Janfriend said:

Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

It's amazing that I have never heard of many of these artists. I love Blues music, because, to me that is "real" soul.
[Edited 6/9/07 15:12pm]

BETTYE LAVETTE
R&B/Soul Singer
www.bettyelavette.com






"Who is Bettye LaVette you ask? The simple answer is Ms. LaVette is one of the greatest soul singers in American music history, possessed of an incredibly expressive voice that one moment will exude a formidable level of strength and intensity and the next will appear vulnerable, reflective, reeking of heartbreak. Unfortunately, it says much about the vagaries of the popular music industry that, although LaVette has been recording for over four decades, up to this point she has remained criminally unknown.

Born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1946, LaVette grew up in Detroit. Despite the palpable level of emotion and fire breathing intensity that permeates the essence of her vocal art, LaVette is one of the very few soul singers who did not get her start singing in the church. “Discovered” at the age of 16 by the legendary Motor City music raconteur Johnnie Mae Matthews, LaVette’s first single was the insouciantly swinging “My Man--He’s a Loving Man.” Recorded initially for Northern in the fall of 1962, the record was quickly picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. The net result was a Top 10 r&b hit that just missed the pop Hot 100 and would be eventually covered by both Tina Turner and Ann Peebles."
[Edited 6/9/07 14:47pm]
[Edited 6/18/07 18:45pm]

Funk

The funk genre evolved as a raw, primal manifestation of R&B, one that focused on the bass-driven groove more than vocal melodies. The openness of the funk groove allowed space for improvisation, a space which Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton and today's trio Medeski, Martin, and Wood capitalize on.

James Brown's album "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine" ushered in the age of the funk, introducing the genre's sparse sounds and hefty rythms to a broad audience.

Sly & the Family Stone and George Clinton's Parliament and Funkadelic outfits also contributed to the funk explosion of the middle- and late- 1960s.

Funk artists paved the road for the 70s disco trend, which adulterated funk with dilluted rythm and over-the-top sounds.

Funk also inspired fusion jazz and soul-jazz, which composer and keyboardist Herbie Hancock dominated with his album "Headhunters."

Hip-hop rediscovered funk in the late 1980s and incorporated it into its distinct sound. As a result, funk artists enjoyed something of a renaissance, as the white audience of the 1990s began to explore original classics and bands like Galactic and Medeski, Martin and Wood revived the genre.




Along with R&B/Soul and Rap/Hip-Hop, Funk is one of the most enduring popular music forms to emerge out of the American black community. Although Funk predated the Disco revolution, Funk began to have a major impact on club music as Disco began to fade. Funk evolved from R&B but grew more earthy and rhythmic. A distinguishing feature is the beat emphasis of Funk. The primary accents are on the 1 and 3 counts (of 4). The guitar and horns often are used as primarily rhythmic and percussive instruments in Funk. As the rhythm became more prominent it also became more complex with extensive use of syncopation.

James Brown is the undisputed "Godfather of Funk." The "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" demonstrated the use of syncopation and scratching rhythm guitar on the influential hit Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. Over the years James continued to produce more rhythmically sophisticated Funk recordings, and he spread the gospel of Funk in his wild stage shows. In the 1970's, George Clinton and "Bootsy" Collins, a former member of James Brown's band, emerged as the leaders of the Parliament-Funkadelic conglomeration of bands. They brought Funk forward as a powerful force in popular music. Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk) and Flashlight brought Funk to the attention of mainstream audiences. Through most of the 1970's, Funk was rarely heard in discos. Parliament-Funkadelic concert events drew huge crowds that gyrated and danced for hours, but their audience was not a Disco audience. Disco presented a sound in which all four beats tend to be equal in accent. Some of the most intense examples of the disco beat are evident in the pounding bass beats of the work of Giorgio Moroder on hits such as Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

