Yesterday we lost the great Lee “Scratch” Perry, the monumental reggae singer, producer, and studio wizard who pushed the boundaries of Jamaican music.
He worked with and produced for many artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Congos, Adrian Sherwood, the Beastie Boys, and many others.
Perry also was a crucial figure in the development of the homegrown art form of dub, which involved the stripping of vocals from previously released recordings and treating the instrumental beds with a variety of otherworldly effects.
Perry serviced dozens of classic “dub plates” to Jamaican sound system dancehalls. Keith Richards told Rolling Stone back in 2010, “You could never put your finger on Lee Perry – he’s the Salvador Dali of music. He’s a mystery. The world is his instrument. You just have to listen. More than a producer, he knows how to inspire the artist’s soul. Like Phil Spector, he has a gift of not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else but also translating those sounds to the musicians. Scratch is a shaman.”
Brotha had a healthy sense of his own impact, too. “I am the best record producer that Jamaica has seen. Many say that l am the best in the world!” he said in 1984.
Here’s a collection devoted to the best of one the greats. Stay sane, safe, and kind, y’all.
This week are celebrating William James “Count” Basie. He was born 117 years ago on August 21, 1904.
In 1935, Basie formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He would lead that group for almost 50 years.
Many musicians came to prominence under Basie’s direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams.
Here’s a solid dose of his half century of artistry. Do enjoy.
Clinton College, a small historically Black college (HBCU) located in Rock Hill, South Carolina is offering all full-time students free tuition for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year.
According to the Associated Press, Clinton College President Lester McCorn announced in early August that qualifying full-time students could attend at no cost for tuition.
The College had earlier committed to slash fall tuition by 50 percent for its students, and offer every student a new tablet, but with the continued financial strain of the pandemic, decided to do away with tuition altogether.
“It has been taxing for each and everyone of us,” McCorn said of the pandemic. “At Clinton College, we have done our best to keep the school moving forward and providing a quality education, even in a virtual environment.”
The cost of tuition for full-time students is listed as $4,960 per semester, while a full year costs $9,920. Vaccinated students are permitted to live on campus and will still be responsible for the costs of room and board. Those who attend full-time and live off campus can take their courses online free of charge.
While our #MusicMonday main man and selector Marlon West takes a well-earned break from creating thoughtful and unique playlists exploring the musical diaspora, I’m stepping in to post two curations honoring the woman of the weekend, Aretha Franklin.
Respect, the MGM biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul, was released exclusively in theaters this past Friday and earned almost $9 million in its first weekend. In addition to being a satisfying film experience, Respect makes you appreciate even more how creative and intelligent Aretha was in her musical expression across all genres.
In addition to being an unparalleled singer who could turn tunes by other artists into her own signature songs, Franklin also composed, arranged and produced several of her biggest hits.
In honor of those aspects of her genius, I offer the playlists “How I Got Over”: Aretha Franklin’s Cover Songs, which includes (of course) “Respect,” by Otis Redding, “Until You Come Back To Me” by Stevie Wonder and “Spanish Harlem” originally recorded by Ben E. King:
Well, Aretha stans, the movie moment we’ve long been waiting for is finally –FINALLY– here. Today, just three days shy of the third anniversary of her passing, the MGM feature film about the one and only Queen of Soul, Respect, hits theaters nationwide.
As Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News (and not-so-undercover Aretha Franklin freak), I was able to attend a press screening of the movie a few weeks ago, as well as interview its writer Tracey Scott Wilson (The Americans) and original score composer Kris Bowers (The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Space Jam: A New Legacy, King Richard).
Directed by Tony Award nominee Liesl Tommy from a screenplay by Emmy Award nominee Wilson and starring Academy Award-winning vocal powerhouse Jennifer Hudson (who also executive produced), Respect is a treasure not only because it is a film about a Black woman made by Black women, but also because it satisfies on every level — visually, musically, and dramatically.
“Liesl wanted this to be a movie about and for and with and celebrating Black women because that’s what Aretha did her entire life,” writer Wilson said. “That was one of her missions in life, to honor Black women and put them front and center.”
The biopic covers a span of approximately 20 years in Franklin’s life, from her youthful choir solo singing in her father’s church to recording and producing Amazing Grace, a live double album of gospel music in the church of early teacher and friend Rev. James Cleveland (warmly and lovingly portrayed by Tituss Burgess).
