On June 7, 1979, President Jimmy Carter invited Chuck Berry, Andraé Crouch, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Jordan to perform at the White House. The occasion was to ring in — and sing in — the inaugural Black Music Appreciation Month, which President Carter inducted to celebrate Black musicians, composers, performers and songwriters. The effort was spearheaded by veteran music broadcaster Dyana Williams, legendary soul artist Kenny Gamble and DJ Ed Wright.
While President Carter created Black Music Appreciation Month, the first official presidential proclamation recognizing June as Black Music Month was signed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. Since then, each president has kept up with tradition.
GBH’s Callie Crossley discussed the importance of Black Music Appreciation Month in a recent interview, with a focus on Boston's music scene. She was joined by Dart Adams, journalist, podcaster author and historian, Catherine T. Morris, director of arts and culture at The Boston Foundation and founding artistic director at BAMS Fest and James Bennett II, GBH News arts and culture reporter.
The group discussed the far-reaching extent of Black influence across musical genres. “Black music is not a genre," Crossley said. "As Kenny Gamble said, Black music is the basis for most other forms of music. "
Adams looked to music history, from Tin Pan Alley to the formation of the Recording Industry Association of America, as evidence of the lasting impact of Black musicians and creators on the industry. Jazz, blues, and gospel — all genres pioneered by Black artists and communities — were among the main genres first recorded and sold commercially in the United States.
Even today, the concept of “cool,” as Bennett describes it, originates in Black artistry. “Because it is a deviation from that white norm, sometimes people are really attracted to that — for good reason," he said. "But I don’t think a lot of times some folks really sit and meditate about why they want to emulate that, why they’re drawn to that.”
Many influential Black musicians got their start right here in Boston. Roy Haynes, the 98-year-old jazz drum star, was born and raised in Boston. Through his 95th birthday, until COVID shut things down, Haynes maintained a long tradition of going down to New York for annual birthday jam sessions at the Blue Note.
“The relationship between his existence on this earth maps onto the history of jazz and recorded history in general,” Bennett said, emphasizing his role as a creative artist born right here in Roxbury. Haynes' legacy has transformed jazz, working with such names as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Phineas Newborn, Paul Chambers and more. Other local jazz musicians have included saxophonist Johnny Hodges, as well as contemporary drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.
Later, the Jonzun Crew arrived in Roxbury from Florida in the early 1980s, and immediately “became such a force that by 1984, people were popping and locking to Boston funk all over the world, but they didn’t even know it was from Boston,” Adams said. Roxbury’s own Ed O.G. and Da Bulldogs later had a hit with their track “I Got To Have It,” which was the first song from Boston to reach number one on the rap charts in 1991. As Adams describes, “it was the first song that had everybody, not just in this country, internationally, saying Roxbury. ... He got our name, the city, out there, and expressed the existence of and the life and culture of Black Boston.”
Today, there’s even more talent to be celebrated locally. Providence-raised and Berklee-educated musician Alexus Lee will be performing at BAMS Fest on Saturday, June 24th. She represents what Crossley calls a “reincarnation of the old rhythm and blues, the old soul [music]” of eras before, and is just one of the many talented Black musicians coming out of Boston today; other major players include Miranda Rae, Oompa and Roxbury-based rapper Avenue.
Check out the playlist below for all of the tracks played and some additional artists mentioned in this conversation:
