Black Music In America - From Then Till Now (1973)

[music] young. Oh, what a [music and singing] lovely [music] [singing] >> black music. [music and singing] >> One of the great artistic contributions to American culture. Its roots are in the music of Africa, the plantation, [music] the city's ghettos, the church, the nightclub, the theater. Black artists have drawn on all these strains to create a new American music. Jazz, hot and cool, [music] swing, bop, rock and roll, rhythm, and blues. >> [music] >> The music [music] building IS [music] very nice. IT'S [music] VERY [music] [music] >> [music] >> Oh my god. [music] [music] >> [music] >> In 1957, Louisie Armstrong visited Ghana in West Africa. Black American music returned to the place from which it had come. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> The first slaves left Africa. before the colony of Virginia [music] in 1619. In 1700, Mr. Thomas Starks, a slave dealer in London, directed the captain of the ship Africa to take on a cargo of 450 slaves. He included the typical admonition, "Make your negroes cheerful and pleasant. Make them dance to the beat of your drum. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> By 1727, there were 75,000 blacks in the North [music] American colonies. By 1790, there were 10 times that number. By 1800, there were over a million. Blacks now formed to nearly 19% of the population of the United States. Water. >> A naive but well-meaning Thomas Jefferson said >> in music they are generally more gifted than whites with accurate ears for tune and time. [music] My skin is black and my arms are long. [music] >> Nina Simone sings of black women. >> My hair is woolly [music] and my back is strong. [music] strong enough to take all the pain that's been [music] inflicted again and again and again and again and again. What do they call me? My name is Ed Sarah. [music] [music] My skin is brown. >> [music] >> And my manner is tough CUZ I SWEAR I'LL KILL THE first person that messes with me [music] cuz my life has been too rough. [music] I'm awfully bitter these days [music] because my parents were slaves. [music] What do they call me girl? Why do they call me? My name is [music] Neville. >> Yeah, that's right. Yes, it is right. Roger wanted us to use this my brother servant. Yeah. >> Mhm. Set this time when the Lord called him and then he began to journey on my friend. Mhm. Coming on as the Lord. >> Black religious and black secular music have blended. The church was always looked upon as a refuge from the alien white world. The spirituals, sometimes called spontaneous generations of song, were sung in marvelous complication and variety. [music] [music] This is Mahalia Jackson, one of the great popularizers of the church sound. >> Everybody talking [music] about me going well. [music] I'm a shout and go up all over my heaven. [music] Heavy. [music] Oh yeah. Heavy. Oh yeah. [music] Everybody talking about heaven going. [music] Everybody [music] talk about heaven going well. I'm going to walk. All of the [music] Lord heaven gone. >> By the mid 19th century, there had emerged a growing hope, emancipation, an end to slavery. But still, almost 90% of America's blacks were unfree. >> The same boat, brother. We're in the same B brother. And if you shake one end, you're going to rock the other. It's the same brother. >> Why won't God almighty? Young man, young man, you too young. >> I'm too young to pray. >> Well, I say come here, black woman. Don't you hear me cry, old lady? [music] [music] I said everybody want to know [music] why I sing the blues. You know, I've been around a long time. people. I really [music] >> The great blues singer BB King sums [music] up the woes of black men everybody want. Everybody want to know why I'm singing the blues. I've been around a long time. people I've really hate my I get old flats and now I heard the rat sed to give the ro some and everybody want to know everybody know why I'm singing the blues I've been around a long time people are really [music] [music] Singers like Lead Better, better known as Lead Belly, [music] sing protest songs first sung at the turn of the century. [music] Good morning, Blue. [music] Good morning, Blue. [music] I'M DOING ALL RIGHT. GOOD MORNING. [singing] How are you? >> [music] >> During the gay 90s, ragtime music swept the country. Then ragtime and blues [music] converged into classic New Orleans jazz, one of the fundamental developments in American music. King Oliver's band and Jelly Roll Morton were pioneers in the jazz sound. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> during the roaring 20s. Black America started to export some of its talent. Josephine Baker, daughter of a domestic worker from St. Louis, became the toast of the Foley Beer in Paris. [music] >> Back home, people listened to the Empress of Blues, Bessie Smith, sing WC Handy's classic St. Louis Blues. [music] I ain't the evening sun. [singing and music] >> This film shot in 1929 is the only film record of the great Desi Smith. IS feeling tomorrow. I feel healed today. [music and singing] He [music and singing] tomorrow, [music and singing] take my get away. [music] Get away. HALLELUJAH. MY MAN [music and singing] [music] would have known No way. No way. [music] [music] [music] The pace quickened. The roaring 20s were abruptly brought to an end by the stock market crash of 1929. A frightening depression followed with its [music] unemployment and bread lines. The late 30s and early 40s saw global war. [music] The whole country listened and danced to the [music] music of Count Bassy's band, famed for its pace and vital rhythmic [music] impulse, as well as for its remarkable soloists. [music] [music] >> [music] >> Love will make you drink and [music] gamble. Make you stay out of [music] Billy Holiday sang about emotions common to everyone. A noted jazz critic said of her, "She's the dark lady of the sonnetss. Sometime you are afraid to listen to [music] this lady for nothing was more perfect than she was. >> Love will make you do things [music] that you know is wrong. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Hey, [music] [music] [music] hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Treat me right, baby, and I'll stay home every day. [music] Just treat me right, baby, and I'll stay home night and day. >> [music] >> But you're so mean to me, baby. [music] I know you're going to drive me away. [music] Love is just like a fy. [music] It turns off and on. [music] Love is like a bic. [music] It turns off and on. [singing] [music] Sometimes when you think it's on, baby, it has turned off and gone. [music] is gone. [music] >> The spirit of great blues singers like Billy Holiday lives on today in the music of BB King. >> Oh, [screaming] the thrill is gone, baby. The thrill is gone away. ALTHOUGH I'M STILL LIVE, but so lonely [music] I'll be [music] [music] the most creative and influential of all the big band leaders and composer arrangers was Edward [music] Duke Ellington. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> The tradition of innovation in music is carried [music] on today by jazz artists like Julie Ian cannonball etly with cool jazz instrumentals like Mercy Mercy. [music] [music] [music] Hey, [music] [music] [music] down. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> from the building. The African musical tradition was one of primacy of rhythm. Sometimes several rhythms going on simultaneously. It was regarded as music for the dance. Although the dance involve was often only a mental one. That same musical tradition lives on today in the contemporary music of groups like Sly and the Family Stone. >> [music] >> I'm going to ADD A LITTLE GUITAR AND MAKE it easy to move you [music] so that the dancers >> [music] [music] >> EVERYBODY [music] [music] boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. >> [music] [music] >> Black music in America began as the African drum beat and plantation song, ignored and then suppressed by white culture. >> [music] >> Today, as the black man has moved into every sphere of American life, [music] his music has become the dominant music of all America. [music] This world, this world, my [music] world, my my world is for this world. [music] My little world my mind world my [music] my own world anyway. And when I think about this world I just shave it [music] just like clay. I can make myself a garden [music] or throw it all away. >> [music] >> away from this world. THIS WORLD I'M [music] all world my world is [singing] world [music] my world my whole world [music] and when I spin this world around I can do life I can make I felt [music] that it's tomorrow or bring back yesterday [music] of this world. I'm my [music] world. I'm my all the world. [music] My my world. My [music] world is heaven. [music] [music] >> [music and singing] >> AND [music] >> Nina Simone sums up the pride that black people feel in her unforgettable to be young, gifted, and black. [music and singing] OH, how I love [music] the Lord. >> And there are times [music and singing] when I look back and I am [music and singing] by you. Oh [music and singing] yeah. [music] [music] Where it be?