Music of the African Diaspora (MUSC 1180) Final
Thomas Dorsey
"Father of Gospel Music"; relinquished his career as an accomplished blues and jazz pianist-composer; devoted himself entirely to the development and advancement of gospel music
Cool Jazz
1950s jazz style often associated with the West Coast, characterized by a relaxed feeling and light tone color and texture
Blaxploitation Films
1970s film genre that featured stereotypical images of Black urban life; featured largely African American casts; utilized stereotypically street-oriented themes, which many considered exploitative of Black culture
Fusion
1970s jazz style that incorporated rhythms, harmonies, and melodic motives from popular forms, especially funk and rock
Curtis Mayfield
281-84, 290; lead vocalist-songwriter of the Impressions; sang about racial injustices and the need for social change; the messages of several of his songs emerged from his personal experiences of de facto segregation in Chicago, his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement, and the strong faith he developed growing up in the Traveling Souls Spiritualist Church pastored by his grandmother; many of songs embody religious message of sermons, spirituals, and gospel music head in the Black church -> implies that some of these songs were first written as gospel songs and required only minor changes in the lyrics; although he subscribed to the philosophy of MLK Jr., his lyrics also were inspired by the speeches of Black Power advocates H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael and local preachers and leaders; co-founded Curtom Records in 1968 with manager Eddie Thomas to be in total control of his artistry
Charm School
??? a school that teaches traditional social skills, such as manners for African American musicians
Diaspora
A dispersion of people from their homeland; describes the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trades, from the 1500s to the 1800s
Kpelle
A people who live in Liberia, West Africa
Middle Passage
A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies; during this time, the captains of slave ships facilitated the transmission of African cultural traditions
R. Nathaniel Dett
African American classical composer who paid homage to pattin' juba in his "In the Bottoms Suite," the fifth movement of which is titled "Dance Juba"
Jelly Roll Morton
African American pianist, composer, arranger, and band leader from New Orleans; bridged that gap between the piano styles of ragtime and jazz; was the first important jazz composer
La Calinda
African dance performed in the French West Indies and Louisiana in the eighteenth century; dance associated with the banza (instrument)
Banjar
African instrument that was brought aboard the ships and forced the slaves to play them, requiring singing and dancing to the music as an activity for exercise; early form of the banjo
Ice-T
American hip-hop rapper demonized for recording "Cop Killer" in 1992; has portrayed a New York City detective on the popular network television program Law and Order: SUV
Count Basie
American jazz pianist of the big band swing era; wrote "Sent for You Yesterday"; famous two shout choruses in "Sent for You Yesterday" for usage of riffs
Charlie Parker
American saxophonist of the bebop movement; reharmonized and/or wrote new melodies for standard jazz tunes; has a legendary solo on "KoKo" that illustrates many of features of bebop melodic style; was widely admired for his varied accentuation of long successions of eighth notes in a manner that served to emphasize the most harmonically pleasing moments of the voice leading
Louis Jordan
Arkansas-born vocalist and alto saxophonist; was part of Chick Webb's swing band in New York City; formed his own combo of seven or eight musicians, a smaller group than Webb's big band of twelve to sixteen musicians in 1938; his up-tempo combo style, known as "jump blues," is rooted in the blues tradition; his group's humorous song titles and lyrics about urban and rural Black life resonated with African Americans, especially the working class
The Drifters
Atlantic Records established the Brazilian baion as the rhythmic foundation for this band's "There Goes My Baby" and "Up on the Roof"; Atlantic Records also appropriated the Cuban habanera rhythm on this band's "This Magic Moment" and "On Broadway"
Bo Diddley
Black performer who made important contributions to rock and roll, performing music that was largely blues-based; guitar player discovered by A&R staff in Chicago; changed the sound of rhythm and blues, reflecting new musical values, cultural sensibilities, experiences, and the ongoing fusion of blues and gospel elements; in Chicago, he transformed the blues along with Chuck Berry into a distinctive rhythm and blues style by featuring the guitar as the primary instrument; his rhythmic guitar style and rumba rhythms appealed to the changing musical tastes and cultural values of America's youth, both Black and White
Alan Freed
Cleveland disc jockey that coined the phrase to describe the music that he played on his radio program "Moondog Rock and Roll Party"; his program's listening audience was largely African American; responded to the pressure of mainstream society to rename rhythm and blues "rock and roll" and to identify himself as a rock and roll disc jockey; his ongoing reference to "blues and rhythm" as "rock and roll" contributed to the music industry's repackaging and promotion of Black music as rock and roll for the consumption of White teenagers
Grandmaster Flash
DJ who was one of those that were most frequently credited with the development of hip-hop as an all-encompassing cultural expression of music, graphic art, spoken word, and dance; born in Barbados and is a resident of south Bronx; was one of several Bronx DJfs who developed the act of turntable manipulations into a distinct musical practice; combined his training in electronics with his interest in music to become one of the most influential figures in hip-hop; introduced the electronic percussion system known as the "beat box," which eventually characterized the 1980s hip-hop sound; he and the Furious Five's 1981 song, "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" was one of the earliest songs to feature the distinctive turntablist technique of scratching
Soul Train
Exhibited dance trends in the "dance line," featured R&B, soul and hip-hop artists, geared towards a predominantly African American population; hosted by Don Cornelius; represented Black culture in a positive way; dance, fashion, and music were key; nationally broadcasted television show; dictated what was "cool"
Dub