In 1978, Rick James laced his brand of Funk with a touch of Disco and produced the smash album Come Get It! featuring a brand of Funk that was palatable to dance audiences. He continued to have moderate success on the Disco chart until 1981's party anthem Give It To Me Baby became a #1 dance smash. Other performers helped bring the sound of Funk onto the dancefloor. The Gap Band's aggressive, bass heavy sound found a receptive audience. Songs such as Burn Rubber and Humpin' featured a sexual grind with a bit of bluesy attitude. Cameo carried the Funk standard onto dancefloors of the mid-1980's with the synthesizer-based beats of She's Strange and Word Up! Bootsy Collins - Ah...The Name is Bootsy, Baby! The Funk influence can be seen later in the 1980's in the work of superstars such as Michael Jackson and Prince. Billie Jean's heavy beat on the one is a testament to Funk's lasting influence. Wendy Melvoin's scratching guitar, the fuzzy bass, and vocals punctuated by grunts and moans on Prince's Kiss come together for a picture-perfect piece of Pop-Funk. The golden era of Funk is long gone, but the various elements introduced by seminal performers such as James Brown, George Clinton, and "Bootsy" Collins continue to be influential. Rap and Hip-Hop performers continue to sample pieces of Funk classics and celebrate the accent "on the one."

In the late 1960s, at the height of soul music's popularity, significant changes in cultural views began to be articulated by many black Americans. Black militancy began to make its presence felt, accompanied by an increased sense of African heritage. This cultural and social emphasis on African identity was reflected in popular music. With the song “Cold Sweat” (1967), James Brown signaled the birth of funk music. Funk de-emphasized melody and harmony, bringing rhythm, which was commonly understood as the defining aspect of African music, to the foreground. Funk recordings, like much indigenous African music, often consisted of a complex groove in which every instrument played a different rhythm, and all sounds fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Complete verses and choruses were often written without a chord change. This style was adopted by a number of artists, perhaps most significantly by soul group Sly and the Family Stone and vocalist George Clinton with the groups Parliament and Funkadelic. These musicians synthesized the funk style with elements from white rock music.

The foundations of funk music had been laid in the second half of the 1960s by James Brown, the MG's, Sly & The Family Stone, the Meters, Dyke & The Blazers, etc. The syncopated polyrhythm, the groovey bass line, the metallic guitar timbre, the falsetto wail were all introduced in the 1960s. However, funk music had to wait until the age of re-alignment before it became a genre on its own. Rare Earth, with Get Ready (1970) and I Just Want To Celebrate (1971), War, with Spill The Wine (1970) and The World Is A Ghetto (1972), and the Jackson Five (featuring the young Michael Jackson), with I Want You Back (1970), ABC (1970), The Love You Save (1970) and Berry Gordy's I'll Be There (1970), took it to the top of the charts, while starting a dance mania that had not been seen since the twist of the early 1960s. Discos opened just to play funk music.

By far the most creative artist (and cult figure) of early funk music was George Clinton, whose bands, Parliament (3) and Funkadelic (2), featuring keyboardist Bernie Worrell (who in 1978 pioneered the synthesized bass lines) and James Brown's bassist William "Bootsy" Collins, adopted the ethos of the psychedelic counterculture, the satirical attitude of the freaks, a sound that mixed jazz, soul, Jimi Hendrix and acid-rock, and lyrics that bordered on porno, horror and science fiction. Their eccentric vaudeville had no rivals: Funkadelic's Funkadelic (1970), Maggot Brain (1971) and the gargantuan One Nation Under A Groove (1978), as well as Parliament's Clones of Dr Funkenstein (1976), the visionary Mothership Connection (1976), the superb Funkentelechy Vs The Placebo Syndrome (1977) and the surreal Motor-Booty Affair (1978), made Clinton the Frank Zappa of funk music.

