Educational resources for:
Musical Roots and Branches: Jazz, Motown, Gospel, HipHop, & Techno
Thematic Overview
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).
Featured Show Segments
Comprehension Questions
Questions:
How does Bobby Seale distinguish what the 1960s were about from what he believes the 1980s should be about?
When Wynton Marsalis is composing music, how does he consider the other musicians he may be playing the music with?
Questions:
What does Wynton Marsalis say is the role of the artist?
What does Wynton Marsalis say is the focus of his musical playing?
What does Wynton Marsalis have to say about the relationship between ethnicity and art?
Questions:
What is the distinction James Brown makes between formal education and practical education?
Why does James Brown think it is important for artists and performers to have control over what they do?
Questions:
What does James Brown say about awareness and respect for African American culture?
Questions:
Why does James Brown say he keeps working so hard?
What does James Brown say African Americans should do to combat the disadvantages they face as a people in America?
Questions:
What does Sun Ra say about what the focus of musicians should be?
How does Sun Ra define jazz?
What are Sun Ra’s goals for his music?
Questions:
What is Sun Ra’s guiding myth?
Questions:
What aspects of the performance by the Brothers of Soul seem most unusual -- or even out-of-date -- to you?
Thematic questions
What do you make of the different styles of African American music you see and hear in these programs?
Both Wynton Marsalis and Sun Ra discuss the significance of myth in their music. What similarities and differences do you see in what they say?
How would you compare what James Brown says about his role as a musical performer with what Wynton Marsalis has to say on the same subject?
Websites
Wattsstax
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/wattstax/
Companion site to the 1973 documentary by Mel Stuart. In August 1972 the Southern soul Stax record label hosted what came to be called the “Black Woodstock.” This event was hosted in Los Angeles, seven years after the Watts riots. The film intersperses interviews with Watts residents with live footage from the concert. See also: www.wattsstax.com
New York University Libraries’ Bibliography: Hip Hop Studies
http://library.nyu.edu:8000/research/perform/hiphop.html
This site contains information on Hip Hop culture – from definition to textual references to historical context.
Smithsonian Institution’s America’s Jazz Heritage Project
http://www.si.edu/ajazzh/
“A ten-year initiative to research, preserve, and present the history of jazz through exhibitions, performances, recordings, radio, publications, and educational programs at the Smithsonian and across the nation.”
Columbia University Libraries’ Music and Dance of Africa
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/music.html
A resource guide of links to numerous websites on the subject of Music and Dance of Africa. The annotated guide references both historic and current movements, performers and styles.
NPR’s All Things Considered “A History of Gospel Music”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4233793
A December 2004 interview with author Robert Darden, author of People Get Ready!: A New History of Gospel Music on the history of the genre. This site contains audio clips of traditional gospel songs by well-known artists. It also contains links to other NPR features on gospel music.
Related Films
Wattstax.
DVD. 103 minutes.
Directed by Mel Stuart. Los Angeles: Warner Home Video, 2004. See also wattsstax.com.
Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory.
VHS. 60 minutes.
Directed by Llewellyn Smith. Boston: WGBH Educational Foundation, 2000.
Big City Blues.
VHS. 28 minutes.
Directed by St. Clair Bourne. New York: Rhapsody Films,1986.
Books
Darden, Robert. People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music. New York: The
Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004.
Darden chronicles the history and styles of gospel music beginning with its African roots and carrying through the recent past. It also includes a discography of referenced artists.
Hausman, Gerals. African-American Alphabet: A Celebration of African-American and West Indian Culture, Custom, Myth, and Symbol. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
An alphabetical collection of “traditions, languages, legends and symbols” weaving together African, African-American and Caribbean cultures.
Kebede, Ashenafi. Roots of Black Music: The Vocal, Instrumental, and Dance Heritage of Africa and Black America. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1995.
Based on African fieldwork and research in the United States, this book explores African vocal music and instruments, the role of music in urban African society as well as the western hemisphere. The author examines the development of dance, as well as instrumental music including blues and jazz.
Perkins, William Eric. Droppin’ Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
A collection of essays which critically trace the history of rap and hip hop music from its beginnings as a urban African American cultural expression through contemporary controversy surround the form.
Stearns, Marshall Winslow. The Story of Jazz. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
Foundational text on the history of jazz music. Discusses the New World blending of African music with European forms. Follows the birth of jazz in New Orleans and its movement through the urban cities of the north and Midwest. Traces the genres’ development from swing through its influences on 1950s rock music.
Additional show segments and comprehension questions
Questions:
What does Baba Ishangi say about family life?
Questions:
Why does Katherine Blackwell say that she presents folk tales to children?
Questions:
How do members of Witness respond to suggestions that their style of singing gospel music might be too non-traditional?
Questions:
What does Keith Staten hope will be the impact of his music?
Questions:
What was Berry Gordy’s intent in writing his book?
Questions:
How did Berry Gordy get the money to produce his first record?
Questions:
Why does Berry Gordy believe so many people do not achieve their potential?
Questions:
What differences does Lena Horne see between the struggles performers of her generation faced getting started and the struggles faced by a younger generation?
Questions:
To what does Lena Horne attribute the strength of black women?