Jamaican-derived concept of creating instrumental versions of popular songs, over which DJs rap to audiences
Prince
Minneapolis-based artist; created an eclectic repertoire of electro-funk in the albums 1999 and Purple Rain; he incorporated elements of rhythm and blues and rock; wrote "Little Red Corvette" and "When Doves Cry"
The Temptations
Motown group that included David Ruffin who sang with raspy and percussive timbres; Shelly Berger was the manager of this group along with the Supremes; had a Black gospel sound that resonated among African Americans; reported on the cause and impact of drug use in "Cloud Nine" in 1969
The Supremes
Motown group that was most popular among White audiences; Shelly Berger was the manager of this group; their vocal style, timbre, and texture were more akin to the aesthetic preferences of the mainstream, which made them highly marketable across racial lines; sang about the hardships of having children in poverty in "Love Child" in 1968; sang the well-known songs "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Stop in the Name of Love"
The 4 Tops
Motown group; sang the well-known song "I Can't Help Myself" in 1965; known for only keeping family in the group; if a band member died, the group did not replace him with someone outside the family
Marvin Gaye
Motown solo artist; sang "How Sweet It Is to Be Loved By You," "What's Going On," "Inner City Blues," and "I Heard It through the Grapevine"
Sugar Hill Gang
New Jersey-based group; rap music's first commercial hit was their "Rappers Delight" that was recorded in 1979 on Sugar Hill Records, an independent, Black-owned label headed by former R&B vocalist, Sylvia Robinson, and her husband Joe
Griot (Jali)
West African music specialist of a social caste who serves as a custodian of cultural history
Langston Hughes
a Columbia University student during the days of Broadway in the Roaring Twenties; possessed a New Yorker's love of the musical stage and jazz; emerged as a poet and dramatist; wrote New York-produced plays known as "Mulatto" and "Don't You Want to be Free"
Toast
a Jamaican DJ rap that praised dancers and addressed topical concerns over an instrumental track; complimented dancers and announced future events; the Jamaican DJ would speak "rhythmically over the music, using his voice as another instrument" on the microphone; long verbal narrative, performed from memory and passed orally from generation to generation, that celebrated the feats of such cultural heroes as Staggolee and Signifying Monkey
Bert Williams
a cakewalking comedian whose partner was George Walker; in a series of musical comedies; emergence as the only Black member of the "Zigfield Follies"; always used blackface and insisted that he would be ineffective without it; strongly identified with the archetype of the sad clown; his command of slow gesture and pathos and ability to bring the audience to sympathetic tears and laughter at the same time was achieved through personal effort and professional struggle in a racist society that refused to treat him with dignity without his makeup
Play Party
a celebration for children and young adults that features games, singing, and dancing without instrumental accompaniment
Hard Bop
a combo jazz style of the 1950s that incorporated phrasings and harmonies of blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel music
Hardcore Rap
a controversial hip-hop style characterized by hypermasculine images, exaggereated street themes, aggressive delivery, and often explicit language; the term "hardcore" contains two key concepts essential to hip-hop, especially of the 1990s: "hardness" (denoting impenetrability, control, and coldness) and "core" (denoting centrality, authenticity, and essence)
Cakewalk
a dance that parodies White upper-class behavior, originally performed by African American slaves; the best performance was awarded a prize, usually a cake, from which the dance takes its name
Uncle Tom
a derogatory term for a Black person seen as supporting rather than challenging the racist power structure; the term is based on the empathetic title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Auto-Tune
a digital device used to manipulate vocal and instrumental pitch; the synthesized vocoder preceded this; digital voice processing initially designed to correct a "pitchy" (out-of-tune) singer's voice; used to represent the voice as more "robotic" and less human, as was typical in mainstream dance and pop music; commonly used by rap artists
Sample
a digitally recorded phrase that was used almost exclusively, taking the place of electro-funk's synthesized beats
Ring Shout
a form of folk spiritual characterized by leader-chorus antiphonal singing, hand clapping, and other percussion, which incorporates highly stylized religious dance as participants move in a counterclockwise circle
Hambone
a form of rhythmic body percussion that involves slapping the hands against the thigh and hip bones; a tradition of the body used as an instrument created during the period of slavery
Human Beat Box
a form of vocal percussion that mimics instrumental rhythmic patterns and timbres; turned the voice into a new kind of instrument
Big Band Jazz
a form that evolved from New Orleans-styled combos in the late 1920s, characterized by the use of written arrangements and featuring the brass and reed sections trading melodic phrases in a call-response style
Solomon Northrup
a free Black musician who was kidnapped in New York and enslaved in Louisiana from 1841 to 1853; had been hired during the Christmas holidays to provide an evening of fiddle accompaniment for Black versions of Europeans society dances that were conceived as amusing entertainment for both slaves and their masters
Crossover (quartet)
a group that switched from the performance of sacred repertoire to secular
Gangsta Rap
a hardcore style popularized on the West Coast, beginning in the late 1980s, with street-oriented lyrics and delivery associated with gang culture
Public Enemy
a hip-hop group from Long Island, NY; the first overtly and consistently politically oriented group in hip-hop; they delivered fierce social criticism over equally aggressive musical tracks; helped form a lasting image of the young, African American, urban male as an intriguing figure to be admired or feared by the masses; the group's forceful image was further reinforced by powerful, often cacophonous, musical production by the team known as the Bomb Squad; their urban appeal was based on texts that encouraged political confrontation; the militant messages professed by the group, which referred to itself as the "epitome" of a "public enemy," appealed to the primarily Black hip-hop base for its perceived cultural authenticity
Run-D.M.C.
