The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States

Rating:
Summary: Kirkus
Review: Has anyone noticed that the Kirkus reviews tend to be fairly condescending about works from people of color and they tend to disparage the works as limited in their understanding when in fact it could well be that they themselves are the ones with the limited understanding

Rating:
Summary: Not an easy read, but worth it.
Review: This book is not an easy read, but it's worth it. It was written by a scholar for other scholars, but a lay person with patience will draw a great deal from the reading. It explains common threads -- basic components of African music-- in genres as diverse as blues,rock n' roll, be-bop, hip-hop, etc. What's nice is that the author, a noted scholar and head of Chicago's Collumbia College Center for Black Music Research, lends in his narration some playfulness, invoking elements of the music in the text, with lots of eye-witness discussions of African-American musical events that allow the reader to feel like an observer. You'll emerge from the reading a little exhausted, but with a greater appreciation of black music in the U.S., and a better understanding of how your favorite type of black music, or in the case of rock fans, black music derivative, came into being. (Note: For those lucky enough to live in the handful of cities where Dance Africa is performed each year, reading this book would be a great idea before you attend the next performance.)

Rating:
Summary: Not an easy read, but worth it.
Review: This book is not an easy read, but it's worth it. It was written by a scholar for other scholars, but a lay person with patience will draw a great deal from the reading. It explains common threads -- basic components of African music-- in genres as diverse as blues,rock n' roll, be-bop, hip-hop, etc. What's nice is that the author, a noted scholar and head of Chicago's Collumbia College Center for Black Music Research, lends in his narration some playfulness, invoking elements of the music in the text, with lots of eye-witness discussions of African-American musical events that allow the reader to feel like an observer. You'll emerge from the reading a little exhausted, but with a greater appreciation of black music in the U.S., and a better understanding of how your favorite type of black music, or in the case of rock fans, black music derivative, came into being. (Note: For those lucky enough to live in the handful of cities where Dance Africa is performed each year, reading this book would be a great idea before you attend the next performance.)