Gay musicians in Black churches have always held a peculiar status within Black culture and the church.
All in Black American music
Black women gospel composers
Black women are the backbone, torso and soul of the church. Yet they are elbowed out of many of its leading roles. So we shouldn’t be surprised that they are not credited much as song writers.
Me and Melvin Van Peebles
On meeting Melvin Van Peebles – writer, musician and the godfather of soul cinema.
Accordion Crimes
Mardi Gras in New Orleans was on February 16 this year, and Is Black Music celebrated with a slamming accordion playlist featuring zydeco musicians past and present. The accordion is one of the most awesome instruments ever invented.
Avant garde Black women
As we remember to forget those Black avant garde women, the ones overlooked by us men who couldn't deal… let us turn back now and listen to their music. Their movement up and down the pathway of our lost minds.
Farewell Danny Ray Thompson
Danny would come through town and always be patient and gracious with us. He knew we weren’t ready and didn’t understand yet. But he seemed to see something in us, and he and the Arkestra encouraged us to hang out.
The crepuscular vision of the Chi-Lites
This broadcast makes an unlikely pairing of the Chi-lites music with the overlooked early 20th Century Italian art movement known as crepuscular poetry.
My Love Divine Degree
Cody takes his quirky arty concept thang to the bridge. He really owns his otherness with tracks like This Green Leaf and the Image Of Love. Indeed this whole album requires that you prepare for the unexpected, even on the second or third listen.
Burnt Sugar Luminosity LP review
The Burnt Sugar Arkestra is made up of a eclectic lineup of musicians who have played with everyone from Parliament Funkedelic to Jeff Buckley, and from Butch Morris to The Roots. In my opinion this trumps any previous attempts to orally account for the Black bohemian lifestyle of today.
Parliament special
George Clinton is in so many ways an exceptional genius. Like his forerunner Sun Ra, one of his incredible talents was in nourishing and squeezing out creativity from overlooked and talented straying musicians.
Hipster sista
Funk can appear masculine and tough. So lessons are to be learned from the women who dared venture there and still hold on to their femininity and gracefully render that fat beat.