a hip-hop trio comprised of Russell Simmons, his brother Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and DJ Jam Master Jay; ; the fusion with Aerosmith in "Walk This Way" exposed hip-hop to Aerosmith's audience and helped to revive the band's career; characterized both old and new schools of rap
Black Power Movement
a movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s that emphasized Black unity, Black pride, and self-determination
Blue note
a note, sounded or suggested, that falls between two adjacent notes in the standard Western division of the octave, most often the third or seventh degree in a scale
Gospel Musical
a play with a theme loosely derived from biblical stories, featuring music that either imitated or was directly drawn from African American gospel traditions
Musical Comedy
a play with humorous content featuring songs that advance the storyline; shows created, directed, acted, and accompanied by African American musicians
Slide or Bottleneck
a playing technique in which a guitar player slides a metal bar or glass neck from a bottle across the strings to alter the timbre; produces a percussive, whining tone and varying pitch
Rap
a popular African American dance musical style usually featuring an MC, who recites rhymed verses over an accompaniment created by a DJ or pre-recorded tracks; draws from the cultural and verbal traditions of African Americans and other groups of African descent, especially Jamaican; borrows from the jive-talking style of African American radio personalities of the 1940s and 1950s, and the African-derived oral traditions of storytelling, boasting, "toasting," and "playing the dozens"
Storefront Church
a retail business structure that has been concerted into a worship site; a key context for the emergence of gospel music
Revue
a series of brief skits mixed with songs and dances; a single one was performed by one small cast, whose individual members' roles changed with each skit
Loop
a short recorded phrase programmed to repeat indefinitely or for a designated length of time
Riff
a short, recurrent melodic-rhythmic phrase; can be used both to extend the instrumental response to vocal lines and as a background in support of the vocal lines, serving as an identifying marker for an entire piece
Melisma
a single syllable sung over several pitches
Call-Response
a song structure or performance practice in which a singer or instrumentalist makes a musical statement that is answered by another soloist, instrumentalist, or group; the statement and answer sometimes overlap; also called antiphony and call-and-response
12 Bar Blues
a stanza of three lines (AAB) of four measures each, the lines beginning respectively in the I, IV, and V chords and resolving in the I chord
P-Funk
a style of funk created by George Clinton; stood for "pure, uncut funk"; lyrics encouraged Black people to liberate and empower themselves as a unified community; tempos range from slow to moderate while musical textures are sparse and light, resulting from the spacing of short, repetitive, and stratified melodic motifs of guitars and horns; a major feature of this sound is the incorporation of varying timbral qualities produced by modern musical technologies
Lined Hymn
a style of hymn singing in which each line of text is sung or chanted first by the song leader and then echoed by the congregation; a leader and congregation antiphonally, often with improvisation; congregants embellish and improvise leader's line; example is "Amazing Grace"
The Shirelles
a successful Black teenaged female group that crossed over into the mainstream and established the commercial viability of "girl groups"; "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" in 1960
Barrelhouse
a wooden structure on logging and turpentine camps in forest areas of the rural South where laborers gathered to drink and gamble; pianists played ragtime and blues; term references the storage of alcohol in barrels
TONTO
acronym that stands for The Original New Timbral Orchestra; a large multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer
MC
also called "emcee"; abbreviated from "master of ceremony"); a rapper who performs in a hip-hop context (typically, to accompaniment by a DJ, an instrumental track, vocal percussion known as a "beat box." or a cappella; revved the crowd and delivered information about upcoming social events
Sean Combs
also known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, and Diddy; evolved new jack swing into a new style he called "hip-hop soul" with his work on Mary J. Blige's debut CD, "What's the 411?" in 1992; was in the forefront of popularizing a crossover formula based on these collaborations and samplings between rhythm and blues/soul singers and rappers and sampling choruses and refrain lines from 1970s and 1980s rhythm and blues/soul recordings
MC
also spelled "emcee" (abbreviated from "master of ceremonies"); a rapper who performs in a hip-hop context (typically, to accompaniment by a DJ, an instrumental track, vocal percussion known as a "beat box" or a cappella)
Switch/swing/double lead
alternation of verses or phrases in a single song between two lead singers; redefined the basic quartet concept of 4 voices
Mbira
an African melodic instrument with varying numbers of plucked keys made of either metal or wood; its buzzy tone quality results from combining the timbre of the plucked lamella, or keys, with that of an attached secondary rattle, such as a bottle cap
Shout
an ecstatic expression of worship through demonstrative behavior, often reflecting an altered state of being; not to be confused with the "ring shout"
Stono Rebellion
an eighteenth-century slave revolt, during which slaves danced and beat drums; included slaves from the kingdom of Kongo; significant numbers of these slaves had military training, including in the use of firearms; the use of instruments, especially drums, served as a rallying battle cry that both celebrated and reinforced the rebels' collective sense of cultural identity
Sampler
an electronic unit that records sound digitally, allowing for the recording of a phrase that can be "looped," or programmed to repeat for a designated length of time
Clavinet
an electronic version of the clavichord, a medieval keyboard instrument
Sly and the Family Stone
an interracial, mixed-gender group from San Francisco; developed a funk style that borrowed technology common to rock music such as the wah-wah pedal, fuzz box, echo chamber, and vocal distorter, and incorporated a blues-rock guitar style; their innovations were appealing to White audiences, who identified especially with the group's rock-funk aesthetic that some critics labeled psychedelic-funk; music captured the spirit of defiance, and their lyric themes of social political change challenged the status quo
Jump Blues
an up-tempo blues style of the 1940s and 1950s characterized by boogie-woogie bass lines, shuffle rhythms, and prominent brass and reed sounds
James Reese Europe
band leader and jazz musician that began composing and performing an innovative and controversial kind of symphonic music that relied in part on European classical elements, but also incorporated African and African American melodies, and radically reconfigured his orchestra
Bootsy Collins
bassist of Parliament-Funkadelic; started in James Brown's band; emphasizes the importance of James Brown's use of "The One"; real name is William
Thelonious Monk
bebop pianist that has a reputation that stems from the originality of his compositions; made a series of recordings for the Blue Note label that included many of his most famous compositions; wrote "Thelonious" and "Ruby My Dear"
Swing
big band jazz style developed in the 1930s that emphasized horn riffs and a rhythmic drive derived from the boogie-woogie bass line
Traditional Gospel music
black religious music that emerged in urban contexts during the 1930s; pervasive in present-day African American worship
