 60s copied the
rhythmic intensity, the chordal and harmonic style of the group. Sam
Cooke, a later member of the group later became the first black pop
star and first black man to own his own recording company. Ira
Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds told me in a 1993 interview that
"Mick Jagger said he has over twenty of our albums."
* Solo Singers- A good choir may have three or four really
good solo singers. These singers eventually gained a following and
typically formed a separate career fronting their own band. The the
majority of the soul music performers of the 60s and 70s were former
members of choirs. Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Al
Green, Roberta Flack, Solomon Burke, James Brown, and many more, all
stood in front of congregations, dressed in robes, learning the ropes
of one of the most demanding and intense vocal forms of music. Not
all of the best talent left these choirs and turned secular. Mahalia
Jackson, Shirley Caesar, and Albertina Walker to name a few, became
highly popular soloists. Some of these soloists employ back up
singers, or perform as guests with better choirs, but typically the
soloist carries the song by her or himself

More on Gospel


The tunes and the beats, before 1865
The tunes and the beats of negro spirituals and Gospel songs are highly influenced by the music of their actual cultural environment. It means that their styles are continuously changing.

The very first negro spirituals were inspired by African music even if the tunes were not far from those of hymns. Some of them, which were called “shouts” were accompanied with typical dancing including hand clapping and foot tapping.

Some African American religious singing at this time was referred as a “moan” (or a “groan”). Moaning (or groaning) does not imply pain. It is a kind of blissful rendition of a song, often mixed with humming and spontaneous melodic variation

The lyrics before 1865

In the early nineteenth century, African Americans were involved in the “Second Awakening”. They met in camp meetings and sang without any hymnbook. Spontaneous songs were composed on the spot. They were called “spiritual songs” and the term “sperichil” (spiritual) appeared for the first time in the book “Slave Songs of The United States” (by Allen, Ware, Garrison, 1867).

As negro spirituals are Christian songs, most of them concern what the Bible says and how to live with the Spirit of God. For example, the “dark days of bondage” were enlightened by the hope and faith that God will not leave slaves alone.

By the way, African Americans used to sing outside of churches. During slavery and afterwards, slaves and workers who were working at fields or elsewhere outdoors, were allowed to sing “work songs”. This was the case, when they had to coordinate their efforts for hauling a fallen tree or any heavy load. Even prisoners used to sing “chain gang” songs when they worked on the road or on some construction project.

But some “drivers” also allowed slaves to sing “quiet” songs, if they were not apparently against slaveholders. Such songs could be sung either by only one soloist or by several slaves. They were used for expressing personal feeling and for cheering one another. So, even at work, slaves could sing “secret messages”. This was the case of negro spirituals, which were sung at church, in meetings, at work and at home.

The meaning of these songs was most often covert. Therefore, only Christian slaves understood them, and even when ordinary words were used, they reflected personal relationship between the slave singer and God.

The codes of the first negro spirituals are often related with an escape to a free country. For example, a “home” is a safe place where everyone can live free. So, a “home” can mean Heaven, but it covertly means a sweet and free country, a haven for slaves.

The ways used by fugitives running to a free country were riding a “chariot” or a “train”.

The negro spirituals “The Gospel Train” and “Swing low, sweet chariot” which directly refer to the Underground Railroad, an informal organization who helped many slaves to flee.

The words of “The Gospel train” are “She is coming… Get onboard… There’s room for many more”. This is a direct call to go way, by riding a “train” which stops at “stations”.

Then, “Swing low, sweet chariot” refers to Ripley, a “station” of the Underground Railroad, where fugitive slaves were welcome. This town is atop a hill, by Ohio River, which is not easy to cross. So, to reach this place, fugitives had to wait for help coming from the hill. The words of this spirituals say,“I looked over Jordan and what did I see/ Coming for to carry me home/ A band of angels coming after me”

The lyrics between 1865 and 1925
Spirituals were sung at churches with an active participation of the congregation (as it is usual in a Pentecostal church). Their lyrics mainly remain similar to those of the first negro spirituals.

They were often embellished and they were also called either “church songs” or “jubilees” or “holy roller songs”. But some hymns were changed by African American and became “Dr Watts”


The particular feature of this kind of singing was its surging, melismatic melody, punctuated after each praise by the leader’s intoning of the next line of the hymn. The male voices doubled the female voices an octave below and with the thirds and the fifths occurring when individuals left the melody to sing in a more comfortable range. The quality of the singing was distinctive for its hard, full-throated and/or nasal tones with frequent exploitation of falsetto, growling, and moaning.

