Don't Stop Celebrating Black Music Month

The history of Black music in America is essentially the history of American music. From blues, ragtime and gospel, through jazz, soul, rock and roll, funk and reggae, to hip hop, house, techno—not to mention the significant contributions of African-Americans to traditional genres such as musical theater, opera, classical symphony, and choral music—the African diaspora originated and shaped the development of all of the wonderful and diverse music enjoyed here and across the world today. This incredible heritage developed, moreover, despite facing legal and societal injustice and a scandalous history of black artists being ripped off by unscrupulous industry gatekeepers.  

In recognition of this tremendous contribution to American culture, in 1979 President Carter declared June to be National Black Music Month. Since then, every President has continued the tradition every year by proclamation. In 2009, President Obama renamed Black Music Month African-American Music Heritage Month, which will be its name going forward—though I may use them interchangeably in this post.

The history of African-American music is truly rich, filled with innovators and geniuses whose names remain well-known to this day. There’s Satch, Duke, Ella, Miles, Little Richard, Jimi, James Brown, Aretha, and Ray Charles; there’s also Michael, Janet, Prince, Tupac, Biggie, and Missy Elliott. The list goes on and on, but there are many more as well whose stories are also worth reading. So for Black Music Month, here are some reads that I’ve put together for you that will at least begin to cover this vast array of wonderful music, along with some of its often fraught history. And before we start, lest I continue the fraught legacy of denying due credit, let me give a shout out to my friend Greg Caz, who knows more about music than anyone else I know. (Greg gave a few recommendations for this article and is himself a dedicated patron of Brooklyn Public Library.)

By Off the Shelf standards it is a lengthy list, so feel free to return to it again and again as the musical mood strikes you over time:

Three Books Exploring the Origin of Genre

Reading Jazz: a gathering of autobiography, reportage, and criticism from 1919 to now (book, ebook)

It is said that jazz has inspired the most excellent writing of any musical genre. So, rather than try to pick just one or two samples, we offer Reading Jazz, which collects 80 years worth of jazz writing from critics and players alike. With pieces from Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Marian McPartland, Ralph Ellison, Stanley Crouch, Amiri Baraka (writing as LeRoi Jones) and many more, Reading Jazz is an excellent introduction to the world of jazz writing and by extension the world of jazz itself.

Shout, Sister, Shout!: the untold story of rock-and-roll trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (book) by Gayle Wald

When asked about the founding parents of rock n roll, most people—if they don’t go straight to Elvis, will start with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, or Bo Diddley. But before all of these icons, there was a woman whose ferocious playing influenced them and many others. Starting in the Gospel tradition, Sister Rosetta Tharpe went both secular and electric in the late 1930s playing music that defied boundaries and heavily influenced the electric blues, rhythm ‘n’ blues and rock ‘n’ roll that was to follow. Largely forgotten in the years after her death in 1973, Sister Rosetta was belatedly elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as an Early Influencer. Shout, Sister, Shout! tells the story of an exciting performer, a trailblazing innovator and a woman ahead of her time.

This is Reggae Music: the story of Jamaica’s Music (book) / Bass Culture: when reggae was king (ebook) by Lloyd Bradley

Nearly all of us are familiar with Bob Marley and the Wailers, many also know about dancehall, but the history of reggae music is much wider and is inextricably bound with the history of its birthplace, Jamaica. With Bass Culture (titled This is Reggae Music in the United States), Lloyd Bradley gives a comprehensive history of this music and places it into its historical context of Jamaican history and politics. Starting with the rise of Sound Systems and toasters such as U-Roy in the ‘50s, Bass Culture covers the evolution of ska into rocksteady and finally into reggae. It also covers the influence of soul music broadcast from the United States, the role of Rastafarianism, important producers such as Lee Perry and King Tubby, roots reggae (which includes Bob Marley), the rise of dancehall, and more; all contextualized with the backdrop of decolonization, independence, Cold War-era intrigues and interference and political and social struggle.