B.B. King
blues singer that used his guitar to involve the audience, getting them to respond to his guitar improvisations that mimic his voice by talking back to him with the phrases; referred to his guitar as Lucille
James Bland
celebrated and prolific Black composer-singer; wrote "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "Golden Slippers"; wrote unoffensive dialect lyrics and pleasingly smooth "barbershop"-style tunes
New Orleans (City)
city in Louisiana that occupies a special place in story of jazz; created an unusually diverse mixture of cultural influences due to the presence of French, Spanish, Creole, African American, Cuban, and Caribbean populations
Chicago (role in jazz)
city in which most of the classic recordings documenting the sound of New Orleans jazz, including those of Joe "King" Oliver and Louis Armstrong, were made in or near
Melody
coherent series of pitches; the linear aspect; also known as the tune
Fisk Jubilee Singers
college choir who started a fundraising tour singing standard European repertoire and closing with a spiritual; the spirituals soon were so popular that they soon became the focus of the concerts
Bebop
combo jazz improvised style that evolved from big band swing in the 1940s, characterized by exceedingly fast tempos, with improvisational lines based on the harmonic structure rather than on the melody
Tin Pan Alley
composed styles of popular music reflecting the musical values of middle-class White America; published between 1880 and 1950, primarily by New York-based firms
Roberta Martin
composer-pianist who founded the Roberta Martin Singers; she is considered as a progenitor of the gospel piano style
James Cleveland
composer-pianist-director; contemporary gospel artist; known as the "King of Gospel"; won 4 Grammy Awards
Will Marion Cook
conservatory-trained musician; was among the first African Americans who introduced the cakewalk in Europe; made pioneering incursions into musical theater during the opening decades of the twentieth century; gifted concert violinist that abandoned a solo concert career for the theater and wrote ragtime operettas that introduced Black syncopated music on Broadway
Buddy Bolden
cornetist who is one of the most central to the emergence of jazz; a band led by him is often cited as the first jazz band; was known for his deep feeling for the blues, improvisational elaboration of melodies, and ability to play so loud that he could be heard across Lake Ponchartrain
Stevie Wonder
created a kind of funk using TONTO; he used his full artist control of the recording session to hire collaborators to bring his musical vision to fruition but did not invent this TONTO synthesizer himself; used this to create a new virtual instrument, a clavinet sound that made "Superstition" from the Talking Book album a landmark hit that firmly established him as a mature artist
Barry Gordy
creator of Motown Sound; added a bebop sound, removed some pop elements, and reworked others to conform to the Black aesthetic ideal; founded Motown Records in 1959 in Detroit -> named for its original location aka "Motor Town"; he and his creative staff consciously produced music with commercial appeal without sacrificing the core musical values that defined a Black sound
Fiddlesticks
devices such as straws, sticks, or knitting needles used to tap out rhythms on the strings of a fiddle; allowed slaves to creatively assert African aesthetic values, by layering secondary rhythmic patterns on an instrument typically conceived as melodic; created a polyrhythmic texture that enhanced the sense of rhythmic drive and excitement in the music
The Bee Gees
disco band that is well-known for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack; group consisted of 3 Australian brothers; reflected the '70s era clothing with their high waisted bell bottoms; famous for their song "Stayin' Alive"
Donna Summer
disco singer; sang the song "Love to Love You Baby"; known as "Queen of Disco"
Old School (rap)
early hip-hop that emerged during the 1970s, featuring DJs, a crew or posse of rappers, break dancers, and graffiti artists; lyrics followed the AABB rhymed couplet format; lyrics had sixteenth-note rhythms and simple syncopations
Shout Song
emotionally charged gospel songs performed with heightened vocal delivery; contrasting short instrumental lines or riffs or vocal refrain lines and those of the soloist are layered on to the rhythmic foundation or groove
Mary Wells
female solo artist that sang "My Guy" and "The One Who Really Loves You"; aided in expressing the sound of Motown during the 1960s
East Coast/West Coast Feud
feud between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop music; hip-hop's growing diversity spurred regional and stylistic rivalry into full-blown conflict; in California, gangsta rap was more popular than the message rap associated with the East Coast (mainly NY, NJ, and Philly); by the 1990s, the popularity and record sales of the major West Coast acts had begun to eclipse nationwide sales and popularity of their New York counterparts; in retaliation against the dislodging of New York as hip-hop's center, many East Coast artists, radio stations, and rap magazines publicly accused the West Coast acts of being "studio gangsters" - that is, rappers whose lyrics glorified a fictional gangster lifestyle; the West Coast accused the East of "playa hating," or spiteful envy, and disrespecting West Coast contributions to the culture; this cross-regional bickering fueled the East-West rivalry
Harry T. Burleigh
first singer to arrange spirituals for solo voice and piano instead of for choral ensemble; created song "Deep River," which is sung by Paul Robeson
Albertina Walker
formed the all-female group known as the Caravans in 1952; the group's members were located in distant points across the city (reason for name)
George Clinton
founder and lead singer of Parliament; took party-funk to another level when he combined party themes with those of Black nationalism advanced by the Black Power Movement to create style p-funk; created p-funk; his lyrics expressed the view that the movement toward an "integrated" society had resulted in the erosion of Black cultural values and the fragmentation of Black communities -> to counter this trend, Clinton promoted 2 fundamental concepts: 1) self-liberation from social and cultural restrictions of society and 2) creation of new social spaces in which African Americans could redefine themselves and find the funk to celebrate their Blackness as "One Nation Under a Groove"; his nationalist views resonated with African Americans from all walks of life, especially those affiliated with multicultural institutions where they felt "pressured to give up their identities and to adapt to the surround white culture"
Minstrel Show
full-length theatrical entertainment featuring performers in blackface who performed songs, dances, and comic skits based on parodies and stereotypes of African American life and customs
Earth, Wind, and Fire
funk band whose lyric content was inspired by African cosmology; their songs promoted universal messages of love and peace; group's leader and primary songwriter, Maurice White, describes himself as a spiritual and philosophical person; lyrics promote awareness of self, of others, and the world as means of achieving universal peace, harmony, and love as a reference to Egyptian cosmology
Kool and the Gang
funk group who spoke out against economic and social injustice; sang the song "Who's Gonna Take the Weight" for the corruption, debt, and society's social problems; institutionalized the "party" theme in funk in songs like "Funky Stuff" and "Jungle Boogie"
Disco
genre of 1970s dance music, derived from the abbreviation of discotheque, the main venue of consumption; a distinct electro-pop style; origins in 1940's French discotheques like Whisky a Go Go; steady, bass heavy dance tempo between 112-132 bpm; instruments include strings, synths, and sweet background pads; involves clear, catchy melodies; words connected with dancing and good times, as opposed to heartbreak
