Missouri Folklore Society Journal: Special Issue: Black Music in the Black Press: an Anthology of Essays from the Heartland: 35 (Missour Folklore Society Journal)

When Reconstruction ended in 1877 tens of thousands of African Americans migrated from the Old South to the Midwest. Within a decade they had established dozens of towns with churches halls and musical groups--and dozens of weekly newspapers which recorded both musical performances and attitudes toward a complicated set of musical traditions. Black Music in the Black Press begins with Reconstruction and ends with the Great Depression. Ethnomusicologist Marc Rice has combed huge collections of newspapers from which he culled scores of editorial reviews dozens of advertisements and hundreds of articles organizing them in ways which make clear the conflicts and changes. By keeping the focus on the articles themselves he has brought readers first-hand accounts of the tastes and values black newswriters like William Kelly or music experts like Martha Broadus-Anderson debated and promulgated a century ago. And more he has given current readers what they need to see the stars: McCabe & Young Walker and Williams Scott Joplin Sissieretta Jones Ada Brown Billy Kersands W.H. Handy Bennie Moten Count Basie Bill Bojangles Irene and Vernon Castle Bessie Smith Louis Armstrong--and many many more.From Witchita to Kansas City to Chicago Indianapolis Cleveland and Detroit black editors praised or excoriated minstrel shows cakewalks and coon songs. Later they debated the value of ragtime blues and jazz. Black performers won audiences with spectacular minstrel shows created their own musical comedies and operas modulated spirituals into sorrow songs developed orchestras and dance clubs. Newsmen like George Knox of the Indianapolis Freeman an ex-slave with progressive ideas balanced what they recognized as musical genius against the potentially demeaning effect of racist farce. Some saw refined minstrelsy in the McCabe & Young Minstrels for example or praised the droll humor of Walker and Williams Mr. Lode of Koal as clean hearty romping mirth. Yet though black musicians proved their talents in a myriad ways some reviewers seemed to value them insofar as they conformed to Eurocentric standards reserving praise for classically trained black pianists and condemning popular comics for creating noise and trash.In eight chapters organized chronologically and featuring articles from both large and smaller newspapers Black Music in the Black Press presents these multiple perspectives tracking the ways in which tastes changed over the half century between 1880 and 1935. As the decades passed minstrel shows faded. Ragtime blues and jass blossomed. Venues grew as well. The first World War brought further changes--including recognition that European audiences responded positively to black music. The Great Depression and Prohibition further changed the ways in which black music was presented and evaluated. And finally the impact of new technologies--of radio and studio recording--on black musicians was carefully assessed by writers in the black press. Black Music in the Black Press is a treasure trove.