Gospel Grooves, Funky Drummers, and Soul Power / by Aaron Mendelson
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MUSIC MILESTONES AMERICAN L OSPE GROOVES G KY R , FUN D UMMER ND S, A SOUL POW ER AARON MENDELSON THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK MUSIC MILESTONES AMERICAN OSPEL GROOVES G KY R , FUN D UMMER AND SOUL P S, OWE AARON R MENDELSON TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BOOKS MINNEAPOLIS NOTE TO READERS: some songs and music videos by artists discussed in this book contain language and images that readers may consider offensive. Copyright © 2013 by Aaron Mendelson All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Twenty-First Century Books A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mendelson, Aaron American R & B: gospel grooves, funky drummers, and soul power / by Aaron Mendelson. p. cm. — (American music milestones) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–7613–4501–5 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) 1. Soul music—History and criticism—Juvenile literature. 2. Rhythm and blues music—History and criticism—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Title: Soul/Rhythm and blues. ML3537.M46 2013 781.644—dc23 2011045636 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – CG – 7/15/12 www The Birth of R & B 5 Motor City Music www 17 Soul Power www 21 Transformations www 35 Into the Future www 47 Glossary w 56 Source Notes w 61 Timeline w 57 Selected Bibliography w 62 Mini Bios w 58 Further Reading, w Websites, R & B Must-Haves 59 and Films w 62 w Major Awards 60 Index w 63 THE OF EVERY DAY, AROUND THE WORLD, PEOPLE LISTEN TO RHYTHM AND BLUES MUSIC, OR R & B. A fan might hear Aretha Franklin made exciting and original music. on an iPod, Michael Jackson on They’ve also created new styles, RHYTHM a vinyl record, or Beyoncé on the such as soul and funk. But before it radio. R & B fans live everywhere, was enjoyed worldwide, R & B was AND BLUES in places as far apart as Macon, a new genre. A handful of talented Georgia; New York City; and musicians from the American South AND RAY Lagos, Nigeria. They have danced played R & B’s first notes. They Ray Charles didn’t invent R & B by and sung along to R & B for more mixed together African American himself, but throughout the 1950s, than fifty years. styles including gospel, blues, big his music was the best example. As From James Brown to Janet band, and doo-wop. One of these a boy, Ray Charles Robinson was Jackson, R & B musicians have musicians was Ray Charles. known as R.C. R.C. grew up in the Jellyroll neighborhood of Green- ville, Florida, during the 1930s. Jellyroll was the African American part of town. R.C.’s home was a From Aretha OPPOSITE PAGE to Beyoncé LEFT and Adele R IG H T, the artists of R & B have fused different styles of music to create some of the genre’s most listened-to tunes. The BIRTH of R & B 5 wooden shack, where he lived with around the shop and listen when- his mother and brother. ever he could. He played the piano FROM R. C. R.C. went blind at the age of when Pit wasn’t using it, and R.C. seven. By then he was already a spun (played) jazz and blues records TO RAY music lover. He learned to play the on the store’s jukebox (a coin-oper- piano in a nearby shop. The shop’s ated record player). CHARLES owner, Mr. Pit, played the piano R.C. left school as a teenager to In Seattle R. C. Robinson decided around Greenville. R.C. would hang play piano in bands around Florida. to shorten his name. He didn’t want After a while, he decided to leave to be confused with the famous the South. R.C. headed for Seattle, boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. From Washington, because it was far then on, he was Ray Charles. But away from Florida. Charles’s name wasn’t the only thing that changed. He decided to front Ray Charles, performing here in 1968, grew up listening to blues and jazz records. He became one of the first R & B greats. 