Soul Music
gospel-influenced African American popular music style that began to emerge in the late 1950s and became popular during the 1960s; examples of singers that sang this kind of music include Aretha Franklin
Dixie Hummingbirds
group that adjusted their repertoire according to the racial identity of their audience; when they performed in front of African American audiences, they sang old spiritual favorites
The Orioles
group that formed in 1946 in Baltimore; popularized the romantic style; they are considered the first bona fide rhythm and blues vocal harmony group; their songs captured the country's mood following the end of World War II; derived the harmonies from congregational singing heard in African American churches
Chuck Berry
guitar player discovered by A&R staff in Chicago; transformed the blues into a distinctive rhythm and blues style by featuring the guitar as the primary instrument; played melodic yet spirited approach and produced novelty lyrics that appealed to the changing musical tastes and cultural values of America's youth, both Black and White
Aretha Franklin
her musical delivery reflects the dramatic performance style of Black preachers, who employ a range of improvisatory devices - vocal inflections, varying timbres, word repetition, and phrase endings punctuated by "grunts," "shouts," and moans - to gradually build the intensity to a level that transforms the sermon into quasi-song
Rosetta Tharpe
her self-accompaniment on guitar constituted her signature sound; was rooted in the Pentecostal Church; remembered for her controversial collaborations with the jazz bands of Cab Calloway and Lucky Millinder during the 1930s and 1940s
Kanye West
hip-hop artist who pushed the sacred-secular envelope with "Jesus Walks" -> the Grammy Award-winning song's storyline juxtaposes spiritual struggle with the vagaries of the street life and uses explicit language uncharacteristic of the religious arena
Wu-Tang Clan
hip-hop group whose debut album Enter the Wu-Tang in 1992 popularized a sound often referred to as "underground"; their signature sound featured dissonant chords and samples from 1960s soul music of the Stax catalog, creating a raw, unpolished timbre - despite the fact that the collective utilized pricey, top professional audio engineers; had a relatively low-tech minimalist sound
Alternative Rap
hip-hop music that does not conform to commercial forms of rap, such as gangsta, hardcore, and pop-rap; instead it freely draws from other genres, uses a loose interpretation of the rhymed couplet tradition, and/or includes themes that are more blatantly political than those of commercial rap
Negro Election Day (aka 'Lection Day)
holiday when slaves living in New England in North America preserved the concept of an authority figure by electing their own kings and governors; celebrated from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth century; was an Africanization of the Colonial Election Day during which the New England White population elected their governors and other community leaders; on this day, shops and schools were closed, and town inhabitants gathered in the market place all dressed up in their finest clothes; this holiday featured a parade and concluded with an evening feast
Quartet
in Western music, a musical composition or ensemble of four voices or instruments; originated as an outgrowth of the African American university singing movement
Creole
in southwest Louisiana, historically a person of mixed French and African ancestry
Mixtape
informal collection of songs, often assembled by a DJ, sometimes recorded with a unique sonic stamp; also called "screw tapes"; these recordings "presented a techonological reworking of rap songs that involved playing the song at half-speed and repeating small portions of the song in a technique called 'chopping'"
Banjo
instrument of African origin, originally with one to six strings and a neck running parallel to a gourd body; one of the most difficult instruments to learn other than the violin
Booker T. and The MGs
integrated group of Black musicians and White country and rockabilly musicians who jammed together and became Stax's resident studio band; integrated group that defied established social policies on race mixing in the South; formed as the Civil Rights Movement began gaining momentum across the South; they blended the blues, rhythm and blues, and rockabilly styles, which resulted in a unique southern sound
Rhythm and Blues
is a form of Black dance music that began to evolve during World War II; was recorded primarily by small, regional independent record labels; its development is associated with demographic, economic, and social changes that occurred in American society from the 1940s through the 1960s; the term was used first as a marketing label to identify all types of secular music recorded by and for African Americans; introduced by Billboard magazine in 1949 to replace the race music label; encompassed all Black musical traditions, from rural and urban blues, boogie-woogie, swing, jazz combos and trios to vocal harmony groups, solo singers, and rhythm and blues combos; the term identified a hybrid musical genre that combined elements from jazz, blues, gospel music, and, later, pop
Funk
is an urban form of dance music; also known as "party" music; emerged in the late 1960s and became popular in the 1970s; its creators were rhythm and blues and jazz musicians, who sang, played instruments, wrote, and often produced their own songs as self-contained groups; borrows elements from a wide range of musical genres including rhythm and blues-styled horn arrangements, jazz-oriented solos, rock-oriented solos and guitar timbres, and vocal stylings associated with soul music; the term captured both the complex and contradictory feelings of optimism, ambivalence, disillusionment, and despair that accompanied the transition from a segregated to a post-civil rights society; reveals the resilience and creativity of African Americans under changing social and economic conditions; included the element of "The One" rhythm; incorporated electronic instruments: synthesizers, electric bass, and electric guitar
Fletcher Henderson
jazz arranger that developed a big band sound by incorporating jazz soloists such as Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins into a dance band of larger instrumentation than the typical New Orleans jazz ensemble; developed an arranging style with Don Redman that featured call-response between the brass section and the use of one instrumental choir as a background accompaniment for the other
Duke Ellington
jazz composer and arranger that developed the most unique style for jazz ensembles in the 1920s; his singular style combined the "sweet" dance band style, New Orleans/blues-inspired trumpet style, and ragtime-based piano style; got his first major break when he was hired at the Cotton Club
John Coltrane
jazz musician of modal jazz era; explored the recurring chord pattern called the vamp; in the early 60s, he shifted from a well-developed modern bebop style featuring harmonically dense compositions to an open-ended modal conception that actively explored African and Indian sources of musical and spiritual inspiration; wrote "My Favorite Things"
Louis Armstrong
jazz performer; his class recordings documenting the sound of New Orleans jazz was made in or near Chicago; joined Joe "King" Oliver's band in 1923; made a series of recordings for OKeh known as the Hot Fives and Sevens; did not like Jelly Roll Morton very much
New Orleans Jazz
jazz that featured an improvisatory style, the blues feeling of uptown Black New Orleans, and new rhythmic interpretations that had transformed a basic march beat into the slow drag and up-tempo strut
Michael Jackson
