November 26, 2011

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It’s been over 20 years since the group Sounds of Blackness hit the airwaves with their first album The Evolution of Gospel, and even longer since the group formed. We had a chance to talk with the group’s conductor, producer, and principal songwriter Gary Hines about music, healing, and the new release Sounds of Blackness.

Let’s talk about the history of Sounds of Blackness. You all got together in college?

Correct. In fact, this is our 40^thanniversary as a group. We began in 1971 at my alma mater, Macalester College here in Minnesota.

A group of black students started a few different organizations and one of them was a music group which, at the time, was called The Macalester College Black Voices. They brought me on as director and a little bit after that we changed the name to Sounds of Blackness because we wanted a name that would reflect the music of our heritage, in the tradition of people like Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones who did jazz, blues, gospel, R&B…all of it.

We wanted a name that would reflect that. So our name reflects every sound of the black experience from hip hop to bebop, and by the grace of God we’ve been going strong ever since.

Over the years Sounds of Blackness has been categorized as a gospel group. No disrespect to gospel, but you go way beyond that one genre.

Absolutely, you know the breadth and scope of the music that our people have evolved from while living through and surviving this experience is amazing, everything from work songs to field hollers…way before gospel…spirituals to blues. So while gospel is certainly one of the primary family members it’s not nearly the only one.

So how have you avoided being pigeonholed into one genre?

Well my brother, we’ve always been very clear about who we are and what we do. So when we get the label of gospel, it’s not an offensive label at all; it’s certainly a big part of what we do, it’s just not completely accurate. But we just gently remind people that the easiest way to remember that is to say it’s all in the name. “Sounds of Blackness”–our name says it all.

So from field hollers to hip hop, rock, reggae, and everything in between, that’s what we try to bring. Even over the years when people have made the suggestion that we should just do gospel, we just tell them, in love, that you can’t fully appreciate the glory hallelujah of the gospel without the pain of the blues and the spirituals.

Gospel didn’t just appear, it evolved from something. It’s part of a cultural reality that has many genres. The twin of traditional gospel is the blues, without the blues, spirituals and work songs there is no gospel so someone’s got to tell the whole story and that’s what Sounds of Blackness tries to do.

I guess we can’t really talk about Sounds of Blackness without talking your relationship with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from The Time.

Definitely, man! Even though we didn’t start recording with them until the very early 1990s, our relationship with Jam and Lewis goes back to the 1970s–our friendship, interactions, and musical exploits.

When they were still with the Flyte Tyme band, many times we performed at the same events like the annual Miss Black Minnesota pageant and the annual Urban League dinner. Frequently Sounds of Blackness would be the opening performance and the Flyte Tyme band would perform for the reception afterwards. So we spent a lot of time backstage over the years and were really familiar with each other and each other’s music, so those friendships go back to the 70s.

They were well aware of Sounds of Blackness for many years and when they brought us on as the first artist on their label, Perspective Records, the first thing they said is, “Don’t change, we want to present you to the world just the way you are.” We always really appreciated that about them.

In working with Jam and Lewis as producers, how did the creative process work? Was it a collaborative effort?

It was always a blessing. In fact, they brought me on as a staff producer in 1989 just before we started recording The Evolution of Gospel.

They always encouraged not only creative input and collaboration but also looked to enhance the sound of each artist whether it was [us,or] Mint Condition, who was our label mate at the time and our longtime friends as well. With all the different Perspective Records artists they acknowledged and wanted to enhance and expand the sound that the group had.

The new album is your first self-titled release. How did that come about, and how long had you been working on this one?

We were working on songs for this for about a year from creation, composition, arrangement, and rehearsal, to recording, mixing, and mastering. All of it is done in- house, right here at Atomic K Studios in Minneapolis, from start to finish.

We really wanted this to be a signature recording and we wanted it to be a self-titled CD, and it’s so funny because everyone seems to be so surprised that this is our first self-titled release since the name Sounds of Blackness is so familiar to everyone. But this is the first recording that we’re calling by our name.

Well a signature theme of all your previous releases has been positivity and healing and this one definitely meets that signature criteria.

We wanted the central theme to be healing, inspiration, and encouragement, and of course our signature–a wide range of musical styles–so with those as a backdrop, we went to the drawing board and this is what we were blessed to come up with.

