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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1983)
Page 8 Portland Observer, September 21, 1983 D ~ . _ L , '« . 0 ^ 1 1 . From Ragtime to Rock'n Roll: weeks Black music exploited in America “ I'm the originator No imitator Sole inspirator By the C r e a to r.. Jimmy C liff “ Get the funk out a my fa c e .. . " Brothers Johnson by Hick M itchell art o f the officially unrecog P nized hiitory o f this country i* the great contribution o f Black sicians to American culture down through the centuries. African-derived musical concept* have influenced all forms o f American music, both those generally regarded as "B la ck” musics — gospel, blues, jezz — and those more often played by whites rock, country-western and blue grass. Yet, historically, these contri butions have largely been taken for granted, as the curators o f Am eri can civilization have continued to look to Europe as the source and in spiration for our musical culture. There are accounts o f slave« per forming at while social gatherings from as early as the 17th Century. I he slaves played instruments fam il iar tc the European ear, such as vio lins (interestingly, the violin has been traced to African origins by certain musicologists, who believe it was introduced to Europe in a primi tive form by way o f the Roman Em pire), but they brought to them the African concepts o f collective parti cipation, improvisation, micro-tonal scales and heightened rhythm. It is not known how whites reacted to these alien elements infiltrating their music, but it's safe to say they con tinued to dance. Unfortunately, most o f the paths tracing the creative interplay be tween African-derived and Euro pean-derived music prior to the 20th ( entury have long been forgotten. It seems the people in charge o f tak ing down and making up our history weren't too concerned with what went on in the slave quarters after d4rk, not when (here were wars to he won and a continent to be con quered For at least the last 85 years, however, a clear pattern has been visible, today's Black music will be tomorrow's white music, and whites will make more money on it. et's start with ragtime. In 1899. (Scott Joplin published "The Mapleleaf R ag." which propelled ragtime music into national prom i nence The following year, a white composer named Joseph Lamb learned to emulate Joplin's style well enough to publish his own rag time piano roll with the dubious title "Coontow n Frolics." Lamb's tune, naturally, became the rage o f fun- lovmg white society. Joplin, although he went on to compose 504 piano pieces, two operas and a ragtime ballet, was deserted by his white publisher in 1909, and died forgot ten in a mental hospital in 1917. 1 hat same year, a group o f white musicians from New Orleans billed Kl t t \ K I ) l \ G t \ K H K I \ IIAIR DESIGN Financial aid avallabla 10% disc o u n t on tu itio n throu gh D sc a n ib a r 83 Will help yuu become a «censed professional with lu« courses in hair design cosmetology, and manicuring 1 Inlt.’txultf £ v . u J g ¿..<¿2r.fr, U te ■* conveniently located m North Poittynd 4 7 90 N Lombard (503) 285-9271 mu D u k a E llin gto n , th e In c o m p a r able co m p o aar and big band lead er, w a s k n o w n aa " T h e D u k a ." w h ile Banny Q o o d m an . ualng a Black arra n g er an d Black m usicians, b e c a m e "T h e King o f S w in g .” playing for years in the style "b o r rowed" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, went widely overlooked O f all the early Black jazz pioneer*, only Louis Armstrong survived to break down at least some of the bar riers separating Black musicians from the white public, and he did so at considerable cost to hi* original, brilliant jazz trumpet style. In the late '20s, a white band leader. Paul W hiteman, took some o f the concepts o f New Orleans jazz, sweetened them with string sec tions and visual novelties, and be came known among whites a* "the King o f Jazz.” In the late '30s, Benny Goodman hired Black band leader Fletcher Henderson a* his a r ranger, introduced Black musicians Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton and Charlie Christian to his group, and was labeled "the King o f Swing." Goodman was. and is, a fine clarinetist. But how did he become "the King" while Duke Ellington, arguably the greatest serious com poser this nation has known and un questionably an incomparable jazz bandleader, was only "th e D uke,” and Fletcher Henderson, who ten years before had