known as the "King of Pop" due to his cross-cultural success and popularity among White audiences; his Thriller album included a mix of rhythm and blues, funk-rock, and funk tracks; influenced by James Brown and copied the dance moves of James Brown
Benny Goodman
known as the "King of Swing"; was offered a regular slot on NBC's "Let's Dance" in late 1934
Will Smith
known as the Fresh Prince; part of the Philadelphia duo with Jazzy Jeff; joined fellow hip-hop icon Jay-Z as a producer of the Broadway musical production, Fela! in 2010, which celebrated the late Nigerian musician-activist, Fela Anikulapo Kuti -> the production won several Tony Awards; managed to expand his professional brand beyond his early rap star persona and became a widely recognizable American cultural symbol through his visibility in mainstream films and productions
Jim Crow Laws
laws limited African American freedoms and rights in US society, named for the minstrel character "Jim Crow"
Diana Ross
lead singer of the Supremes; had a distinct thin, airy timbre and pop-oriented style; sang well-known song "Endless Love"
Dr. Dre
made the song record The Chronic; American rapper who produced and mentored a young White rapper from Detroit named Eminem; was previously co-owner of Death Row Records; was part of NWA
Coleman Hawkins
made the tenor saxophone the symbol of jazz that it is today by using an unusually wide mouthpiece and a hard reed, giving the instrument a strong, unfettered voice-like tone quality - a sound ideal in many African and African American cultures; his solo on "The Stampede" revolutionized how the tenor was perceived
Burnt Cork/Blackface
makeup used by minstrel performers to blacken their faces in caricature of African Americans
Jubilee quartet
male or female a cappella ensemble of four to six voices that performs formal arrangements of spirituals and jubilee songs in close four-part harmony, with emphasis on a percussive and rhythmic style of singing
Dancing the Slaves
method used on slave ships to exercise human cargo to reduce the rate of mortality during the Middle Passage; common sinister practice used by ship captains
Tindley Style
methodist minister who was credited for his compositional style in gospel music; structured in a way that reflected the musical values that had characterized the folk spiritual tradition of the rural South
Hymn
metrical compositions in strophic form, typically eight bars of rhyming couplets, loosely based on biblical scripture
Civil Rights Movement
movement that exerted pressure on musicians to do their part in supporting efforts to end Jim Crow by the mid-1950s; had important consequences for jazz of the 1950s and 1960s; southern Blacks launched this movement; a movement beginning in the late 1940s and blossoming in the late 1950s to mid-1960s that pushed for equal rights for African Americans
NWA
name stood for "N****z with Attitude"; identified with Compton that comprised of mainly working-class African Americans and people of Mexican descent; members included Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, MC Ren, and the DOC, who replaced original member the Arabian Prince; the group garnered a strong local following in a manner similar to that of the early Bronx MCs: NWA pressed records, passed along cassette tapes to friends, and sold them from cars and at flea markets; eventually signed with the small independent label Priority Records; because of their explicit lyrics, radio and music video stations refused to air their music -> still the music was advertised through word of mouth, and its spread was comparable to the earlier westward migration of copied hip-hop tapes from the Bronx and Harlem; their first full-length album was Straight Outta Compton -> gained notoriety particularly due to the single, "F--- tha Police," whose explicit lyrics critiqued the treatment of African Americans by the Los Angeles police department
Jubilee
nineteenth-century genre with sacred or secular narrative texts, sung in moderate or fast tempo
Classic Ragtime
notated or written compositions for piano, in four sections; associated with Scott Joplin and his contemporaries
Break Dancing
often acrobatic, early hip-hop dance, initially performed during the percussive "break" of a song, when the DJ performed extended instrumental sections suited to dancing; the dancers were known as "b-boys/girls"; a competitive dance; performed to music provided by the DJ
The Beastie Boys
one of the first Def Jam artists that was a success; a White act that fused rock and rap styles; attracted the attention of a major record company, Columbia Records
Sam Cooke
one of the gospel artists that crossed over to secular music; from the Highway QCs and the Soul Stirrers
Five Blind Boys
one of the gospel quartets featured in the 1985 version of the production Oedipus Rex; group from Alabama
Muddy Waters
one of the southern musicians that pioneered in small electric blues combos in Chicago and other cities; real name was McKinley Morganfield
Joe "King" Oliver
one of those that had his recordings documenting the sound of New Orleans made in/near Chicago; booked his Creole Jazz Band in Chicago along "The Stroll," a thriving nightlife district on South State Street that featured several African American-owned clubs
Little Richard
originally from Macon, Georgia; rhythm and blues artist that recorded in New Orleans; he wrote most of his songs and performed them in the clubs where they first became popular; his hit song "Tutti Frutti" introduced a new rhythmic pattern to the rhythm and blues tradition; the choo-choo beat provided the rhythmic foundation for his national and crossover hits, beginning with "Long Tall Sally" and "Lucille"; the choo-choo beat became known in mainstream popular music as the "rock and roll" beat after many "rock and roll" groups appropriated this beat
Clara Ward
part of the Ward Singers, who were gospel trendsetters; her group was credited with recording one of the first million-selling gospel records, "Surely God is Able"; her group also gained considerable notoriety for their controversial decision to perform gospel music in Las Vegas casinos in 1962
Scott Joplin
performer and composer that developed and cultivated the sophisticated compositional style of ragtime; classic ragtime is associated with him and his contemporaries; wrote "Maple Leaf Rag"; John Stark was his publisher; formulated concrete guidelines for playing ragtime, particularly for his own music; composed several works for the theater and concert stages
Great Awakening
period of religious revival that swept the American colonies in the mid-eighteenth century; series of Christian revivals in England and the Colonies in the 1730s-1740s; had impact on all American churches except Quaker and Catholic; included proselytization of slaves at first in Virginia and later elsewhere leading to the creation of African American Baptist churches in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia before the War of Independence
Eubie Blake
pianist composer of Black musical comedy; contributed to the play "Shuffle Along" with his flashy piano interludes
Dave Brubeck
pianist during cool jazz era; his trios and quartets dominated the listeners' polls for a considerable portion of the 1950s
Charles Brown
pianist-vocalist of Johnny Moore's Three Blazers; left Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and formed his own trio, further popularizing the trio style and blues repertoire
Fats Domino
piano player discovered by A&R staff in New Orleans; his musical director, arranger, producer, and co-songwriter Dave Bartholomew used the rumba as the foundation for his recordings, on top of which he (person) added the rolling fifth and octave figures as well as triplets to develop a distinctive New Orleans rhythm and blues style
Boogie Woogie
piano style popularized in the 1930s and 1940s that features repeated bass figures (riffs) against a syncopated improvised melody
Martin Luther King, Jr.
