THE SOUL OF BLACK MUSIC MONTH
An celebration in Philadelphia revealed the story behind the designation
MYSELF WITH DYANA WILLIAMS AND CAPIPH GAMBLE AT SOL EVENT
This past Monday I traveled from New York down to Philadelphia to participate in an afternoon conference celebrating June as ‘Black Music Month’ in the United States. Most people don’t know the connection between the City of Brotherly Love and this annual musicial celebration, but it goes back to the late ‘70s when Jimmy Carter was President. The White House was approached by Philly residents Kenny Gamble, president of Philadelphia International Records, WDAS air personality Dyana Williams and broadcaster Ed Wright with the concept. Gamble had recently been in Nashville and was profoundly impressed by how the Country Music Association had leveraged the popularity of that musical genre to host an awards show and expand its market. Worth noting Clarence Avant, “the Black Godfather” of the Netflix documentary, played a key role in connecting Carter and Gamble.
Gamble, a visionary as songwriter and producer, saw the need for the artists and businesspeople in blues, jazz, soul etc to have an unified voice in addressing the historical inequities and growth possibilities for music conceived in the African-American community. Along with most of the music’s movers and shakers, Gamble started the Black Music Association to protect and promote the music. It was under this banner that President Carter accpeted the idea of Black Music Month and hosted an concert on the White House lawn.
As an college stringer for Billboard magazine I took the train down to Philly to cover BMA’s first convention in the late ‘70s, which became a crash course in the politics of radio, retail, concert promotion, music publishing and management. There were decades of grievances about non existance royalties, glass ceilings for black executives and whether black promoters should demand loyalty from black superstars. During the conference Stevie Wonder did a performance and was joined onstage by Bob Marley. All in all it was a magical weekend.
Unfortunately all the issues presented at that conference, and at subsequent gatherings, torn at the fabric of unity the BMA was designed to create. Moreover much of the initial funding for the BMA came from some of the very same companies that many in the business accused of ripping off black talent. The tension became to much to overcome and, sadly, the organization eventually fell apart with Black Music Month its most visible legacy.
To reaffirm that legacy Caliph Gamble, son of Kenny and Dyana Williams, organized the event in Philadelphia under the banner of the Sons of Legends Foundation to celebrate Black Music Month, invoke the BMA and laid the foundation for future work. I shared a panel with music publisher Chuck Gamble, Philly radio legend Patty Jackson, singer-singwriter Donn T, Columbia Records executive Mont Brown moderated by podcast hist Laiya St. Clair. In the later sesssion Dyana Williams interviewed Cathy Hughes, founder and chairwoman of Urban One that owns TV One and seventyfive radio stations
CATHY HUGHES SPEAKING THE SOL EVENT
It was an inspiring trip, not just being on the panel, but meeting with the many Philly artists and entrepreneurs in attendance. The city of sisterly affection has always been a great music town, a fact made clear by all the ambitious folks I met while on the ground there. Sam Pollard is making a long overdue doc on Gamble and his partner Leon Huff, while plans for a musical revue composed of their vast catalogue of songs is in development. The fact that this was a multi-generational event, with the fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, in the house speaks to both the bonds that make Philly music special and the beauty of how legacies are passed on between the generations. We need more of that and I hope SOL will be a tool for making that happen.