The beats of Dr Watt’s songs were slow, while there are other types of spirituals. These beats are usually classed in three groups:
- the “call and response chant”,
- the slow, sustained, long-phrase melody,
- and the syncopated, segmented melody,
- “Call and response”

For a “call and response chant”, the preacher (leader) sings one verse and the congregation (chorus) answers him with another verse.

An example of such songs is “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”:

The lyrics between 1925 and 1985
As traditional negro spirituals continued to be sung, new Gospel songs were created. The lyrics of these new songs dealt with praising the Lord, with personal improvement and with brotherly community life. Many of them were inspired by social problems: segregation, lack of love, drugs, etc.

For the struggle for Civil Rights, in the 1960s, negro spirituals like “We shall overcome”, “Oh Freedom” and “This Little Light of Mine” used to be sung.

Sometimes the words of traditional negro spirituals were slightly changed and adapted to special events. For example, the words of “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho (and the walls came tumbling down)” were changed into “Marching ‘round Selma”.

During this period, some Gospel songs were more secular. They were included in shows like “Tambourine to Glory” (by Langston Hughes). In the 1970s, mainly Edwin Hawkins («Oh Happy Day») created the «pop-gospel». This type of singing needs several instruments to accompany the singers who are often assembled in choirs.

The music between 1925 and 1985

Between 1925 and 1985, negro spirituals were sung in local communities. Some scientists, such asAlan Lomax and John Lomax, collected them, as they were spontaneous performed.

At the same time, composers, such as John W. Work, arranged their tunes. Some of these composers , such as Jester Hairston, were influenced by the Black Renaissance. This means that their arrangements were influenced by the European classic music.

After 1925, artists created Gospel songs, which were either “soul” or “hard beat”. The number of instruments accompanying singers increased.

After 1985
Some composers, such as Moses Hogan, arranged traditional negro spirituals.
The new Gospel songs created after 1985 are of two types. The first type concerns songs, which are for either worship services or special events in churches. The second type includes songs, which are for concerts. They are more or less secular even when they speak of Christian life.

More...

Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993, composer of such standards as "There Will Be Peace in the Valley"), is considered by many gospel devotees to be the "Father of Gospel Music." The son of a minister, Dorsey was a consummate musician and as a young man accompanied some of the most famous blues singers of all time-specifically, Bessie Smith (1894-1937) and Ma Rainey (1886-1939). He also arranged and composed blues tunes. His penchant for bouncy tunes and bawdy lyrics did not keep him from attending the annual meetings of the National Baptist Convention, though. and it was at one of these meetings in Philadelphia that Dorsey first heard the compositions of Charles A. Tindley (1851-1933, composer of "We'll Understand It Better By and By" and "Leave It There" among others).
In his essay, "Rock, Church, Rock," Arna Bontemps says that it was then that Dorsey began to write religious music, abandoning his brash lyrics but not the jazz rhythms and blues flavor and rhythmic style so akin to Tindley's own. Naturally, the "old guard" conservatives considered this blending of the sacred (spirituals and hymns) and the secular (blues and jazz) as "the devil's music" and shunned it. By its actions, the church declared Dorsey's brand of gospel music unworthy of a hearing within the sanctuaries of the day, a story quite similarly echoed by churches responding to the rock 'n' roll Jesus Movement that swept the country in the early '70s. In both instances, the traditional church failed to see the positive influence contemporary music could have, blessing its listeners and encouraging them to draw near God. It is this intense spiritual quality in gospel music that lifts it up beyond its mere form, a quality that most preachers in Dorsey's day failed to understand.

A 1994 Score magazine article titled "The Father of Gospel Music" quoted Dorsey as saying, "When I realized how hard some folks were fighting the gospel idea, I was determined to carry the banner."

Carry it he did. "I borrowed five dollars and sent out 500 copies of my song, 'If You See My Savior,' to churches throughout the country.... It was three years before I got a single order. I felt like going back to the blues."

He didn't. With pioneer singers such as Sallie Martin (1896-1988) and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith (1904-94) propagating his music, he stayed the course long enough to write over 800 songs and hear his music ascend from the first row pews to the choir stand, where it previously had been banned.

Other composers, such as Lucy Campbell ("Something Within") and Dr. Herbert Brewster ("Surely God is Able"), picked up the torch and the way was lit for another generation to take control. To insure this, Dorsey founded The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in 1932, an organization still in existence today.


The Legendary Divas and Dons
Dorsey was a planter. The fruits of that harvest were the exceptional singers who spread gospel around the country and indeed the world in the years that followed--Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward and James Cleveland are but a few.