political figure of the Civil Rights Movement that injected a new element of seriousness into race relations and perceptions; Thomas Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" was sung at his funeral by Mahalia Jackson; expressed positive social messages, principles of faith, and philosophy of racial justice; adopted "Keep On Pushing" as a protest song during the Civil Rights Movement as a political and social message
MC Hammer
pop-rap entertainer from Oakland; his hit single "U Can't Touch This," which sampled funk artist Rick James's "Super Freak," focused on the catchy hooks, energetic dancing, and popularity of its base song, rather than lyrical content; initially was embraced by the mainstream; later, he would reappear in the public realm as a reality television star and televangelist
Shuffle Along
popular Black musical comedy; musical that was successful due to the young and dedicated talent, key players that drew on experience, and musical material that varied from lyrical and romantic to upbeat and jazzy
Coon Song
popular song style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that presented a stereotyped view of African Americans, often performed by white singers in blackface
New School (rap)
post-1985 technology-driven hip-hop that spotlights MCs whose raps are stylistically and lyrically diverse; the rhyme scheme departs somewhat from the AABB couplet format; MCs of this rap expanded the rhyming and rhythmic possibilities of the party-rocking rapper, rather than completely rejecting and uprooting hip-hop traditions
John Stark
published Scott Joplin's compositions, such as "Maple Leaf Rag"; was the only publisher who committed himself to specializing in ragtime, which he promoted in announcements and in his catalogues; believed in ragtime and actively committed himself to advocating the value of ragtime as American music
Max Morath
published the anthology "100 Ragtime Classics" by 1963; appeared regularly on television shows; leading figure of the ragtime revival
Soul Stirrers
quartet group that performed in the gospel style; Sam Cooke was in this quartet group
Golden Gate Quartet
quartet that started recording using a double bass in 1946
Pop Rap
rap characterized by humorous, catchy, and upbeat lyrics with little controversial subject matter, which targets a mainstream audience
Classic Rap
rap with elements of hardcore and pop-rap affirmed by the core hip-hop audience and the mainstream; artists included Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, and Nas -> these groups developed ways of combining compelling, street-themed storytelling, catchy radio- and crowd-friendly hooks, and strong production; artists usually employed hardcore themes and explicit language, but also recorded "clean," or self-censored, versions of their songs or albums; lyrics were edgy enough for the act to appear to be "keeping it real" for its core audience but not so edgy to prompt controversy or outright bans from commercial radio and video airplay; audience was called the "hip-hop community"
50 Cent
rapper who was discovered by White rapper Eminem; was a hip-hop icon that became profiled in Forbes Magazine
Def Jam
record label that was founded by hip hop artist Simmons from Run-D.M.C. and Rubin, a young White New York University student; Simmons managed business matters, while Rubin handled musical production and Artists and Repertoire (A&R); the record label's first act was a young teenaged rapper named LL Cool J who recorded "I Need a Beat" in 1984
W.C. Handy
referred to as the Father of the Blues; reported that his grandfather told him how slaves transformed the violin into a percussion instrument
Spiritual
religious music of African Americans during slavery; the earliest form of religious music to develop among African Americans; this genre symbolized the slave population's unique expression of Christian religious values and ideals tempered by the social, cultural, and physical experience of prolonged involuntary servitude
Gospel Music
religious music of African Americans that emerged in urban centers during the early decades of the twentieth century
Patting juba
rhythmic body percussion used by slaves to accompany singing or dancing; insistent on downbeat on the 1 of 4 beats
Billy Ward and His Dominoes
rhythmic group that was aligned with both the blues and gospel quartet traditions; the blues structure and combo instrumentation combined with the call-response form, close harmonies, and vocal styles of gospel music; this group was among the first to popularize this style
Protest Songs
satirical songs that had explicit comments on the conditions of slavery, such as making fun of the master and his family in ways that did not provoke offense
Polyrhythm
several contrasting rhythms played or sung simultaneously; the layering of contrasting rhythms; universal in sub-Saharan African instrumental ensembles made up of various percussive and melodic instruments; two against three; layers of different things working together
DJ
short for "disc jockey"; a person who plays records in a dance club or on radio; in hip-hop, one who uses turntables to accompany rappers and break dancers or to perform as featured instrumentalist; often distributed mixes on cassette tape, played then on boomboxes
Field Holler or cry
short, florid, improvised melody sung by an individual working in the fields; could convey a request or communicate a need; were also emotional expressions, ways of communicating sadness, loneliness, fatigue, or any other human emotions
Noble Sissle
singer-lyricist that was part of the Black musical comedy "Shuffle Along"; American composer
Invisible Church
sites where slaves worshipped in secret, often in defiance of laws that prohibited their assembly without White supervision
Strophic
song form in which a single melody is repeated with a different set of lyrics for each stanza; incorporates either short or long phrase call-and-response
Double entendre
song text with double meanings; song text that has two meanings, one of which is dark or vulgar
Work Songs
songs that accompanied work that coordinated effort and relieved boredom; coordinated their movements, lifted their spirits, enabled the slower workers to keep up, and warded off fatigue; accompanied work like hoeing, planting, harvesting, picking cotton, grinding corn, cutting brush, laying railroad tracks, cutting wood, hauling fishing nets, or rowing
Holland-Dozier-Holland
songwriter-producer team; produced Aretha Franklin's Sweet Passion in 1977 for Atlantic Records; included the founders: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland (H-D-H)
The Staple Singers
soul group that sang "You've Got to Earn It" and "Respect Yourself" in 1971; encouraged self-sufficiency and pride among African Americans in their music
Ray Charles
soul performer whose live performances have fast tempos, complex rhythmic structures, extensive word and pitch repetition, brassy horns, extended vamps, greater intensity level, and continuous music without breaks between most songs; sang "What'd I Say"; one of the architects of soul
James Brown
soul singer that campaigned for racial equality, social justice, and community empowerment through their songs; performs in an intense, percussive, and gospel-inflected vocal style similar to Clyde McPhatter, lead singer of the Dominoes, who had a major influence on him; widely popularized this vocal style in rhythm and blues and in soul music; used polyrhythmic structures as illustrated in "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" in 1965; funk draws from the innovations of him; known as the "Godfather of Soul"; redefined the direction of African American popular music by breaking rules and crossing boundaries of musical style; his music attracted a predominantly African American following; convicted of robbery in 1949 and formed a Gospel quartet in juvenile detention; part of The Famous Flames; held a concert in the aftermath of MLK Jr.'s assassination in 1968; used the rhythm of "The One" -> puts an emphasis on the first beat of every measure in the song; his music expresses more of his emotions rather than a storyline; his dance moves inspired many to dance like him, such as Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger; has a powerful, raspy voice in regard to timbre
