Black artists and the music

[jackjackjack]

Maybe I'm writing this because of the sad death of Natalie Cole. And I guess directing this to guys my age. I know every generation has its music...,as it should be. Today it's rap, hip hop, etc. But I'm just thinking of the music of my youth....,some of the music of my generation. There were lots of wonderful musical artists in the late 50s-60s but I don't think anything can compare to the music and performers who came out of Motown.....and the Motown sound. Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder.....and I could go on and on. Just reflecting how much black artists have contributed to this industry...,.how I hear tunes running through my mind as I listed each artist. Just a bit of nostalgia at the beginning of this new year.

[+ glennnn]

Maybe I'm writing this because of the sad death of Natalie Cole. And I guess directing this to guys my age. I know every generation has its music...,as it should be. Today it's rap, hip hop, etc. But I'm just thinking of the music of my youth....,some of the music of my generation. There were lots of wonderful musical artists in the late 50s-60s but I don't think anything can compare to the music and performers who came out of Motown.....and the Motown sound. Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder.....and I could go on and on. Just reflecting how much black artists have contributed to this industry...,.how I hear tunes running through my mind as I listed each artist. Just a bit of nostalgia at the beginning of this new year.

 

you made me hear them, too. Thank you!

[mattr]

Don't forget about Aretha Franklin

[+ Funguy]

Don't forget about Aretha Franklin

 

I was just about to say this!

Did you see her sing on the Kennedy Center Honors? Unbelievable!!!!!

[jackjackjack]

Don't forget about Aretha Franklin

Sorry, Never, never forget......oh yes!!!!!! The Queen of Soul

[mattr]

I was just about to say this!

Did you see her sing on the Kennedy Center Honors? Unbelievable!!!!!

 

Saw it on YouTube... Total Diva... who does she think she is, the queen of soul??? Fuckin awesome and I think Carole King was so excited she was gonna have a stroke.

[BabyBoomer]

Dionne Warwick

 

~Boomer ~

[+ Funguy]

Saw it on YouTube... Total Diva... who does she think she is, the queen of soul??? Fuckin awesome and I think Carole King was so excited she was gonna have a stroke.

 

No - she peed in her pants!

[mattr]

Dionne Warwick

 

~Boomer ~

 

Dionne was awesome but Aretha's rendition of "I say a little prayer" blew Dionne's out of the water. Even Burt Bacarach said that Aretha nailed it and he wrote it for Dionne.

[AdamSmith]

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/552/MI0003552059.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

[big-n-tall]

Enjoy!!!!

[jackjackjack]

Enjoy!!!!

 

Ohhhhh, yes!!!!

[bigvalboy]

Enjoy!!!!

 

Just can't thank you enough for that big-n-tall...Speechless

[+ WilliamM]

Maybe I'm writing this because of the sad death of Natalie Cole. And I guess directing this to guys my age. I know every generation has its music...,as it should be. Today it's rap, hip hop, etc. But I'm just thinking of the music of my youth....,some of the music of my generation. There were lots of wonderful musical artists in the late 50s-60s but I don't think anything can compare to the music and performers who came out of Motown.....and the Motown sound. Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder.....and I could go on and on. Just reflecting how much black artists have contributed to this industry...,.how I hear tunes running through my mind as I listed each artist. Just a bit of nostalgia at the beginning of this new year.

 

In agreeing with your post, I also want to mention black jazz singers who were selling out major venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as late as the 1980s, like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. And Billie Holiday also sang the many of the standard in a jazz version before she passed away before the 1980s.

[jackjackjack]

In agreeing with your post, I also want to mention black jazz singers who were selling out major venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as late as the 1980s, like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. And Billie Holiday also sang the many of the standard in a jazz version before she passed away before the 1980s.

 

Of course. Think about all these artists that we're mentioning in this thread .. the greatest of the great. Let's add another... Ertha Kitt

[+ WilliamM]

Of course. Think about all these artists that we're mentioning in this thread .. the greatest of the great. Let's add another... Ertha Kitt

 

And Nina Simona. But, few female singers were the equal of Ella Fitzgerald, not just in singing, but in touring constandly and selling records/CDs. She probably recorded more songs than any other female pop/jazz singer ever.

[tyro]

Enjoy!!!!

Dayum. Thank you for posting this.