Funk music was the soundtrack of the mid 1970s, embraced by combos such as: Ronald Bell's Kool And The Gang, the most faithful to Sly Stone's model, from Funky Stuff (1973) to Celebration (1980); the vocal trio Labelle, featuring Patti LaBelle (Holt) and Nona Hendryx, who blended rhythm'n'blues and rock'n'roll and adopted a glam image for Bob Crewe's and Kenny Nolan's Lady Marmalade (1974); the Commodores, led by tenor saxophonist Lionel Ritchie, with the electronic instrumental Machine Gun (1974); drummer Maurice White's jazz-soul-rock fusion concept Earth Wind And Fire, with Shining Star (1975) and Serpentine Fire (1977), Philip Bailey's effeminate falsetto, Larry Dunn's sleek keyboards, and a Stax-like horn section; the percussive Ohio Players, with Fire (1974) and Love Rollercoaster (1975); Harry Wayne Casey's and Richard Finch's exuberant K.C. And The Sunshine Band, from That's The Way I Like It (1975) to Baby Give It Up (1983), the quintessential "Miami sound"; Larry Graham's Graham Central Station, with The Jam (1976), the sound of funk music to come; Larry Blackmon's Cameo, the only veterans to dominate in two decades, from Funk Funk (1977) to Word Up (1986); and, in Britain, the Average White Band, with the instrumental Pick Up The Pieces (1974). Ex-Labelle vocalist Nona Hendryx fused funk, soul and hard-rock on her Nona Hendryx (1977). Tina Turner, Ike's wife who had been the sexy pillar of their revue, capitalized on a tiger-like vocal style with the solid funk-boogie groove of Nutbush City Limits (1973). Betty Davis (Miles' wife), was sexually aggressive and vocally gruff on Betty Davis (1973), featuring Sly Stone's rhythm section and the Pointer Sisters, and pioneered a look that bridged the psychedelic era and the disco era.

Miami's percussive and Latin-tinged soul was best represented by White songwriters-producers Richard Finch and Harry Casey, who penned George McCrae's Rock Your Baby (1974) and formed the KC and the Sunshine Band, one of the most frequent chart-toppers of the era with Get Down Tonight (1975), That's The Way I Like It (1975), Shake Your Booty (1976), I'm Your Boogie Man (1977), Please Don't Go (1979), Baby Give It Up (1983).

Another Zappa-esque visionary, August Darnell (2), formed the comic and exotic Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (1976) and penned the trilogy credited to Kid Creole And The Coconuts, whose best installment was the tropical musical and satirical odyssey Fresh Fruit In Foreign Places (1981). Both ventures envisioned a chaotic collage-like multi-ethnic format that was equally at ease with swing, cha-cha, soul, salsa, calypso, reggae, rock.

Lipps Inc, the solo project of Steven Greenberg, marked the transition to fully electronic funk music with Funkytown (1980).

Great stuff, Jan. Much appreciated what you've done in this thread.

Janfriend said:

Very cool, but rock and roll is missing. Or would that be part of rhythm and blues?

coolcat said:

Good question! I think it should be under rhythm and blues, nest to soul

In the 1950s the dominant strains of R&B began to be directed toward teenagers instead of adults. The vocal-group style of the 1940s gave way to 1950s doo wop, which featured close-harmony singing, usually at slower tempos. Artists such as the Five Keys, and later the Coasters and the Drifters, sang songs with lyric themes that voiced concerns of American teenagers, including rebellion, school, romance, and cars.

Pioneered largely by guitarist Chuck Berry and pianist Little Richard, black rock and roll emerged during the 1950s and forever changed American culture. The crucial innovation of black rock and roll was in the expression of rhythm. Berry and Little Richard subdivided the basic quarter beat into two eighth notes, rather than following the three-eighth-note, or triplet, shuffle subdivision that had been the hallmark of the earlier rhythm-and-blues styles. With this innovation, an exciting, high-energy groove could be achieved. Both artists also substantially increased the tempo of their performances, giving their music a frantic style that appealed to American teenagers. Finally, both artists wrote songs that reflected the youthful fancies of their audience. Classics such as Little Richard's “Tutti Frutti” (1955) and “Lucille” (1957) and Berry's “Maybellene” (1955) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) were covered (performed by other musicians) innumerable times in the 1960s and 1970s. As important as these artists were in originating a new style of music, their influence in later decades was felt primarily by white rock musicians, as trends in R&B tended to increasingly diverge from rock and roll beginning in 1960.