Bessie Smith
southern Black vaudeville singer that became closely identified with blues music; sang the published blues hits, her own compositions, and adaptations of folk material; sang "I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down"; was Mahalia Jackson's favorite performer
Race Series (records)
special series of recordings issued between the 1920s and 1940s performed exclusively by African Americans and directed to an African American market
MTV
stands for Music Television; its programming became aesthetically darker after Michael Jackson's success, which made possible the broadcast of music videos featuring other Black artists, including Prince ("Purple Rain," 1984); became an important media outlet for conglomerates that controlled the distribution of and the "purse strings" for the production of Black popular music
Snoop Dogg
starred in a family-oriented reality show and founded a sports program for inner-city youth while still maintaining his "smoked-out" street image by joking about drug use on talk shows in 2010; also known as Snoop Lion and Snoop Doggy Dog
The Funk Brothers
studio musicians of Motown who perfected the Motown Sound during Phase II of Motown's development; Motown's integrated resident musicians
Free Jazz
style that began in the late 1950s and abandoned the practice of utilizing fixed harmonic and rhythmic patterns as the basis for improvisation
Groove
syncopated and repetitive rhythmic foundation established by the bass and drum; defined by a polyrhythmic foundation layered on a syncopated bass line that locks with the bass drum pattern -> pattern often begins with a heavy "downbeat" on the first pulse ("The One") and an accented snare drum back-beat on the second and fourth pulse
Scratching
technique used by hip-hop DJs to create a percussive sound, produced by moving a very short section of a record back and forth under the record needle; Grandmaster Flash said that Grandwizard Theodore made this more percussive
The Jackson 5
teenage rhythm and blues vocal group who sang both ballads and up-tempo songs; youth was their primary audience; sang "I'll Be There" in 1970 and "Dancing Machine" in 1974; they provided the model for subsequent teenaged groups such as New Editions; Michael Jackson was one of the main stars of this group; sang "I Want You Back" and "ABC"
Folk Spiritual
the earliest form of indigenous a cappella religious music created by African Americans during slavery
Tom Turpin
the first African American composer of rags; well known as an excellent performer; began his early career as a saloon pianist in one of the most notorious sporting houses of St. Louis; published "Harlem Rag" during the same year he opened his own business called the Turpin's Saloon; a good example of a performer-composer, whose compositions show clear traces of his own improvisatory style
LL Cool J
the first act of Def Jam who recorded "I Need a Beat" in 1984 and was a huge national sales success; was a young teenaged rapper; name stood for "Ladies Love Cool James"; performed at the concert in 1985 at Madison Square Garden in NYC which received negative media attention after a concert attendee was shot; managed to expand his professional brand beyond his early rap star persona and became a widely recognizable American cultural symbol through his visibility in mainstream films and productions
Mechanics of Delivery
the manipulation of variables of time, text, and pitch in African American musical performance practice
Great Migration
the mass movement of southern African Americans to urban cities during the period surrounding World Wars I and II
Paul Robeson
the person credited as the first to sing a concert comprised entirely of Negro spirituals; sang Harry Burleigh's "Deep River"; renowned bass-baritone
Style of Delivery
the physical mode of presentation - how performers engage the body in movement and adornment during performance
Acculturation
the process of change that occurs when two different cultural groups come into prolonged contact; proceeded at different rates in different colonies
Transcription
the process of notating musical performance; meant a reduction of what was originally played in many cases
The Moonglows
the rhythmic vocal innovations of the romantic harmony group ushered in a new vocal group sound that became known as "doo-wop"; usually sang without instrumental accompaniment
Syncopation
the shifting of accent from standard Western stressed beats to atypical stress points in the measure; produces an uneven or irregular rhythm; is characteristic of African music
Heterophony
the simultaneous rendering of slightly different versions of the same melody by two or more performers; is replaced with clearly defined harmonic parts, and the element of dance is eliminated altogether
Rag
the term applied to syncopated or embellished melodies during the ragtime era; also called ragging
Ragtime
the term defined a performance style and practices applied to composing and playing popular song, dance, and instrumental music; was variously conceived as song, dance, and syncopated instrumental music; style of African American music popular at the turn of the twentieth century, characterized by a syncopated melody placed against a steady bass line
Musical Process
the way music is created, performed, and experienced; includes interpreting call-response and polyrhythmic organization, conceptualization, style of execution, and performance
Vaudeville
theatrical form consisting of a variety of unrelated performing acts, including actors, singers, dancers, acrobats, comedians, magicians, trained animals, and other specialty acts
Mix
to collage several songs, with the goal of maintaining a consistent, danceable rhythm; a "new" song that the DJ (or producer) assembles from brief sections of current hits; the DJ often excised individual words or phrases from popular songs and included them in it
Timbre
tone color, sound quality; this means the difference between the trumpet and violin; the quality of sound that distinguishes different voices or instruments from one another
Little Walter Jacobs
transformed the harmonica in Muddy Waters's Chicago blues band in an effort to be heard above the electric guitars, bass, and drums; transformed the harmonica into the Mississippi saxophone by holding a microphone attached to a tube amplifier very close to his harmonica
Wynton Marsalis
trumpeter that advocated a return to basic jazz values (making changes and swinging) through studying the classic recordings of jazz masters such as Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington; inspired a group of young musicians later known as the Young Lions
Doo-Wop
typically, a capella vocal harmony groups that emphasized the rhythmic delivery of phrases consisting of vocables (syllables without lexical meaning); adds movement to romantic songs;
Remix
typically, a popular song that has been reassembled by a turntablist DJ or producer, which is then recorded or presented during a DJ's performance; the vocals or recording are recorded or played over an entirely different track from the original, to achieve a contrasting groove and/or to extend the shelf life of a hit song
Speaking in Tongues
uttering words or phrases in charismatic worship, which are spoken in a language intelligible only through spiritual discernment; also known as "glossolalia"
Harmony
vertical, hierarchical organization; also known as the chords
Nat "King" Cole
was one of the artists that was publicly shamed for continuing to accept engagements in performance venues that segregated audiences; jazz pianist-singer that is credited as being the first to form a trio, the King Cole Trio; performed a diverse repertoire that included jazz, novelty songs, ballads, and blues
Mahalia Jackson
wasn't allowed to listen to secular music but did and had a style that was very close to the blues at times; did not sing secular music as an adult; her formative religious exposure included the Pentecostal Church, whose music she loved; her favorite performer was Bessie Smith