"Music is our witness and our ally. The beat is the confession which recognizes, changes, and conquers time.".............James Baldwin
INTRODUCTION:
Nobody
accessing this web-site should be surprised at the back-drop of those
two great rivers, the Mississippi and the Mersey. The two great cities
that sit on those rivers, New Orleans and Liverpool, besides being synonymous
with the slave
trade, also loom large in any narrative around popular music.
Jerry Wexler, one of the musical legends in his producing of black popular music from the early 1950s through the Atlantic label, said that whenever he visited New Orleans "I hear voices." For over two centuries in the slave auction square, the Place du Congo, there was the never-ending sound of shifting rhythms. To a lot of people it was where music all began.
Well,
we also hear "voices" and "shifting rhythms". These are the voices of
local Black musicians, past and present,
and the music they made, whose influence on Mersey Beat has not just been
ignored but to a large degree erased totally from the musical culture
of Liverpool. The evidence is overwhelming, despite the continuing claims
of the "Beatles Industry" (the plethora of "experts and various academics")
that would have us believe that the harmonies of "yeah, yeah, yeah," which
dominate a lot of Beatles early recordings were linked to either three-chord
skiffle and/or the white rock and roll of Holly, Perkins and Presley.
Quite
simply, the basic harmonic structure that the Beatles and other local
bands employed was firmly rooted in the traditions of black acappella/R'n'B.
Furthermore,
the sounds that sprang from the city in the early Sixties, Mersey-Sound,
were predominantly cover versions of Black R'n'B artists, who had either
gained little or no release in the UK. Whether it was the Contours, the
Isley Bros, the Drifters, the Shirelles, or the Miracles, the proof of
Black musical influence was and is undeniable.
Just
as important, as well, were the many local Black
musicians, some still around to-day, who made some of the music their
own and in doing so transported you to the Apollo in Harlem. Whether it
be the Chants, Doo-Wopping Miracles
style, Derry
Wilkie exhorting to Ray Charles's "Hallelujah I Love Her So", or Steve
Aldo sanctifyin' to Marvin's "Can I get a Witness", Sugar Dean and
the Valentinos, belting out Ben E. King and the Drifter's, "Nobody
But Me", these and many more had pivotal roles in the production
of a "Mersey Sound".
It
is our intention to re-vision and re-locate
the remembered and the forgotten Black artists of the time. Acknowledgement
needs to be given in order for Black music in this city, with all its
diversity, to be placed at the forefront of Liverpool's musical heritage.
STEVE HIGGINSON
Anyone who would like to comment on or contribute to Soulpool, please E-mail: soulpooluk@yahoo.co.uk.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOULPOOL:
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References:
- Black Organisation And Identity In Liverpool by William Ackah and Mark Christian, Charles Wootton Press 1997
- Beyond Category - the Life and Genius of Duke Ellington by John Edward Hasse, Omnibus Press 1993
- Nowhere to Run by Gerri Hirshey, MacMillan 1984
- From the Empire to the Rialto by Andrea Murphy, Liver Press 1995
- Black Music in Britain by Paul Oliver, OU Press 1990
- Who's Who In Black Music by Portia Maultsby and R.E. Rosenthal, Edwards Print 1985
- Just My Soul Responding, Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness and Race Relations by Brian Ward, UCC 1998
Special Thanks to:
HAIRY RECORDS, 98 Bold Street, Liverpool 1 4HY, for their invaluable record stock (the Chants).
Dorothy Kuya and Mark Christian for their encouragement.
Sugar Dean for the use of personal memorabilia and for the magic time spent in musical memories.
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out what's
happening today at: SOUL IN
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