Jennifer Hudson stars as Aretha Franklin and Forest Whitaker as her father C.L. Franklin in RESPECT (Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert)
Performances across the board are top notch – Hudson not only understood the assignment, she embodied it and transcended it by capturing Aretha’s quiet and graceful exterior while navigating how to express the caldron of explosive feeling and creativity within.
Forest Whitaker‘s note-perfect performance as Aretha’s formidable, flawed, savvy and controlling preacher father C.L. Franklin again proves why he is a lauded master of the craft.
As Aretha’s first husband and manager Ted White, Marlon Wayans charms with his nuanced combination of sexiness, intelligence and manipulation that make the dynamic of White and Franklin’s relationship live so well in the gray areas of both real and fatal attraction, especially when it gets violent.
Although they had limited screen time, Audra McDonald has so much gravity and grace as Aretha’s mother Barbara Franklin, she is broken spirit personified and Mary J. Blige pops off the screen as Aretha’s mentor/menace/musical motivator Dinah Washington.
Actor Jennifer Hudson and director Liesl Tommy on the set of RESPECT (Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert)
Tommy’s direction is as subtle as it is rich and powerful — the movie doesn’t feel like a movie if you know what I mean — but like an inside look into a lived experience. Franklin remains a mystery in many ways, which I found to be an insightful nod to Aretha’s own choice and agency to fiercely protect and guard her interior life.
Tommy and Wilson take what is known about the relationships and traumas in Franklin’s life and, like Franklin, let their fullest expression explode like dynamite through the music.
The way the music is presented within the storytelling (not to mention Hudson’s astounding vocals), from the expected highs like “Respect” or the emotional, fractured rehearsal of “Precious Memories,” is ambrosia for the ears, heart and soul.
The creation of “Ain’t No Way” in the movie plays as a grand glimpse into Aretha’s musicality and artistry as well as her connection with her sisters Erma and Carolyn (younger sister Carolyn Franklin wrote the song and is teaching it to Aretha in the scene) and this pivotal moment is a stand out.
According to Wilson, not only is that song a favorite of director Tommy, it also pays homage to rarely seen ABC news documentary footage of the same:
“It’s just them in rehearsal, and it’s Carolyn teaching her the song that she wrote. I must have watched that video like 100 times. Just seeing the dynamic between them — Ted White is standing there, the Muscle Shoals guys are standing there — and she’s just teaching her this song,” Wilson said.
“And Carolyn could read music and Aretha couldn’t, so she’s speaking to her not only in a way musically that Aretha can understand but she’s also speaking to her as a sister. And just seeing that I knew it had to be in the movie because it so encapsulates their relationship so well, it captures Carolyn’s brilliance, it captures their sisterly camaraderie and love, and also the dynamic of Ted who’s there who is clearly becoming just an appendage and not the main attraction anymore.”
“Liesl had in mind that the score was going to handle a lot of her trauma in the story and that was going to be the focal point of the score. And the other thing that I started to feel was revealing itself in the story… is how much she’s finding her way back to God and her faith and church and also in a lot of ways this pure connection she had with her mother.”
The score itself, Bowers said, was loosely inspired by the sound of the church, which, as Aretha’s life and career highs and lows unfold, is calling her back to it.
“A lot of the textures are organ sounds… and I just kind of stretched them out and did different things to them to create more of a texture and layers on top of the score.”
“The theme itself not only was meant to feel somewhat like a hymn but her trauma theme is actually her mother’s theme in reverse. A lot of [the score] is trying to find ways to create some sort of throughline to that so it can continue to pull her toward that calling of God and her faith.”
As a bonus, the film’s final moments close with the actual footage of Aretha’s unparalleled Kennedy Center Honors performance of “Natural Woman” from 2015. It’s such an outstanding narrative choice, it brought tears to the eyes of this Aretha devotee.
Although the film passes quickly through Aretha’s Columbia records output and ends well before her transition to her Clive Davis and Arista years, it’s an impressive exploration of, to paraphrase Wilson, “the woman with the greatest voice in the world finding her own voice.”
The digital health start-up HUED, founded in 2018 by Kimberly Wilson with the aim of connecting patients with Black and Latinx healthcare providers, recently raised $1.6 million in seed funding led by women venture capitalists.