Three Books Highlighting the Unique Geography of Soul

Motown is perhaps the premier label for soul music and quite possibly the most important record label in American history, but many other labels and cities made significant contributions as well. Here are three books about three specific music scenes and the record companies that produced some of the most essential soul:

Move On Up: Chicago soul music and black cultural power (book) by Aaron Cohen

Home of Curtis Mayfield, Chaka Khan, and the Chi-Lites among many others, Chicago can stake its claim as one of the major centers of soul. Move On Up tells the stories of these and other musicians, as well as the cultural and political revolutions of the ‘60s and beyond of which these musicians were a part.

Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the soul explosion by Robert Gordon (book)

Respect Yourself covers the rise and fall and rise again of Stax Records, the label for Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staples Singers, Booker T and the MGs, and many more. This is the story of a small record label in a world increasingly dominated by giants, and located in the city of Memphis, which was then (as now) dealing with its own history of racism and segregation. Gordon, a Memphis native, conveys a deep love for his city and its music while not shrinking from its historical flaws.

A House on Fire: the rise and fall of Philadelphia soul by John A. Jackson (book)

In the ‘70s Philly soul was huge. Blocked from getting in with the major labels, producers Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell set up their own musical empire, bringing forth hit records from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Spinners, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, and many others. A House on Fire documents the rapid rise, huge success, and unfortunate crash of one of the most important production companies of Soul and the lush and successful sounds that it produced.

Two Exceptional Artist Biographies

Still So Excited: my life as a Pointer Sister by Ruth Pointer (book, ebook)

The Pointer Sisters experienced huge success in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Like with many in the musical business, this eventually led to a devastating fall. In her autobiography, Ruth Pointer tells this story, as well as her subsequent recovery and the comeback of the Pointer Sisters from the brink to renewed and ongoing success.

Arrest the Music! Fela and his rebel art and politics by Tejumola Olaniyan (book)

If you’ve seen the musical Fela!, perhaps you know of his remarkable story. If not, or if you want to learn more, then Arrest the Music! by Tejumola Olaniyan may be a good place to start (along with a good record store). In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti was inspired to create what became afrobeat music when—during a trip to Los Angeles with his band, he discovered the Black Power movement and started listening to revolutionary soul and funk by artists such as James Brown. ​Armed with this new social consciousness—at the moment when Nigeria and other post colonial states were struggling with building their new nations while dealing with the immediate legacies of colonialism—h​e took what he heard, combined it with local Nigerian and Ghanian pop and invented a new form of music with hard-driving rhythms, soaring horns and rebellious, socially conscious lyrics. As a vocal opponent of Nigeria’s military regimes of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Fela faced severe personal danger, including arrests, the burning of his studio and the fatal defenestration of his mother during a raid. Nonetheless, he persisted producing an impressive volume of music before his untimely death in 1997. Since then, afrobeat has become increasingly popular: Fela's sons, Femi and Seun, carry on their father's legacy, bands such as Antibalas and the Chicago Afrobeat Project continue the tradition in the U.S. and artists such as Drake and Rihanna continue to add afrobeat sounds into their sonic mix. Arrest the Music! tells the story of one of Africa’s most important and complicated musicians and through him explores some of the larger themes and issues of postcolonial and contemporary Africa.

One Essential History of Hip Hop

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a history of the hip hop generation by Jeff Chang (ebook, eaudiobook)

No account of Black music, or American music in general, is complete without a mention of hip hop, which is probably the most important new music to come out of the last third of the 20th Century. Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop covers the history of this diverse music from its origins as the child of Jamaican immigrants and Bronx DJs through its publication in 2005. Sourced through interviews with artists, rappers, DJs, graffiti writers, dancers, such as DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D and Ice Cube, Chang’s opus is an essential introduction to the music which has dominated the pop charts for a generation.

If you have a library card and want to explore the music mentioned in this post further you can check out our database of streaming music from Alexander Street

M. Cole is a long-time Brooklyn librarian who plays the saxophone in a number of bands, including a band of Brooklyn Public Librarians called Lost In The Stacks.  He once played in a band with over 300 musicians on the plaza in front of the main library.