African Americans have had a huge influence on 20th century music which continues into the present day. Popular music around the world would undoubtedly be very different without the styles pioneered by black artists from the U.S.
African-American music includes a diverse range of musics and musical genres largely developed by African Americans. Negro spirituals, ragtime, jazz, blues, house, doo-wop, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk, hip hop, soul, disco and techno have all been shaped by black musicians and performers.
African-American music includes a diverse range of musics and musical genres largely developed by African Americans. Negro spirituals, ragtime, jazz, blues, house, doo-wop, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk, hip hop, soul, disco and techno have all been shaped by black musicians and performers.
|
|
|
|
African American artists
enjoyed some success in early 20th century theater but it was the
emergence of blues and jazz that brought their talents to a much wider
audience. The Charleston was extremely popular and became synonymous with the
years of the ‘Roaring Twenties’. Later in the 1930s came the ground breaking
black opera Porgy and Bess conceived by the famous American composer George
Gershwin and performed solely by African American singers.
|
|
|
|
By the 1940s, cover versions and copies of African-American songs and styles
were becoming more and more common, and increasingly popular. At the same time
the original black musicians found success among their African-American
audience, but not in mainstream.
During this period and continuing into the 1950s jazz began to evolve from a danceable popular music towards more sophisticated and intricate arrangements, improvisation, and technically challenging forms, resulting in the bebop of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, the cool sounds Miles Davis, and the free jazz of John Coltrane.
African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s were also developing a new sound which would become rock and roll which would become hugely successful for white artists such as Elvis and Bill Haley. Rock music thereafter became more associated with white people.
During this period and continuing into the 1950s jazz began to evolve from a danceable popular music towards more sophisticated and intricate arrangements, improvisation, and technically challenging forms, resulting in the bebop of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, the cool sounds Miles Davis, and the free jazz of John Coltrane.
African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s were also developing a new sound which would become rock and roll which would become hugely successful for white artists such as Elvis and Bill Haley. Rock music thereafter became more associated with white people.
|
|
|
|
Beginning in the 1950s a non-religious form of American gospel music called soul found popularity amongst black and white audiences. It was pioneered by the likes of Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. Soul and R&B became a major influence on much of the music at that time and much of what was to follow as well. In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records, the first record label to primarily feature African-American artists aimed at achieving success with all audiences. The label developed an innovative and successful style of soul music . Its early artists included The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations, The Supremes, amongst many others. Black divas such as Aretha Franklin became huge stars in the 1960s.
|
|
|
|
