In recognition of Black History Month, we highlight a few of the many significant contributions to popular music by African-American musicians.
Original motion picture soundtrack from the Showtime documentary film that focuses on the period beginning with the birth of Motown in Detroit in 1958 until its relocation to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Featuring a who's who of Motown musicians and plentiful hits.
Soundtrack to the documentary film, directed by Questlove, focusing on the life and legacy of pioneering psychedelic soul and funk legends Sly and the Family Stone, telling the story behind the rise, reign, and fadeout of one of pop music's most influential artists.
Soundtrack to the award winning 2021 documentary film which chronicles the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. This festival took place on six Sundays between June 29 and August 24 at Mount Morris Park in the Harlem neighborhood in New York City. Despite its large attendance and performers such as Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Max Roach, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mavis Staples, Blinky Williams, Sly and the Family Stone, and the Chambers Brothers, the festival is much less well known in the 21st century than is Woodstock (which took place on the same weekend as one of the days of the Harlem Cultural Festival).
Cowboy Carter is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé. It was released on March 29, 2024, via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. A concept album, Cowboy Carter is the second of a planned trilogy of albums, following Renaissance (2022). Beyoncé conceived the album as a journey through a reinvention of Americana, spotlighting the overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. A genre-blending album rooted in country music, Cowboy Carter is influenced by Beyoncé's upbringing in Texas, incorporating eclectic styles of music of the Southern United States. Conceptually, the album is presented as a radio broadcast, with country singers Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, and Willie Nelson acting as disc jockeys. The album's songs feature rising Black country artists such as Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, and Willie Jones. The music is driven by a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, and Nile Rodgers, among others.
Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album is a studio album recorded by legendary American saxophonist John Coltrane. The recordings were made in 1963 during Coltrane's Classic Quartet period and lost for decades. To cut down on storage space, Impulse! Records destroyed the original master tape. The seven tracks on Both Directions survived as a copy Coltrane gave to his first wife, Juanita Naima. In 2005, after the Guernsey's auction house announced plans to sell Coltrane-related artifacts, the record company intervened to acquire the tapes. Coltrane's son Ravi and studio executive Ken Druker assembled the final album with liner notes written by Ashley Kahn.
Ella Fitzgerald was one of the great singers of the twentieth century, a song stylist who could range readily across worlds of jazz, swing, big band, R&B, and sophisticated pop, and who set the standards for many artists who followed, as she became a major album seller in the later decades of her career. However, she also had a significant number of hits in the pop and R&B market, and in the quarter century from 1936 through to the early 1960s she had over 60 entries in the various US and UK charts, including duets with other artists. This 73-track three-CD collection comprises all her hits from this era, including her No. 1s with "A-Tisket, A Tasket," "I'm Making Believe," and "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall," plus selected other titles from her releases on the Decca and Verve labels during this time.
Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops band-mate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, an album of North Carolina fiddle and banjo music. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, with the duo playing eighteen of their favorite North Carolina tunes: a mix of instrumentals and tunes with words. Many were learned from their late mentor, the legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson; one is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker, from whom they also learned by listening to recordings of her playing. Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House. They were accompanied by the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a true once-in-a-lifetime soundscape.
While We Wait 2 is the third commercial and fourth mixtape by American singer Kehlani, released on August 28, 2024. The mixtape serves as a sequel to Kehlani's 2019 mixtape While We Wait, and is their second project of 2024, following the release of their fourth album Crash, just two months prior. While We Wait 2 features guest appearances from Lucky Daye, Lil' Mo, Vince Staples, Destin Conrad, Dixson, FLO, and Ludmilla.
GNX is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was surprise-released on November 22, 2024 and features guest appearances from SZA, Dody6, Lefty Gunplay, Wallie the Sensei, Siete7x, Roddy Ricch, AzChike, Hitta J3, YoungThreat, and Peysoh. Titled after the Buick Regal model, GNX was released to widespread acclaim, with multiple critics hailing it as a successful re-imagining of West Coast hip-hop and one of the best albums of 2024.
The new album gathers the most iconic songs recorded throughout her career and includes seven remixes by some of the hottest, in-demand DJs worldwide. The first single from the set is a remix by English DJ/producer Joel Corry (Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran) of the timeless classic album. The album includes seminal songs such as "Mississippi Goddam," "Strange Fruit," "I Loves You Porgy," "I Put a Spell on You," and Simone's timeless version of "Feeling Good."
According to the band themselves, "We are Blvck Spvde and the Cosmos, an ever-evolving collective of ten-plus musicians. Grounded in the diverse tapestry of black musical traditions, our essence and purpose are profoundly spiritual: to be an open channel for music of the universe to flow through…to invite voices of ancestors back into the room, and to play our part in creating many pieces of heaven on earth. The evolution of what you think jazz is." Overjoyed Through the Noise is the group's 2024 debut.
CHROMAKOPIA (stylized in all caps) is the eighth studio album by American rapper Tyler, the Creator. Written, produced, and arranged by Tyler himself, CHROMAKOPIA features guest appearances from Daniel Caesar, Doechii, GloRilla, LaToiya Williams, Lil Wayne, Lola Young, Santigold, Schoolboy Q, Sexyy Red, and Teezo Touchdown, and (on the physical release) Playboi Carti. The album blends different genres like hip-hop, jazz, and soul. Conceptually, CHROMAKOPIA was inspired by his experience growing up in Greater Los Angeles and the life lessons he learned from his mother Bonita Smith, who also serves as narrator on the album.
Dinah Washington was one of the most popular and successful female singers of the post-war decades, her immaculate vocal style and phrasing enabling her to encompass blues, R&B, jazz, big band, and sophisticated pop with ease, and had her life not been cut short in 1963 at the age of 39, she would undoubtedly have had a lengthy career as an album artist. As it was, she was consistently successful with her single releases, racking up 60 hits across the US pop and R&B charts. This 108-track 4-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of her releases on the Keynote, Decca, Apollo, and Mercury labels from this era and features chart topping hits such as, "Am I Asking Too Much," "Baby Get Lost," "This Bitter Earth," and "What A Difference A Day Makes."