You have a host of different artists featured on this release as well, including one of my favorites, guitarist Norman Brown.

We were blessed to collaborate with him about a year and a half ago on his most recent CD on the song “Celebrate Me Home”. It went so well that he said he’d love to be on our next project and I said we’d be greatly honored. He’s featured on the big band arrangement of the classic spiritual “Every Time I Feel The Spirit.”

He said he wanted his intro solo to be an homage to the great Wes Montgomery, so I think ‘mission accomplished’. You can definitely hear those tones and voicings in his opening solo. Then we called on the talents of jazz legend Doris Hines to also guest on that particular arrangement. We were really elated.

“A Call To Healing” focuses on the issue of domestic violence and features international artist Nirmala Rajasekar and also Cynthia Johnson from the group Lipps Incorporated.

Right, that same “Funkytown” Cynthia! We’ve been partnering with domestic violence agencies–primarily IDVAAC, (The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community)–and over our past few projects we’ve contributed songs that they’ve used in their workshops and dealings with survivors and even former perpetrators.

So “A Call To Healing” is about and for the struggle against domestic violence and about the whole notion and principle of healing in general, healing amongst people, etc. So that’s why we wanted it to have an international flavor and that’s where Nirmala came in so masterfully. She’s well renowned as a singer and a musician so between her and Cynthia, that just took it to another level.

You also did a remake of the Beatles’ classic “Hey Jude”. How did that come about?

In a couple of different ways, my friend. We were asked to create an arrangement of “Hey Jude” for a project called Minnesota Sings the Beatles, which is a multiple artist project specifically and exclusively to raise funds for music programs and instruments in Minnesota public schools. It’s been very successful, so a lot of Minnesota artists have been a part of that; that arrangement was actually created for that project. But everybody was feeling it and saying it should be on our next record, so that’s how that happened.

People have asked how it fits with the whole context of healing. “Hey Jude” is really about opening up self-discovery, not only for your own sake but to better those around you and ultimately to make the world a better place.

The single “Fly Again” features Jamecia Bennett, who is the daughter of Ann Nesby who sang on the hit “Optimistic.”

Right, “Fly Again” is kind of our “Optimistic 2011”, so fast forward 20 years later it’s not Ann–who by the way I know would want me to send love to you all–but it’s her daughter who actually co-wrote and co-produced the song as well. So now, in the midst of economic downturn and wars and all kinds of layoffs, bankruptcy, foreclosures, you name it, we’re telling people that they can rise again if they hold on and keep the faith.

Jamecia’s daughter is American Idol finalist Paris Bennett, so I guess that’s just a family of singin’ sistas.

Oh yeah, it’s crazy like that man! (laughs) Jamecia, her daughter, mama, and grandmama! Ann’s mother–we call her Sister Bennett–she can wail…its crazy man! Speaking of Jamecia, she and I will be going to represent Sounds of Blackness at the Soul Train awards in Atlanta as presenters.

One of our biggest supporters over the years has been brother Don Cornelius and brother Tony [Cornelius], and we’re still in touch with Big Reg Rutherford who was their production manager forever. So a big, big, big Sounds of Blackness shout out to brother Don Cornelius and Soul Train!

Earlier you said “fast forward 20 years later.” It must feel good to see Sounds of Blackness still going strong after all this time since longevity is definitely not guaranteed in this industry.

You got that right! It’s only by the grace of God, the dedication of some wonderful and talented people, and the support of people like you.

Speaking of “Optimistic,” that’s one of those songs that I keep in my “inner soundtrack.” It’s really uplifting and when you hear and read peoples’ comments about your music, particularly that song. You see comments like “This song got me through a really rough time”, or “This song really inspired me when I was down.”

Let me tell you how right you are. We were in London about a year and a half ago finishing up a performance, and I saw this young lady frantically trying to get to the stage. She had a note in her hand, and she made her way to the stage and handed me the note. I’ll never forget it.

What she had hand-written was, “When my mother died, ‘Optimistic’ saved my life.” So I was up on stage trying to fight back tears and all that, so when you said that, I had to let you know how right you were.

When people come up to us and tell us that they had a friend who was contemplating suicide or they were in an abusive situation and they heard the music and it helped turn their life around, nothing beats that.

They have some of the greatest harmonies in history. Thank you so much for this post.

Love Sounds of Blackness.