T

[seaboy4hire]

Dont forget Ruth Brown (who was in Hairspray), Big Mama Thorton ( you ain't nothing but a hound dog) and the queen of the blues Ms. Koko Taylor.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[jackjackjack]

Dont forget Ruth Brown (who was in Hairspray), Big Mama Thorton ( you ain't nothing but a hound dog) and the queen of the blues Ms. Koko Taylor.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

Sadly, wasn't that familiar with these artists... so thanks for enlightening me. It's nice to discover and remember these marvelous voices from the past and I won't belittle the point but I have to add.... Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, Billy Holiday. . Of course, some even before my time...

[+ WmClarke]

When I downloaded The Ella Fitzgerald Songbook (all of her great American songbook albums (Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, etc.) in one collection--15 hours of music!) I foolishly made a playlist of 'just the best songs'--I think it had about 70% of the songs on it.

[+ quoththeraven]

There's an elephant in this room no one is mentioning, which is that with the exception of country, folk, classical, and Broadway/Tin Pan Alley, every single piece of music you hear originated with or was influenced by black or African music, yet the people who've made the most money off it, both as behind the scenes talent and as performers, are white.

 

That said, I too am an aficionado of old-school soul, to which we should add Philly soul and funk (Sly and the Family Stone, Earth Wind and Fire, etc.) But those genres have not completely gone away. See, for example, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, whom I saw in concert in December of 2014:

Randolph plays pedal steel guitar and is on Rolling Stone's list of top 100 guitarists. He and his group also do a terrific cover of "Purple Haze" and other songs originated by the best, most innovative electric guitarist ever, Jimi Hendrix.

 

Also, apropos of Ms. Franklin, I will be catty and quote a Twitter friend: "Beyonce who?" I will also point out that Ms. Franklin's girth doesn't prevent her from giving a great performance or from being a beautiful person.

[seaboy4hire]

I saw Ms. Aretha on her last stop to Chicago. She was good and I'm glad to have seen such a legand before she passes but her voice is no where near as good as it used to be. I'll chalk it up to all the years she has been on the stage. Also her last album that she did she just didn't hit the notes. I think because many of the songs that were chosen were out of her vocal range.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[jackjackjack]

There's an elephant in this room no one is mentioning, which is that with the exception of country, folk, classical, and Broadway/Tin Pan Alley, every single piece of music you hear originated with or was influenced by black or African music, yet the people who've made the most money off it, both as behind the scenes talent and as performers, are white.

 

That said, I too am an aficionado of old-school soul, to which we should add Philly soul and funk (Sly and the Family Stone, Earth Wind and Fire, etc.) But those genres have not completely gone away. See, for example, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, whom I saw in concert in December of 2014:

Randolph plays pedal steel guitar and is on Rolling Stone's list of top 100 guitarists. He and his group also do a terrific cover of "Purple Haze" and other songs originated by the best, most innovative electric guitarist ever, Jimi Hendrix.

 

Also, apropos of Ms. Franklin, I will be catty and quote a Twitter friend: "Beyonce who?" I will also point out that Ms. Franklin's girth doesn't prevent her from giving a great performance or from being a beautiful person.

 

How do you know about the Tin Pan Alley?

The Brill Building too?

[+ WilliamM]

There's an elephant in this room no one is mentioning, which is that with the exception of country, folk, classical, and Broadway/Tin Pan Alley, every single piece of music you hear originated with or was influenced by black or African music, yet the people who've made the most money off it, both as behind the scenes talent and as performers, are white.

 

QTR, country, folk, classical and Broadway/Tin Pan Alley (I would add Hollywood, which is partly covered under Broadway/Tin Pan Alley) covers a huge amount of music, including most songs sung in concert or records/CDs by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holiday. Frank Sinatra too, for that matter. Before rock music dominated in the mid-1950s, Broadway, and Tin Pan Alley produced many of the popular songs (I am including "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window"). Yes, there was a major black influence as well, which was compomined by Elvis Presly, Pat Boone et al.

 

The record companies, nightclubs, sheet music industries were controlled by whites. Some of the musicians were black, but mostly while. Also, many of managers, agents et al. were white.

 

I largely agree that you have a good point, but you have exaggerated to a degree.

[seaboy4hire]

Omg! I totes forgot about Ms. Etta James! Right up to almost the end she was rockin the stage! I saw her two times in Seattle and both times it was a very magical going to church experience. Her body was slowly shutting down but her voice was always strong and on point!

 

Hugs,

Greg