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) had been, in the language of today's youth, "all that" in gospel long before she signed a lucrative contract with Columbia Records in the 1950s. Her star continued to rise, landing her on the "Ed Sullivan Show" and providing the opportunity for her to sing just before Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech (Interestingly enough, she sang Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord at King's funeral in 1968). Her rich alto voice affected all those who heard it and several of today's singers either wanted to sing like her or with her.

Clara Ward (1924-1973) and the Ward Singers, on the other hand, took the opportunity, in Clara's words "to take God's words to His people wherever they were--even in night clubs." This, of course had been done by Sister Rosetta Tharpe decades earlier when she had performed with Lucky Millender and his band. Ward was one of those rare people who had both flash and substance. Opal L. Nation, in writing copy for a reissue of Ward's recording, says that Surely God is Able was "the first ever million-seller post-war gospel record." (If true, this is astounding. Only a handful of gospel recordings ever reach the status of gold, 500,000 copies sold. In 1968, Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, was the first to do so since RIAA began keeping statistics.) Ward had a direct effect on the career of gospel great Marion Williams [Williams sang with the Ward Singers] and influenced both Little Richard and Aretha Franklin, who noted Ward as her idol.

James Cleveland (1931-1991) was considered by many gospel enthusiasts to be "The King of Gospel," receiving four Grammys, the last awarded posthumously for the album Having Church. Cleveland was a charismatic singer who, to use a cliche, held the audience in the palm of his hand. This is ironic since his voice, rough and raspy, could not be considered one of great quality. Nonetheless, he mesmerized his audience and brought a standard of excellence to gospel music in general through his organization in 1968 of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, the largest gospel convention in the world.

Legendary singers of the '50s and '60s included Edna Gallmon Cooke and Brother Joe May. Although not quite fitting the category of pioneers, the following contemporary singers are sure to reside in the realm of legendary divas and dons as well: Daryl Coley, Andrae Crouch and the late Thomas Whitfield.




The Quartets
The quartets limelight ran in tandem with those golden gospel voices-from the late 1920s through the 1940s, the gospel quartet reigned supreme in gospel music. In fact, it was these vocal groups that most affected American pop culture.
One of the mainstays of the quartets was The Swan Silvertones led by Claude Jeter. Jeter's innovative style of using falsetto became the industry standard. Not to be outdone, The Sensational Nightingales' Rev. Julius Cheeks delved into flamboyance. He left the stage, walked the floor and "worked" the audience, keeping its spirit high. Had he been on the secular side, one suspects he would have been considered a sex symbol.

Other popular groups included The Dixie Hummingbirds, The Mighty Clouds of Joy ('60s and '70s) and The Fairfield Four, the latter of which still enjoys immense popularity today as much for its members timeless sense of humor as the vocal prowess they have amazingly retained.

Though most of the gospel quartets were male, The Davis Sisters, Harmonettes and that most enduring of groups, the Caravans, provide examples of excellent, and popular, women groups. The Caravans at one time or another included such luminaries as Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Cassietta George, Bessie Griffin, Inez Andrews, Shirley Caesar and Delores Washington--a stellar line-up on anybody's program.

But perhaps the most popular quartet of all was the Soul Stirrers, led by the great Rebert H. Harris. According to George W. Stewart of The American Quartet Gospel Convention, it was Harris who first developed that vocal ad lib using repetitious sounds that Sam Cooke made so famous rather than words.

"Before that innovation, it was just straight quartet style, a variation of the barbershop quartet," Stewart offered. "Harris started training Cooke when [Cooke] was 10 years old. When he was in his late teens, Cooke joined the group and became the closest thing gospel had to a matinee idol."

When he left the group and Harris' tutelage for the rewards offered by secular music--larger audiences and more money--Cooke became an icon in American popular music. He was the first gospel notable to successfully cross over into the mainstream and become a "star." Gospel singers following his move were both legion and legend. Aretha Franklin, Della Reese and Lou Rawls are prime examples. (Ray Charles, with such hits in the 1950s as "Drown in My Own Tears" and "Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So," both with recognizable gospel influence, appropriated the style without ever having been a "professional" gospel singer. Contrary to rumor, Charles was not one of the Five Blind Boys, a gospel quartet.)

The gospel quartets' influence wasn't confined to just those names either as many of the rhythm and blues musicians of the '60s and '70s first had their imaginations sparked by the quartets. This short list of singers with their gospel affiliation in parentheses prove the point: Ashford and Simpson (The Followers), Chuck Jackson (Raspberry Singers), Wilson Pickett (Violinares), Johnny Taylor (The Highway QCs). Even the current pop/R&B group Jodeci was once a gospel group called Little Cedric Haley and the Haley Singers!