Thanks for those charts, Janfriend!!Very interesting!

Right now I'm watching Chuck D's Musician Studio on SUNDw, featuring Quincy Jones. It's like a Inside the Studio type setting with an audience. It's quite fascinating hearing the stories of Mr. Jones' experiences in the industry and life. Watch it if you can. It's on cable, Ch.505 on Comcast.

Afronomical said:

Agreed. Great Breakdown.

Janfriend said:

Mo Betta Jan. This even gets more in dept.

Janfriend's quote:


Agree with that statement.

Janfriend:

^^^ Janfriend, you just brought back memories...Dr. Buzzard and the Savannah Band was too shortlived. I loved their sound.
[Edited 6/11/07 7:52am]

A BLAST FROM THE PAST
(in reference to Janfriend's thread on "Doowop"

LITTLE ANTHONY AND THE IMPERIALS
http://www.littleanthonya.../home.html

.

"Little Anthony & The Imperials have begun to take the concert stages by storm once again.

Officially reuniting in early 1992, the group had not performed together for over 17 years, yet the magic returned immediately and audiences are showing their approval with thunderous applause. This successful reunion has already brought the group to sold-out appearances at concert halls and performance venues throughout the U.S., including Madison Square Gardens in New York and the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

The group was recently honored as recipients of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Fourth Annual Pioneer Award, and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame Museum in Sharon, PA. They are just now receiving a long-overdue recognition of their artistry and lifelong contributions to rhythm and blues music.

After high school, Anthony Gourdine, originally with "The Duponts", left to join "The Chesters", a group founded by Clarence Collins who were looking for a lead voice. In early '58, Richard Barrett and Lou Gally (A&R and PR men from End Records, respectively) spotted the group and signed them to a contract and named them "The Imperials".

Their first record for End Records was a double-sided ballad smash. The "A" side, "Tears on My Pillow", instantly launched their career into musical history. This would be one of their biggest-selling hits, with over one million copies sold, and has been one of the most enduring love ballads of the '50s. The flip side hit, "Two People In The World" made this one of the most popular double-sided ballad records in vocal group history.

Anthony was sitting on a Brooklyn park bench one evening, listening to WINS radio DJ Alan Freed, coming over the radio. As he announced the next record, Anthony heard, ... "and here's a new record that's making a lot of noise ... Little Anthony & The Imperials...singing 'Tears On My Pillow'...". The nickname Little Anthony stuck, and the new group name was official."
[Edited 6/11/07 11:07am]
[Edited 6/18/07 18:28pm]

Disco

Disco is an up-tempo style of dance music that originated in the early 1970s, mainly from funk and soul music, popular originally with gay and black audiences in large U.S. cities, and derives its name from the French word discothèque (meaning nightclub), coined from disc + bibliotèque (library)

Deep funk begot proto-disco (1970-1975)
efore the term disco existed, the phrase discotheque records was used to denote music (45s and album tracks) played in New York private rent or after hours parties like the Loft and Better Days. The records played there was a mixture of funk, soul and European imports. We will call this genre of music proto-disco. These proto-disco records are largely the sort of records that Kool Herc played in the early hip hop scene.

Examples of those early "disco 1" tracks that had a particular groove and sound that made them a hit on New York discotheques like the Loft, was Soul Makossa, The Bottle and Love is the Message.

The disco DJs had to make do with 7" 45rpm records or LP records, because the first twelve inch recordings only appeared in 1975.

