Happy Music Monday, y’all. If you haven’t already, please dig Jamila Wignot’s new documentary “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.”, currently streaming on Max.
The four-part film tells the story of Stax Records, the iconic R&B label, from its late-1950s beginnings to its 1975 demise.
In its prime the label featured stars like Rufus Thomas and Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding, as well as the ace house band of Booker T. and the MGs.
Stax was a colorblind oasis of racial harmony in an otherwise fiercely segregated South. Stax has been eclipsed by Motown, with many of their hits mistakenly thought to be output from that Detroit Mecca, even though the comparative grittier Memphis studio had a sound all its own.
Look no further than Carla Thomas and Otis Redding’s “Tramp” to hear just how much their most popular artist was unapologetically “straight from the Georgia woods.”
Stax Records is critical to American music history as one of the most popular music record labels of all time.
In 15 years, Stax put more than 160 songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. Please enjoy this 4 hours of essential Stax music featuring Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays,Johnnie Taylor, Shirley Brown, The Staple Singers and so many more.
Happy Black History Month, you all. Now it might seem counterintuitive to use my February offering to feature and honor Burt Bacharach, who died on February 8 at age 94.
The prolific composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. He was a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach’s songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.
However, no one would disagree that Bacharach’s (and his lyricist partner Hal David‘s) most popular success was with Dionne Warwick. They created a string of 39 consecutive chart hits including “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Walk On By,” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.” Their collaboration would continue for decades including his production of “That’s What Friends Are For.”
This “Close To You: Soulful Burt Bacharach Covers” collection features generations of Black artists who have collaborated directly with Bacharach (Ronald Isley), covered beautifully (Aretha Franklin, Love), and sampled (Mos Def, Masta Ace, Floetry) the work of Burt Bacharach.
Stevie Wonder‘s live performance in 1972, of “Close To You” and the Jackson 5′s “Never Can Say Goodbye utilizing the ‘talkbox,’ inspired Frank Ocean’s cover on his 2016 album, Blonde.
Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes each spent ample time covering Bacharach while pushing against what they saw as limits of what was acceptable for Black artists.
The 5th Dimension, who were stung by being called “the Black group, with the white sound,” are present with “One Less Bell To Answer.”Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. perform it twice in this collection.
There are ample examples of hip-hop artists using Warwick and Bacharach’s work on “Recognize,” “Hold U,” “Must Be Bobby,” “Know That” and other tracks.
So please enjoy this Black History Month celebration of Burt Bacharach’s impactful work through the creation of these great Black artists.
You might know about Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier or Halle Berry being the first Black recipients of Oscars in their respective acting categories, but have you ever wondered who were the first in all the others? Writing? Producing? Hair and Make-Up? Sound?
Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is a bonus episode for Sunday, March 27 — the day the 94th Academy Awards ceremony are being held — that takes note of every Black Oscar first:
You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.comor create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website.
SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a bonus daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, March 27th, 2022, based on the format of the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
The 94th Academy Awards ceremony is being held today and with Will Packer producing, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall among the hosts and Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Aunjanue Ellis and Questlove among the nominees, I thought I’d take a brief look at the talented Black people in film who were the first in their category to ever win an Oscar.
The very very first was Hattie McDaniel, who won in the Best Supporting Actress category for the 1939 film Gone With The Wind.
In 1948, actor James Baskett received a special Academy award for his characterization of Uncle Remus in Song of the South, but the next to win an award in competition was Sidney Poitier in 1963, who won Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.
It took almost a decade after that for the next win, which was Isaac Hayes in the Original Song category for 1971’s “Theme from Shaft.”
[Excerpt from “Theme from Shaft”]
Up next 11 years later was Lou Gossett, Jr. for his Best Supporting Actor win in 1982 for An Officer and a Gentleman.
[Excerpt of “The Beautiful Ones”]
In 1984 Prince won Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and he was the first and last Black person to win in that category because after 1984, it was retired as a category from the Academy.
Contrary to popular belief, Prince didn’t win for the actual song “Purple Rain” — the Original Song Oscar that year went to Stevie Wonder for “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from the film The Woman in Red.
[Excerpt of “I Just Called To Say I Love You”]
The following year, in 1985, jazz titan Herbie Hancock took home the Oscar for his Original Score for ‘Round Midnight.
And jazz kept the Gold Guys a coming – in 1988 Willie D. Burton accepted the Best Sound Oscar for his and his team’s work on the Charlie Parker biopicBird, and in 1994, though nominated for several of his scores, the Oscar that Quincy Jones brought home was the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
In 2001, Halle Berry won the Best Lead Actress Oscar for her work in Monster’s Ball, and 2009 saw Roger Ross Williams win for Best Documentary Short Subject for Music By Prudence and Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious, which was based on the novel Pushby Sapphire.
In 2012, T.J. Martin won for Best Documentary Feature for Undefeated, and in 2013, Steve McQueen shared his Best Picture Oscar with his producing partners for 12 Years A Slave.