According to thegrio.com, round participants included Serena Williams‘ Serena Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, Northwestern Mutual, Black Founders Matter, Gingerbread Capital, and angel investor and health industry leader, Halle Tecco.
“Embarking on such a bold mission to reimagine the healthcare system for communities of color is no easy feat,” said Wilson, Founder and CEO of HUED in a press release. “It’s incredible to have received the support of incredible investors, such as Female Founders Fund, to further our mission to empower and train healthcare workers on anti-racist practices, implicit bias, and providing culturally sensitive care for Black and Latinx populations.”
“We are thrilled to back Kimberly and her vision for HUED in making healthcare more equitable for millions of Black and Latinx patients,” said Anu Duggal, Founding Partner of Female Founders Fund. “She has built exciting traction with a strong team and we believe the HUED model will have a massive impact on healthcare outcomes in this country.”
HUED uses a patient’s insurance provider and region to match providers. The site also allows patients to access reviews about specific providers before making an appointment.
Wilson’s own 2017 healthcare scare inspired her to create HUED. When she ended up in the emergency room with complications related to fibroids, Wilson has stated that her mostly white male doctors “dismissed my pain.”
Through this funding round, grio.com reports, HUED will be able to add to its growing ranks of providers and train over 5,000 healthcare workers nationwide.
This week’s offering is more than a little inspired by the 2020 film Lovers Rock.
Writer-director Steve McQueen’s loving portrait of a house party was one of the best films of last year. I’ve included a few tracks from the soundtrack by Gregory Isaacs, Janet Kay and others.
Though this collection takes us back the last days of the rocksteady era and early days of reggae, it features artists like Ken Boothe, Johnny Nash and John Holt and Hortense Ellis.
They enjoyed international hits with versions of well-known love songs and originals that would go on to be clone classics of the genre.
Thirty three year-old Barbados native Robyn Fenty, best known to the world as singing superstar Rihanna, through the success of her smash hits and cosmetics company Fenty Beauty, has officially become a billionaire.
According to Forbes, Rihanna is now worth $1.7 billion, which makes her the wealthiest woman musician on the planet.
Although Rihanna has ruled the global music charts with hits like “Umbrella,” “The Only Girl In the World,” “Diamonds,” and “Work,” the bulk of her assets come from Fenty Beauty ($1.4 billion) and her lingerie offshoot Savage x Fenty (approximately $270 million).
Forbes estimated that Rihanna owns about 30 percent of Savage x Fenty and about 50 percent of Fenty Beauty, which works to provide consumers with inclusive beauty products that work for a wide range of skin types and colors.
Rihanna has used her amassing wealth to support and create several charities, such as her Clara Lionel Foundation, which she founded in 2012 in honor of her grandparents.
CLF supports and funds education initiatives and emergency response to natural disasters, and advocates for policy and systems change to improve the quality of life for communities across the globe.
It’s Music Monday again! This week’s playlist features the 50-year career of one artist. No covers or tributes, just Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.
He was a giant of 20th century music. He was arguably the most significant band leader in American music from 1923 until his death a half century later.
From the Cotton Club to Europe, Asia, and Africa, he featured artists like saxophonist Johnny Hodges and his 30-year collaborator, composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, and lead the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz.
Though Ellington himself embraced the phrase “beyond category,: here’s nearly 6 hours of the music by one the greatest of all time. Enjoy!
While the U.S. Senate hasn’t agreed on much of anything for several years, this week it unanimously passed legislation granting the Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O’Ree, the first Black player to compete in the National Hockey League.
The legislation now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for approval so O’Ree, 85, and known as the “Jackie Robinson of hockey,” can receive this much deserved honor.
O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958 by playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins, one of six teams at the time. O’Ree, who is Canadian, played professional hockey in his home country before joining the NHL and retiring from the sport in 1979. He has spent the past two decades as the NHL’s diversity ambassador with his Hockey is for Everyoneyouth program.
In every game he played in, O’Ree… heard name calling from opposing players and from fans in the stands. “Besides being Black and being blind in my right eye, I was faced with four other things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance,” he said.
The legislation would award O’Ree the nation’s highest civilian award that Congress can bestow “in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.”
O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 for his off-ice contributions to the sport. The Bruins retired O’Ree’s No. 22 jersey in February of this year.
The College had earlier committed to slash fall tuition by 50 percent for its students, and offer every student a new tablet, but with the continued financial strain of the pandemic, decided to do away with tuition altogether.