Basically R&B, what they called R&B. Anything that was danceable, it's hard to categorize individually. The crossover music was there. Also there was the influence of stuff like the Stones, Zeppelin, Brian Auger, groups like that, there was a good amount of crossover music, it certainly wasn't looked at as disco. [Then] disco happened. Part of what happened was the twelve inch came in. Deejays would take a record like Scorpio which has a nice little drum thing in the middle, and take two forty fives and they would keep going back and forth and they would expand the time on the thing. And that became the twelve inch.

Disco rivaled funk's popularity in the early 1970s and ultimately surpassed it by the middle of the decade. Like funk, disco was a dance-oriented style. In contrast to funk, however, disco was dominated by arrangements featuring strings and synthesizers that tended to boost the importance of beats one and three, often creating a heartbeat-like rhythm. Springing out of Latino, black, and gay subcultures and prominently featuring women artists, such as American singers Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, disco was viewed by many as a substantial threat to mainstream rock music. Despite the hostility with which it was met, disco managed to give rise to a handful of highly original ensembles, such as Earth, Wind & Fire and the Fatback Band.

Hell yeah. These are all the things I love most about music as a whole. When music like this disappeared, that's when I started bitching.

Those are the things I love about disco also. Give me some disco and funk and I don't need anything else.....ever. In other words, if music don't make your ass shake, it ain't worth the time it took to make.

And don't forget disco's reincarnation, house music.
.
.
[Edited 6/11/07 15:24pm]

The term Comtemporary R&B




It was not until the 1980s that the term R&B regained ordinary usage. During that time, the soul music of James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone had adapted elements from psychedelic rock and other styles through the work of performers like George Clinton. Funk also became a major part of disco, a kind of dance pop electronic music. By the early 1980s, however, funk and soul had become sultry and sexually charged with the work of Prince and others. At that time, the modern style of contemporary R&B came to be a major part of American popular music.

R&B today defines a style of African-American music, originating after the demise of disco in 1980, that combines elements of soul music, funk music, pop music, and (after 1986) hip hop in the form known as contemporary R&B. In this context only the abbreviation "R&B" is used, not the full expression.

Sometimes referred to as "urban contemporary" (the name of the radio format that plays hip hop and R&B music) or "urban pop", contemporary R&B is distinguished by a slick, electronic record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Uses of hip hop-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop are usually reduced and smoothed out.

Influences on Pop music


Pop music may include elements of rock, hip hop, reggae, dance, R&B, jazz, electronic, and sometimes folk music and various other styles. For example, in the 1920s–50s pop music drew influence mainly from jazz, beginning in the 1950s from rock and R&B, and since the 1980s, from hip hop. The broad appeal of pop music is seen to distinguish it from more specific types of popular music, and pop music performers and recordings are among the best-selling and most widely known in many regions of the world.

The vocal style found in much pop music has been heavily influenced by African American musical traditions such as rhythm and blues (R&B), soul music, and gospel. The rhythms and the sound of pop music have been heavily influenced by swing jazz, rock and roll, reggae, funk, disco, and is currently influenced by hip hop in many cases.

2elijah said:

Excellent.
My Mom took me to one of her final concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

coolcat said:

WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978)



Long known as the "Dean of American Negro Composers," as well as one of Americas foremost composers, William Grant Still has had the distinction of becoming a legend in his own lifetime. On May 11, 1895, he was born in Woodville (Wilkinson County) Mississippi, to parents who were teachers and musicians. They were of Negro, Indian, Spanish, Irish and Scotch bloods. When William was only a few months old, his father died and his mother took him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught English in the high school. There his musical education began--with violin lessons from a private teacher, and with later inspiration from the Red Seal operatic recordings bought for him by his stepfather.

In Wilberforce University, he took courses leading to a B.S. degree, but spent most of his time conducting the band, learning to play the various instruments involved and making his initial attempts to compose and to orchestrate. His subsequent studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music were financed at first by a legacy from his father, and later by a scholarship established just for him by the faculty.