6 The songs of Ray Charles borrowed elements from the gospel music of African American church services. (lead) his own bands and started play which parts) himself. He be- called “My Jesus Is All the World making recordings. The record gan singing with his own style and to Me” into a new tune, “I Got a company Atlantic noticed his music. had a Top 10 hit with “It Should’ve Woman” (1954). The new lyrics were Charles began recording for Atlan- Been Me” (1954). about romance, not religion. This tic in 1953. In the mid-1950s, Ray Charles mixture of gospel music and secular At first, Charles imitated other had a revolutionary idea. He decided lyrics defined early R & B music. singers, like the popular crooner to borrow from the gospel music of Charles’s new sound was a Nat King Cole. But he was deter- black churches. Gospel singers offer hit, but not everyone liked it. A mined to make music that sounded thanks to God in their hymns, inspir- background singer on one of original. He wrote most of his ing churchgoers and musicians. But Charles’s songs walked out of the songs and always arranged them Charles made this style secular (not studio. She felt that mixing pop (decided which instruments would religious). He turned a gospel song and gospel music was wrong. And The BIRTH of R & B 7 Big Bill Broonzy, a blues singer, In the second half of “What’d I said, “He’s mixin’ the blues with WHAT Say,” Charles and his female backup spirituals [religious folk songs]. I singers, the Raelettes, sing to each know that’s wrong.” Many fans of RAY SAID other in rhythmic “uhhs” and “ohhs” gospel thought that R & B was the One particular Ray Charles song— instead of full words. Many listeners devil’s music and banned it from “What’d I Say” (1959)—pointed felt the back and forth was very their homes. the way forward for R & B. Charles sexually suggestive. In fact, this This wasn’t how Charles saw first improvised the seven-minute linking of the spiritual song style it. Even at Mr. Pit’s store, he loved song to fill time at a concert in with feelings of physical attraction many different kinds of music. In fact, Pennsylvania. A recording of the was bold at the time. It would Charles recorded jazz instrumentals tune went on to sell more than one influence many later artists such as (songs with no vocals) as often as million copies. In “What’d I Say,” Marvin Gaye and R. Kelly. he made R & B records. But gospel Ray’s fingers boogie quickly across Actually, most R & B artists were was especially important, both to the piano. The song is built on a influenced by Ray Charles. Even churchgoing listeners and to Charles. jaunty melody from the blues tradi- the famous singer Frank Sinatra, He would say, “I love a good gospel tion and on the call-and-response who was outside the R & B genre, song if it is really soulful. And if you style of gospel music. Charles’s called Charles “the only genius in love something then it’s bound to rub combination of these styles was the business.” off a little.” pure R & B. Gospel and the blues are . almost the same thing. It’s just a question of whether you’re talkin’ about a woman or God. I come out of the Baptist church and naturally whatever happened to me in church is gonna spill over. —Ray Charles, 1973 8 The Raelettes, pictured here in 1960, sang back and forth with Ray Charles R & B’S on hits such as “What’d I Say” ROOTS (1959). R & B came together in the songs of Ray Charles, but other artists were playing similar music. In the late 1940s, journalist Jerry Wexler created the term rhythm and blues to describe this new musical style. Dur- ing this period, R & B bands made music for dancing. They played instruments such as the guitar, the piano, drums, trumpets, and the electric bass. Singer and saxophone player Louis Jordan was an exciting early R & B performer. Jordan was known for the brightly colored ties, big hats, and oversize eyeglasses that he wore onstage. His band played CALL-AND- RESPONSE Call-and-response came to the United States with slaves from Africa and from there moved into black churches. In the call-and-response pattern, one voice, often that of a preacher, calls out and invites a shout back from those listening to him. These responses can be words such as yes or no , singing, or dance moves. Ray Charles’s song “What’d I Say” uses call-and-response vocals. When Charles sings out uh or oh , his female backup singers respond by singing back the same phrase. The BIRTH of R & B 9 GLOSSARY a cappella: music that features only vocals and no other jukebox: a coin-operated machine that plays records or instruments compact discs arrange: to decide which instruments play which parts of a melisma: a style of singing in which a vocalist stretches one song and to make other decisions about how a piece of syllable across many notes music will be performed mix: the combining and balancing of different sounds in a call-and-response: a vocal tradition in which one voice calls recording.