developed many of the ideas popularized by Goodman, was just plain Fletcher to most Goodman fans? By the mid-'40s, integrated jazz groups were becoming more com mon. But often as not. Black musi cians continued to carry the creative load while white musicians received a disproportionate share o f the cash and credit. For a revealing glimpse at the racial attitudes of the white jazz audience, theoretically among the more enlightened segment of the American public in the '40s, take a look at the old popularity polls pub lished by downbeat and Metronome, the leading jazz magazines o f the time. The innovators Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie do appear, but they are invariably surrounded by white players o f lesser caliber; i.e., saxophonist Charlie Ventura and various member* o f the Kenton band. As (he big band era faded in the late '40s, scaled-down urban Black groups began mixing elements o f swing, blues and T in Pan Alley pop into a new style called rhythm and blues Sometimes, the rhythmic ef fect o f this music was described as "rock 'n ' ro ll." By the mid-'50s, Black singer-songwriters Fat* Domino, Chuck Berry and Richard Penniman (aka Little Richard) had come up with the distinctive fusion o f blue*, rhythm and blues and country-western forms that serves as the foundation o f modern rock music. Yet it wasn't until Sam Phillips o f Sun Record* in Memphis discovered in Elvis Presley what he had been looking for — " a white boy who can sing Black" — that rock and roll gained mass appeal among white teenagers. Presley's vocal talent was real enough, but his taste* were easily molded by those around him. Sever al o f his late *50* hits were penned by a Black man named Otis Black- well. Listening to Blackwell's demos and comparing them to Presley's million-selling versions, one come* away with the unmistakable impres sion (hat Presley was instructed to sound as much like Blackwell as possible. His talent was that he could do it so well. (Blackwell is still alive, incidentally. He has one rec ord in print, a collection o f his song* including " A ll Shook U p ,” " D o n 't Be Cruel” and "O reat Balls o f F ir e ” ) Since Presley, rock and roll ha* come to be considered a music pri marily of, by and for whites, while most popular Black artists are mar keted a* soul, funk or "d isco ." White rockers have never hesitated to borrow from older Black sources, however, sometimes even while pa- ternalistically putting down more contemporary form* of Black music. In the m id-'60s, a generation of British bands led by (he Beatles and the Rolling Slones reintroduced American teenagers to the song* of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Later in the decade, British guitar ists Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were at the forefront o f a "blues revival” that led to a brief flourishing o f ex panded interest by white* in authen tic bluesmen such as M uddy Water* and Albert King. In the early '70s, Bruce Springsteen won critical plau dits as "the future o f rock and ro ll” In te rea t In th e m uaic o f a u th e n tic b luaam an M u d d y W aters w a a spurred by th a p o p u la rity ot w h ite "blues re viva lis ts " Eric C lap to n and J e ff Back. with a stage show modeled largely after (hat o f James Brown, an ob servation not intended to slight Springsteen's genuine talents as a songwriter and performer. During the mid-'70s, white dee jays and critics (supported, one sus pects. by major record labels) stirred up a backlash against "disco" musk among the rock audi ence. In Portland, two formerly popular deejays met in a stadium and burned "disco” records, which apparently meant any new album with a Black face on the cover other than Jimi Hendrix or Stevie W on der. True, much o f the music cate gorized as "disco" is bland, shallow and over-produced. So is most mainstream rock and roll. Given the historical pattern of the last 85 years, it is not surprising that the latest trend in rock is fu n k . h. host of white, pseudo-funk bands, most o f them British, have been doing well on the pop charts with an approach that borrows slightly-dated Black American funk rhythm* and sweetens them with string sections and visual novelties. Sound fam il iar? Meanwhile, o f course, all but a few Black American funk bands are denied airplay on pop and 'rock radio stations, and Michael Jack- son, one o f the exceptions, couldn't get his video shown on the Music Television network, better known a* M T V , until CBS Records President W alter Yetnikoff threatened to yank all o f hi* white artists from M T V 's rotation. The fact that Jack- son had the number one single and the number one album in the country at the time was apparently not enough to sway M T V from its apartheid approach to program ming. 4 p .m .