At the end of his college years, he entered the world of commercial (popular) music, playing in orchestras and orchestrating, working in particular with the violin, cello and oboe. His employers included W. C. Handy, Don Voorhees, Sophie Tucker, Paul Whiteman, Willard Robison and Artie Shaw, and for several years he arranged and conducted the Deep River Hour over CBS and WOR. While in Boston playing oboe in the Shuffle Along orchestra, Still applied to study at the New England Conservatory with George Chadwick, and was again rewarded with a scholarship due to Mr. Chadwicks own vision and generosity. He also studied, again on an individual scholarship, with the noted ultra-modern composer, Edgard Varese.

In the Twenties, Still made his first appearances as a serious composer in New York, and began a valued friendship with Dr. Howard Hanson of Rochester. Extended Guggenheim and Rosenwald Fellowships were given to him, as well as important commissions from the Columbia Broadcasting System, the New York Worlds Fair 1939-40, Paul Whiteman, the League of Composers, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Southern Conference Educational Fund and the American Accordionists Association. In 1944, he won the Jubilee prize of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the best Overture to celebrate its Jubilee season, with a work called Festive Overture. In 1953, a Freedoms Foundation Award came to him for his To You, America! which honored West Points Sesquicentennial Celebration. In 1961, he received the prize offered by the U. S. Committee for the U. N., the N.F.M.C. and the Aeolian Music Foundation for his orchestral work, The Peaceful Land, cited as the best musical composition honoring the United Nations.

After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1930's, citations from numerous organizations, local and elsewhere in the United States, came to the composer. Along with them came honorary degrees like the following: Master of Music from Wilberforce in 1936; Doctor of Music from Howard University in 1941; Doctor of Music from Oberlin College in 1947; Doctor of Letters from Bates College in 1954; Doctor of Laws from the University of Arkansas in 1971; Doctor of Fine Arts from Pepperdine University in 1973; Doctor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music, the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Southern California.

Some of the awards that Still received were: the second Harmon Award in 1927; a trophy of honor from Local 767 of the Musicians Union A.F. of M., of which he was a member; trophies from the League of Allied Arts in Los Angeles (1965) and the National Association of Negro Musicians; citations from the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles Board of Supervisors (1963); a trophy from the A.P.P.A. in Washington D.C. (1968); the Phi Beta Sigma George Washington Carver Award (1953); the Richard Henry Lee Patriotism Award from Knotts Berry Farm, California; a citation from the Governor of Arkansas in 1972; the third annual prize of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters in 1982. He also lectured in various universities from time to time.

In 1939, Still married journalist and concert pianist, Verna Arvey, who became his principal collaborator. They remained together until Still died of heart failure on December 3, 1978. ASCAP took care of all of Dr. Stills hospitalization until his death.

Dr. Still's service to the cause of brotherhood is evidenced by his many firsts in the musical realm: Still was the first Afro-American in the United States to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra. He was the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, when in 1936, he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in his compositions at the Hollywood Bowl. He was the first Afro-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the Deep South in 1955, when he directed the New Orleans Philharmonic at Southern University. He was the first of his race to conduct a White radio orchestra in New York City. He was the first to have an opera produced by a major company in the United States, when in 1949, his Troubled Island was done at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York City. He was the first to have an opera televised over a national network. With these firsts, Still was a pioneer, but, in a larger sense, he pioneered because he was able to create music capable of interesting the greatest conductors of the day: truly serious music, but with a definite American flavor.

Still wrote over 150 compositions (well over 200 if his lost early works could be counted), including operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber works, and arrangements of folk themes, especially Negro spirituals, plus instrumental, choral and solo vocal works.

http://72.14.253.104/sear...cd=5&gl=us

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tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

A repost of a thread I did on a Country/Western legend.
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DeFord Bailey - A LEGEND LOST



2002 Nashville Public Television, Inc.
http://www.pbs.org/deford/


Another one of those times where while scanning channels I caught the tail end of a program.
In this particular case it was the very end. What caught my attention, outside of the fine harmonica being played, was the obit-like graphic that appeared on the screen just before the credits rolled.

