June is designated as Black Music Month in the States, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the initial event.Kenny Gamble of the hit making R&B songwriting-production duo of Gamble & Leon Huff encouraged former President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to officially designate June as a time to acknowledge the contributions Blacks musicians have made to the art form.
Ever since then every president has issued a proclamation to commemorate it.
As someone to whom Black music kept a roof over her head, food on the table, put clothes on her back and sent her to college, I have a deep appreciation for my peeps music and the history that is intertwined with it.
My tastes run across the spectrum of R&B from P-funk to jazz, but much of my music collection has a definite 70's-80's-90's slant.
Black music is constantly evolving. It's creative and unafraid to experiment and innovate. We have see it from jazz to gospel to Motown to hip-hop, but at the same time pays tremendous respect to the pioneers on whose giant shoulders it stands.
It is the expressions of a mighty people, and this month we pay homage to it.
