Browse shows on: Musical Roots and Branches
ABJ interviews, field productions, and historic performances explore the social and cultural roots of Detroit's eclectic and highly influential contributions to American music. These ABJ shows feature an intermixture of conventional themes in urban pop culture (youth, political protest, romance, defiance of social conventions) with themes in black history and culture (blues, Christian spirituality, liberation).
Colored People's Time 13 (1968)Guests: Inkster Community Choir, Lorenzo Wright, The Brothers of Soul, Martha Jean, Wild Bill Davis, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis, John Conyers
Host : Tony Brown
Producer : Gilbert Maddox, Tony Brown
Duration: 01:01:04
Description: This program from the fall of 1968 is interesting for a variety of reasons. It's wide-ranging content mix of news, music, fashion, theater and cultural commentary offers fascinating insight into the concerns and interests of Detroit's African American community of the period. In addition, it provides an enlightening example of local television production style in the late 1960s. Moreover, the program is remarkable for the number of cast and crew members who went on to notable careers in the mass media and academia.
Colored People's Time 5 (December 31, 1969)Guests: International Gospel Choir, Black Students Association, Arthur Ashe Jr, George Kirby, Bill Murphy, Gwen McKinney, Kim Weston, Marcus Belgrave, Thomas Bowles, Diane Carol, Hal McKinney
Host : Tony Brown
Producer : Gilbert Maddox, Tony Brown
Duration: 56:53:9
Description: The program opens with Hal McKinney's jazz band performing "Freedom Jazz Dance," featuring Hal and Gwen McKinney on vocals. Although they are not individually credited, it appears that at least two prominent jazz musicians, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and saxophonist Thomas "Beans" Bowles, are members of McKinney's band...
James Brown (1978)Guests: James Brown
Host : Ron Scott
Producer : Ron Scott
Description: James Brown has been a powerful figure on the music scene since the 1950s. This 1978 program, with host Ron Scott, consists of an interview with Brown that examines some of his personal history and his objectives as a musical artist.
Stevie Wonder: A Motown Legacy (1980)Guests: Ted Hull, Ester Gordy Edwards, Stevie Wonder
Host : Gene Elzy
Producer : Tony Mottley
Duration: 00:29:41
Description: This program, from very early in 1980, is an exploration of the career and music of Stevie Wonder, who joined Motown Records at age 12 and soon became one of the record label's most popular and successful recording stars.
To Be Woman, Gifted, and Black: From One Generation to Another (1980)Guests: Lena Horne, Nikki Giovanni
Host : Gene Elzy
Producer : Alfa Harrison, Deborah Ray
Duration: 0:28:57
Description: This show features interviews with Lena Horne and Nikki Giovanni about their careers, work, and what it means to be a black woman in modern-day society.
Sun Ra (1981)Guests: Sun Ra
Host : Deborah Ray
Producer : Deborah Ray
Description: Sun Ra captured almost as much attention for his outlandish costumes and strange philosophical pronouncements as for his innovative jazz compositions. But it was his advocacy of "free jazz" and his early use of electronic synthesizers that inspired and influenced a wide array of other jazz musicians.
Reverend Franklin (1984)Guests: C. L. Franklin, Claude Young, Martha Jean Steinberg, Erma Franklin, Robin McCoy, Fannie Tyler, The Royal Crusaders, S. L. Jones, Marlon Terrell
Host : Ben Frazier
Producer : Ed Gordon, Alicia Nails, Njia Kai
Description: This hour-long program from 1984 is divided into four segments. Three of them deal with youth-related issues or programs, but the longest and most prominent of the four is a 20-minute tribute to the Rev. C.L. Franklin, one of Detroit's most prominent and influential ministers.
Motown Revue Reunion (1989)Guests: Johnny Bristol, Sylvia Moy, Ian Levine, the Satintone, the Velvelettes
Host : Trudy Gallant
Producer : Tony Mottley
Description: In 1989, a British record producer who had grown up listening to the hits of Detroit's Motown Records during the 1960s decided to bring together many of the old groups together for to make a series of new recordings. In this program, host Trudy Gallant interviews the producer, Ian Levine, and two of the former Motown songwriters - Sylvia Moy and Johnny Bristol - who were involved in the new project.
Old Hastings Street (1989)Guests: Dorothy DeMorcia, Wardell Polk, Siliva Williams, Lyman Woodard
Host : Trudy Gallant
Producer : Tony Mottley
Description: This program from February 1989 crosses a range of categories as it explores the history of Detroit's black neighborhoods in the first half of the 20th century. Host Trudy Gallant discusses that history with a panel which includes two Detroiters who grew up in the Black Bottom/Paradise Valley area on the city's near east side, and the curator of a new exhibit about the period on display at the Detroit Historical Museum.
Holiday Show (December 1990)Guests: Diane Campbell, Tina Brooks, Lisa Page, Keith Staten, Witness, Yolanda Harris
Host : Trudy Gallant
Producer : Carlota Almanza
Duration: 00:28:21
Description: This program from December 1990 is a Christmas special devoted to gospel music. Host Trudy Gallant introduces two contemporary gospel music acts: a women's quartet known as Witness and solo performer Keith Staten.
Afrocentric Education (1992)Guests: Katherine Blackwell, Baba Inshangi
Host : Cliff Russell
Producer : Carlota Almanza
Duration: 0:26:29
Description: This program, broadcast in 1992, is hosted by Cliff Russell. Divided between a music-dance performance by the Ishangi family from West Africa, and a presentation by Katherine Blackwell, an African American storyteller, the show illustrates the efforts of African Americans to explore - and to transmit to their children - the African roots of American culture.
Berry Gordy (1994)Guests: Berry Gordy
Host : Darryl Wood [bio]Darrell Wood hosted the show for ten years from 1988 to 1998 under the title American Black Journal. His shows sought to focus on the skills and talents of many of the nation's leading African-American business people to public television.
Click for full biography
Producer : Tony Mottley
Duration: 0:27:47
Description: Founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy is a legend in Detroit and around the country. Broadcast in 1994 as part of Gordy's tour to promote his autobiography, "To Be Loved," host Darryl Wood talks with Gordy about the early days of his career.
Wynton Marsalis (1996)Guests: Wynton Marsalis
Host : Darryl Wood [bio]Darrell Wood hosted the show for ten years from 1988 to 1998 under the title American Black Journal. His shows sought to focus on the skills and talents of many of the nation's leading African-American business people to public television.
Click for full biography
Producer : Tony Mottley
Duration: 0:27:47
Description: This 1996 program consists of an interview by ABJ host Darryl Wood with renowned trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, who was 34 at the time. The interview provides insight, not just into Marsalis, but also into the nature of jazz music, and more broadly, the role of the artist in society.