I can't remember the exact text, but it read something like this:

DeFord Bailey is the only founding member of the Grand Ole Opry that, even today, has not been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

OK.
Time to put on the rumpled raincoat, assume Columbo mode and find out who this guy is why he's being slighted by the Country Music community.

First stop is the PBS.org site for the telecast and find out the next air date for my local station.

"This program is not airing on this channel during the next two weeks"

Fabulous!

So I do the next best thing and start reading through the PBS.org site.
From the homepage:

DeFord Bailey was the most influential harmonica player in
the first half of th 20th century. Despite such acclaim,
DeFord died quietly without recognition of
his place in American music history.

Not another one!

One of the things that makes his situation even more perplexing:
DeFord was the only African American in his day to perform regularly and on an equal basis with white performers, and before white audiences, in Dixie and elsewhere.
http://www.pbs.org/deford...opry3.html

Reading through his bio, along with his accomplishments, there's a connection to Jimi Hendrix:
DeFord Junior often appeared on "Night Train," a syndicated television show that featured local soul music. While working on the show, DeFord Junior played with another young guitarist who would shortly leave Nashville for the west coast. His name was Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was close to the Bailey family, often eating and visiting with DeFord Senior at family get-togethers.
http://www.pbs.org/deford...opry2.html
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With the Hendrix connection discovered, my interest at this point is piqued even further.

Along with more info on DeFord himself, is an historic scenario that not only has a negative impact on DeFord Bailey's career but is also the basis for the creation of the second U.S. music licensing organization, BMI (ASCAP being the first).:

Also affecting DeFord's appearances on the show was a licensing issue with ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), which required venues to pay fees for the use of copyrighted music. ASCAP's contract with radio was coming up for renewal in 1940, and in the process ASCAP was attempting to double its usage fees. Radio networks were furious and were trying to boycott all songs copyrighted by ASCAP. DeFord was hit hard by the ban because most of his repertoire was copyrighted by ASCAP.

To counter the loss of ASCAP material, radio broadcasters, including those responsible for the Opry, created a new organization called BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) and began creating a catalog of music designed primarily for radio. Besides countering ASCAP, another reason the Opry may have been insistent on creating and licensing new songs to BMI was because one of the original six hundred stockholders in BMI was WSM's Edwin Craig. He made it clear that performers on his station were expected to do their part by creating new songs that could be copyrighted and licensed through BMI.

Hurt, puzzled, and offended by the Opry's insistence that he now create new material, DeFord continued to perform his old tunes. By the end of July, the boycott was over and NBC signed an agreement with ASCAP. Things returned to the way they were, with one exception. After May 24, 1941, DeFord's name no longer appeared on the show's line-up. He had been let go.

http://www.pbs.org/deford...opry4.html
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In what would seem like your typically tragic story, despite his historic musical accomplishments, Deford's journey finds him shining shoes:

Once he left the Opry, DeFord took up shining shoes full time. The experience was traumatic but it was also a watershed in his life.

His first shop was in the back room of his house on 13th Avenue South, just a few blocks from the Ryman stage, where the Opry continued to play every Saturday night for years to come. Because of his radio fame, white customers would seek him out, no matter where his shop was located. He welcomed them on an equal basis with his black customers, all sitting side by side and waiting their turns.

Soon DeFord had more business than he could handle. He moved his shop several times and had an elaborate setup, including nine chairs and as many employees on 12th Avenue South. The only sign he had outside his shop simply displayed the price of a shoeshine, but his customers could always find him.
http://www.pbs.org/deford...topry.html
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There is a gulf of Bibilical proportions between the amount of influence American black music has had on country & western and the number of black performers actually involved in country. One of the few heroes in what is sadly not a fable is this harmonica player, a victim of infantile paralysis who had to struggle with his physical handicaps as well as racism. The old-time music performer, stooped with a deformed chest, less than five feet tall and weighing under 100 pounds, was for a time a familiar act at the Grand Ole Opry. That is, until a tiff with Opry honcho George Hay led to his dismissal. After that, the only job he could get in country music in Nashville was as a shoeshine man, in itself a step below the often joked about official way of summoning a country songwriter in that town: "waiter!"

www.allmusic.com
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...The Legendary DeFord Bailey: Country Music's First Black Star

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The MUSIC section of the PBS.org site gives a detailed background on his playing style along with examples of his most popular tunes. At least one of the audio files has DeFord Bailey explaining his playing technique.
http://www.pbs.org/deford...index.html


Do yourself a favor and check out the story of a relatively unknown legend.