The Choirs
In gospel music the mass choirs and choruses replaced the quartets in terms of overall popularity. Interestingly enough, however, the most popular choir in the '90s was founded and directed by a quartet member-Franklin Williams, commonly called Frank (1947-1993). Williams was part of a family quartet (The Southern Gospel Singers, later called The Williams Brothers) before joining the Jackson Southernaires. In 1979, he joined Malaco Records as executive producer and director of gospel promotions. and he organized and was lead singer for, the Mississippi Mass Choir in 1988. The group's first recording, Mississippi Mass Choir Live, was an immediate success with Billboard and Score magazines naming it the number one spiritual album of the year. The choir is still recording and still setting sales records.
Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir in the '80s and later John P. Kee and the New Life Community Choir established and continue to demonstrate standards of excellence for choirs; and other choirs of the '90s show that there remains a continuing variety of styles in these larger groups. Leaders are Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir, O'landa Draper and the Associates, and Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers. But it's unfair to give even this abbreviated list of contemporary choirs because there exist far too many of excellence--the Dallas-Fort Worth, Wilmington-Chester, Florida and New Jersey Mass Choirs are only a few of the ones that come to mind.

From its early roots through many legends along the route to the modern sounds finding a renewed popularity all their own today, it seems evident that gospel music is here to stay. The test for gospel reflects one that all Christian musicians must wrestle with: Can it continue to increase its fortune in the mainstream marketplace while still maintaining its spiritual base? Modern music lovers, especially the younger audiences, require more "bounce and groove" it seems, and many of them are moved by urban contemporary sounds as supplied by BeBe and CeCe Winans and Take 6; some others, meanwhile, stomp to hip-hop.

Shirley Caesar reminds that these are all merely vessels. "God uses any kind of vehicle He chooses to draw men unto Him," Caesar said. "What has kept me going is that I try to sing about current events: drugs, black on black crime, a lot of hurting women who have been abused, young girls who have had children out of wedlock. I want to let them know about Jesus so that they might just get up and straighten out their lives."

Since Thomas Dorsey first stretched the boundaries to create gospel music, choirs, quartets and powerful vocalists have been singing this same song, albeit in different styles and places. As gospel music continues to grow beyond even Dorsey's expectations, one can only hope that it will be embraced, regardless of how it is labeled, by everyone who needs to be reminded of the Good News it represents.

Janfriend, wow, I just sat here and read that first part in it's entirety. I had no idea that gospel was referred to as "anthems" long ago. Also, interesting that they compared early African music to Native American music in relation to nature as that does make sense, there are similarities. Thanks so much for that info, very interesting.


Janfriend said:



^^that's kind of like what Prince is doing spreading "The Word"... at the clubs.
[Edited 6/8/07 11:12am]

The violinist, Rachel Barton Pine, gives a short intro regarding William Grant Still, then performs his piece based on a black spiritual "Here's One" with Matthew Hagle on piano:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...RkBrKFB0sY

Here's a piece by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, also based on a black spiritual, "Deep River", performed by Richard Alston piano, Christopher Lee on violin and Ellison Arttison on cello:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...oj5DiA8Fhk
[Edited 6/8/07 11:26am]

coolcat said:

I can't look at youtube at work,because it's blocked, but I'll check it out when I get home.

2elijah said:

[Edited 6/8/07 11:46am]

Here's an artist that I love listening to. On her current cd she has a track called "You Better Not Hurt Me" and "Brown-Eyed Girl"...love both of them.


CAROL RIDDICK
Singer/Songwriter

www.myspace.com/carolriddick
www.carolriddick.net




"Philadelphia’s best kept secret is out of the bag! Carol Riddick is releasing her solo debut album "Moments Like This" for all the world to hear.

The sultry singer/songwriter has graced stages from her hometown of Philadelphia to across the globe, winning fans and admirers with her extraordinary voice. Highly regarded in the music community for her vocal dexterity, mesmerizing performances, and genuinely warm personality, Carol Riddick’s time is now.

Born and raised in South Philadelphia, music has been a part of her life since she was a teenager. It was in her early adulthood that the industry took notice of her vocal talent when she got her start touring with Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff. Since then Carol has blessed the tracks of many notable artists. She is featured on records by Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott, Norman Brown, and Kindred. Most recently her distinct vocal delivery can be heard on Musiq’s “Soulstar”, the title track on his multi-platinum album"
[Edited 6/8/07 12:26pm]

Raze said:

Yeah, but you'd hope that common decency, courtesy, and respect would come into play after such a request.

2elijah said:

Oh my. Very yummified as well.