Index to Black Music Month Writings, 2011

During Black Music Month 2011 I published some thoughts on a range of historical topics spanning a couple of centuries of black music making in the United States. I began with a small June 1 post about trumpeter Roy Hargrove on my Facebook page. That exercise grew into a challenge to share something publicly each day at MusiQology.com.

Throughout the month I thought it was more important to “get it out there” rather than wait until each sentence was polished enough for, say, a print publication.  I wanted to do an epistle-like missive each day, on the run and rushed to publish.  It was a great exercise. There were so many rich topics to explore–films, recordings, historical figures, interviews, concerts, genres, identity issues, music videos, genres, and so on.  One could write everyday for a year and never run out of ideas because the subjects are so rich.  Here are the links below.

Pure Gold: Though We’re Tried in the Fi-yuh

Bebop: Abstracting American Popular Song

Tryin’ to Git Over: Curtis Mayfield’s Cinematic Muse

She Plays Like a Girl: Why We Love Patrice Rushen

“A Rough Set of Negroes”: Francis Johnson’s Antebellum New Jack Swing

A Drummer, The Key Signature, and the Holy Ghost: The Anointing as Musical Practice

Between an Art Song and the Church Mother: Nina Simone Sings the Nation

Black Musical Figuration in the 1940s: Lessons from Visual Culture

But Chain$ and Whip$ Excite Me: Female Pulchritude, Rape, and Music Videos as Public Service Announcement

Message to Michael: On Sound, Space, and Architecture in Bubble Gum Soul

His Mic Sound Nice: Remembering the Whistling Coon

You Say You Want a Revolution?: The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Musical Genius as Moral Authority

Git Down to Get Over: Rejoice, Twist, and Shout on the Gospel Highway

Interstate 57, ML3556, and Drastic Interpretations: Where I’m Coming From

To the Left: Ramsey on Music, Museums, and Keepin’ Up With the Joneses

Scoring Africa and the World: A Film by Tukufu Zuberi

Funky Electric Goddesses—Ramsey Lewis Looks Back to the Future

A Song from a Father: Little London’s Lullaby

When the Master is a Woman: Rhetoric and Device in Karen Clark Sheard’s Will to Blend

On Yard Work, Public Musicology, and the Roots of Drastic Interpretation

Gender, Sexuality and Tonéx: Toward a Queer Criticism of Gospel Music

Step in the Name of Culture: The Dancing Body and Local Knowledge

Jazz on My Mind@ The Clifford Brown Jazz Fest 2011

Take Six Takes House: Sounding History, Channeling the Ancestors

Mental Health and Jazz Musicians: Looking for Bud Powell

Live!: The Apollo Theater and the Black Star System

How Small is a Piece of Funk?: Beats, Loops and Turntables in the Digital Divide

Breeze/Madness/Time: Notes on the Musical Semiotics of Summer