-B p .m . In th a a fte rn o o n o, now that we’ve got the fact* S straight, what’s a socially-aware musk lover to do? Certainly it's long past time for this country to start giving credit where credit is due to the Black originators o f our music, but one must always beware o f over simplifications. The interplay be tween white and Black music has historically been a two-way street, remember. In recent decades, white jazz musician* Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin and others have broadened the art form to legiti mately encompass their perspective as whites, just a* Bix Beiderbecke did in a much more isolated way fifty years ago. Rock and roll has also taken on its own validity, like it or not, as a music played by young whites based on Black roots. Just as it was possible for some to enjoy the music o f swing-era dance bands such as Glenn M iller and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, though they should not have been confused with the real jazz o f Count Basie and Duke Ellington, it may be possible for some to enjoy the music of the better white. New Wave funk bands, though they should not be confused with real funk, which is Black music. Sadly, the distinction is lost on much o f the white public, who con tinue to ignore great Black artist* while making white emulators rich. It reminds me o f a scene from the movie "T h e Je rk ." Steve M artin , as a white raised by a Black family, can't seem to clap on the same beat as everyone else when the family gets together to sing the blues. Then he hears some lame big band music on the radio and discovers his iden tity as a white man. That's why they called him a jerk. damln I 1 ldt:p 1313 N.E. Frem ont 281-7898 Oanci elcome Inn 26th & Alberta 287-0513 Thur» Live Music Sat., Oct. 1st 9:30-1:30 p.m "The Staple Brothers" Sept 29th • S h o w tim « 6 9 p m $1.00 cover ♦1.00 cover Ladies only Welcome Inn 7:30 p .m .-9:00 p.m. Drinks 2 for 1 7:30 p .m .-8 p.m . ’’O ' 26th & Alberta 287 0613 Visions The Fantasy Affair Band Fri. & Sat., Sept. 23 & 24, 1983 9:30 P*m. to 2:00 a .m . J.R .'s Southern C o m fo rt 15th and Killingsworth St. 284 3269 The Portland Observer supports KBOO PLEDGE WEEK Sat., Oct. 1 through Fri., Oct. 7 9 0 .7 F M COMMUNITY RADIO NON-COMMERCIAL • 231-8032 * LISTENER SUPPORTED AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Why? Because KBOO provides... Why? Because KBOO provides. . . ACCESS FOR M IN O R IT IE S who are largely dieenfrencbieed from the mein stream media through regular programs such as Indian World. Environments East W est, Bread and Roees end La Voz de La Communided. ACCESS FOR THE PERSECUTED covering the Black United Front 7-Up boycott and running a four-part serie« on prison issues. e ACCESS TO IN FO R M A TIO N placing a priority on covering unpopular end minority causes across the political spectrum, and seeking out controversial per spectives on important issues ACCESS TO A W IDE DIVERSITY IN CULTURAL AND M USIC A L PROGRAMMING with programs such as Soul Haven, Gospel Unlimited. Blue's in All end Jazz end More. , ' KBOO, a nonprofit, com m unity controlled radio station depends on listener support. The Portland Observer, in support of KBOO, will provide a FREE six- month subscription for each $25 pledge to the KBOO Foundation which is send in w ith this coupon. Send your $25 pledge and this coupon to: Evan th o u g h ha had th a n u m ber one single and n u m b e r one alb u m In th a co u n try . M ich ae l Ja ck ao n c o u ld n 't g a t hla video sh o w n on M T V u n til C B S th rea t an ad to pull all o f th alr videos by w h ite artists. 9° A XX» KBOO 20 SE 9th Portland OR 97214 Name P h on e. Address_____ City end State KBOO is an Equal Opportunity Employer Zip Pood • Pool a* the Original Dixieland Jazz Band arrived in New York to produce what are commonly considered to be the first jazz recordings. While the group's contributions to the art form have long since been discredit ed, for a lime they collected a small fortune in record royalties and per formance fees. Meanwhile, truly original dixieland musician* (they didn't call it dixieland, by the way) such a* King O liver, who had been "G od ble** the child that'« got hi« o w n .. . " B i l l* Holiday
