Where it regards funk, you may wanna go into Parliament/Funkadelic,
which really tried to mobilize blacks at the time, albeit in a kooky kinda
way. "Chocolate City" would be the obvious choice, seeing as George Clinton
is singing about not getting forty acres and a mule, Aretha Franklin being
the first lady, Stevie Wonder being the secretary of Fine Arts and Richard
Pryor being the minister of Defense. Very political song if you actually
listen to it.
I'd also include some 70's era James Brown, probably "Say It Loud", and
tie it in to Ali's "Thrilla In Manilla". It's all in the movie "When We
Were Kings", and was really at the height of the Black Power movement.
Rickey Vincent's EXCELLENT book, "Funk: The Music, The People, and The
Rhythym Of The One" is an excellent source for more info on how the black
music of the time tied into the Black Power movement. Actually, Rickey
Vincent hosts a Funk radio show somewhere on the coast and is a pretty nice
guy, so I'm sure he'll talk to you and lead you in the right direction. Let
me know and I'll hook you up with his email.
In terms of Jazz, I'd say that you can't really go without including
70's era Miles Davis, as his music of the time, was very heavily influenced
by James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. He was actually
on the verge of a doing a collaboration with Hendrix just before he died,
which would have been incredible!! It's all outlined in his autobiography,
which is a MUST READ for any fan of Miles, Jazz, or music. Heck, it's an
entertaining book even if you don't like jazz; Miles led an exceptionally
interesting life. 70's Herbie Hancock would probably be another great
choice, as he was trying to hit the same black audience that Miles was, and
did so with more success than his mentor. Anyway, hope this helps.
Stimp
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan" <dzacks@po-box.mcgill.ca>
To: "Acid-Jazz Listserve" <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 11:10 AM
Subject: Black History Month
> Hey all!
> This is my first posting to the list although I've been lurking around for
> the better part of three months. I am constantly impressed with the
> intensity and calibre of discussion and look forward to contributing to
the
> dialogue.
> In any event, I've recently embarked on a hopefully long career as a
> radio-DJ on community/campus radio ('Waxing Deep' Saturday's 0600h_0800h
> EST., Montreal's CKUT 90.3FM www.ckut.ca) and am planning on doing a Black
> history month special for this week's show. I've also been cajoled into
> writing an article for a campus paper on ideal music picks for Black
history
> month listening. And so I invite any ideas on what should I include.
Here
> are the results of my initial brainstorming:
>
> A lot of Fela!
>
> Specifically, I intend to include 'Gentleman,' and '2000 Blacks' and
'Africa
> Centre of the World' from the Fela and Roy Ayers from the 'Music of Many
> Colours' LP. Of course, these are obvious choices. For the radio show,
I'm
> going to throw in some Femi, particularly some cuts from the remix album,
> although I've not yet decided which ones. Also, to show the evolution
(and
> regression?) of the afrogroove, I'm going to add some Tony Allen and
> Antibalas to the mix.
>
> Dizzy's 'Swing Low Sweet Cadillac'
>
> 'Kush,' particularly with Dizzy's intro, is sublime and relevant. It's
also
> sufficiently uptempo to fit in with the format of my show and accessible
> enough that the masses of McGill might give it a listen and get hooked.
>
> Short list huh? Well, I do have a couple of more ideas but class starts
in
> about five minutes. To finish, given that I'm not black, I feel that my
> selections need to demonstrate a particular consciousness and avoid any
> semblance of clichés, especially those that might be seen as perpetuated
by
> a white establishment. For that reason, I'm inclined to avoid a lot of
> soul-jazz/blaxploitation tracks, but I'm curious to know what you all
think.
> I've also been thinking about adding in some Brazilian music, particularly
> from the genres that show an obvious connection to African rhythms,
capoeira
> for example. My knowledge of funk is limited, but I've got access to a
> pretty extensive library so I welcome ideas in that regard, and it should
be
> noted that it's part of my show's mandate not to play any hiphop.
>
> Hope I'm not asking too much of the list, anything and everything is
> appreciated,
> Dan Zacks
>
>
>
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