"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. |
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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". |
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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.
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOULPOOL: |
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Pic below left -(copyright Bill Harry. Printed with permission) | ||||
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References:
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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