"If I don't blow my harp, I hurt.
God put that on me to make me play.
He wanted me to use my talent"

~DeFord Bailey
Born: December 14, 1899
Died: July 2, 1982 (83 years old)
Last Opry appearance - 1982


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Miles said:

If no one has mentioned this yet... June being desginated as "black history month" is not something new.
It has been this way since I can remember, late 60's early 70's. More than 30 years.
It was done out of necessity... every month was "white music month" because that who was in control of media, record companies, tv shows etc.
June was picked to highlight and exalt black artists who would be overlooked by in the presence of white artists. Now... Black history month is not so much a necessity than a tradition. And George Bush does not have to "declare" it Black music month... it would be the same whether he acknowledged or not.
Same goes for Black history month, and Miss Black America... these institutions/traditions were started to give acknowledgement about Black Americans from Black americans... media picks up on it and suddenly it becomes something sinister.
Nope, just traditions.

BTW great posts.

I am googling several names and learning more about Black music history... although some I have heard before from my mom.

theAudience said:

Wow, this is great.

That is a mutherfuckin damn shame.

Afronomical said:

Agreed. That is cold blooded. Somebody needs to be slapped for such bigotry.

ETTA JAMES
Jazz/Blues Singer





(Last album "All The Way, released in 2006)

"With a new slimmed-down look, a rejuvenated stage show and celebrating an incredible five decades as a recording artist, music legend Etta James will showcase her enduring artistry on an amazing diversity of the eleven songs featured on her new BMG album, "All The Way."
Due in stores March 14, 2006 and produced by Etta’s sons Donto and Sametto and longtime musical associate Josh Sklair, "All The Way" includes a range of material that would prove challenging for even the most competent vocalists: "This is an album of songs that I’ve always loved, tunes that I heard and thought, ‘wish I could have been the one to do that one first!’" explains the three-time Grammy winner, who has also been the recipient of a NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award and is a W.C. Handy Foundation honoree. "For the first time in my fifty-three years of recording, I really had control over an entire album, start to finish. And that feels really good! I got to make an album that I can listen to and say, "I really like this record!’"

James, honored with a much-deserved star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame, adds her special vocal magic to songs originally recorded by Prince ("Purple Rain"), Marvin Gaye ("What’s Going On"), Bobby Womack ("Stop On By") and Simply Red ("Holding Back The Years") alongside Leonard Bernstein’s "Somewhere" (from ‘West Side Story’) and "All The Way," the standard most often associated with Frank Sinatra. For good measure, Etta also included R. Kelly’s contemporary classic, "I Believe I Can Fly," James Brown’s enduring "It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World" and John Lennon’s "Imagine." Rounding out the musical solid set are "Calling You," (from ‘Baghdad Café’) and "Strung Out," a tune originally cut by R&B legend Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, with whom Etta toured during her teen years after being discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis in 1955.

The release of the 1993 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee’s latest project, the follow-up to the 2004 Grammy-winning BMG set "Blues To The Bone," comes at a time when Etta is showing off her new look: after losing some 200 pounds in weight, the Los Angeles native grins, "Now I can flaunt my figure wherever I go. I can go shopping and buy those outfits I always wanted to wear!" The loss of weight has also dramatically changed Etta’s always-exciting stage performances: "Now I can stand up on the stage again like I used to after five years of sitting down while I sang.."
[Edited 6/18/07 18:53pm]