In 2017, NBA legend Kobe Bryant won in the Best Animated Short Film category for Dear Basketball, and Jordan Peele won in the Best Original Screenplay category for Get Out.
The following year, Peter Ramsey won an Oscar in the Animated Feature Film category for co-directing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 2018 also saw Ruth Carter win in the Costume Design category for her work on Black Pantherand Hannah Beachler for Production Design for the same marvel of a movie directed by Ryan Coogler.
And for 2020, Travon Free won in the Best Live Action Short Film category for Two Distant Strangers, and Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson took home Oscars in the Make-Up and Hairstyling category for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
This has been a bonus daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.
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This month, as part of African American Music Appreciation Month, Good Black News will offer a set of playlists rediscovering some pioneering musical talents who should no longer be allowed to slip through the cracks of history.
It is in that spirit that today’s playlist honors the late Ronnie Dyson, who would have turned 70 this past week.
“When the moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…” – in 1968 at the age of just 18 years old, Ronnie Dyson sang the words that captured a generation when, as an original cast member of the the Broadway musical “Hair,” he was picked to solo on “Aquarius,” the hippie anthem that opens and sets the tone for the whole show.
Following his introduction to the world in “Hair” (which also featured such original Broadway cast members as Melba Moore, Diane Keaton and ‘Last Dance’ disco songwriter Paul Jabara), Dyson was immediately propelled onto a career trajectory designed to turn him into a soul star.Dyson signed to Columbia Records in the Clive Davis era and started putting out records – and by 1970, he had his first modest R&B hit, “Why Can’t I Touch You?,” from an off-Broadway show called “Salvation.”
Over the next dozen or so years, though, while he managed to hit the R&B Top 40 eight times, Dyson never really struck chart gold. Most writers discussing Dyson talk about him as an artist coming of age potentially in the wrong era.
With a boyish face and lanky frame – and a gospel-infused, higher register tenor voice that sometimes made you wonder whether a man or a woman was singing, perhaps Dyson (and his penchant for standards and big ballads) was out of place during a time of sexy, more traditionally masculine vocalists like Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass.
Nevertheless, in trying to find that elusive smash, Columbia teamed Dyson up with some very skilled producers, including Thom Bell & Linda Creed (The Stylistics, The Spinners and more) and later, Chuck Jackson & Marvin Yancy (who had launched Natalie Cole‘s career). And in the process, they created some unsung classics.
Today, the Bell & Creed produced “One Man Band“ album feels like a true lost Philly Soul masterpiece. It generated Dyson’s dramatic original version of “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,” later a hit for The Main Ingredient, as well as the beautiful ballad “Give In To Love,” later covered by such artists as Dee Dee Bridgewater and Sister Sledge.
Listening to the two albums Jackson & Yancy produced for Dyson, you’ll note similarities between songs like “Close to You” and the hits that Natalie Cole had that same year. (Late in her career, Natalie actually covered a Dyson tune from this era, ‘The More You Do It.’)
Across all his records, Dyson proves to have almost Luther Vandross-like interpretive skills in covering great songs of the era, from stunning versions of “A Song For You,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Love Won’t Let Me Wait,” and Beatles standard “Something” – to more esoteric covers of Laura Nyro‘s “Emmie,” “Jesus Is Just Alright” (the Doobie Brothers song), and a soulful take on Hall & Oates“Sara Smile.”
Ultimately, after waning career fortunes, Dyson’s last major label release arrived in 1983 (though, ironically, this underperforming “Brand New Day“ LP did manage to yield a prominent club hit, “All Over Your Face,” that is by far Dyson’s most streamed Spotify song today). Unfortunately, reported drug issues sent Dyson’s health on a downward spiral – he passed away of heart failure in 1990 at the age of 40.
In 1986, several years before he passed away, then rising young filmmaker Spike Lee recognized Dyson’s stellar talents, hiring him to sing the vocal version of the composition “Nola” for Lee’s debut movie ‘She’s Gotta Have It’. Unfortunately, this song is unavailable on Spotify (seek it out on youtube.com).
But fortunately, most of Dyson’s other recorded work is available for you to rediscover now during the 70th anniversary of his birth. We’ve populated this playlist with all his hits, plus many other highlights that will have you reliving that nostalgic mid-70s sound, by way of a spectacular and unique voice that shouldn’t be forgotten.
You are not likely to find these songs on your local oldies radio station. But they should be. Enjoy!
To learn more about Black Academy Award winners and nominees, read 
Dyson signed to Columbia Records in the Clive Davis era and started putting out records – and by 1970, he had his first modest R&B hit, “
Listening to the two albums Jackson & Yancy produced for Dyson, you’ll note similarities between songs like “Close to You” and the hits that Natalie Cole had that same year. (Late in her career, Natalie actually covered a Dyson tune from this era, ‘The More You Do It.’)