Hello ciao-ga,
As a music lover, I enjoyed researching your question.
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The term “gospel music” most often refers to a style of music derived
from “spirituals” sung by African American slaves.
All Music Guide ( http://www.allmusic.com ) gives the following
description of gospel Music:
All Music Guide Music Glossary
Gospel Music
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=S2664
“All Gospel singing is written and performed with the intention of
spreading the good news of Christianity. Most Gospel music, properly
accorded the title, is derived from the Christian churches associated
with the African American community. The music includes effect
characteristics such as glissandos, blue notes and repeated phrases
and vocal characteristics such as falsettos, growls, hums, moans,
screams, shouts, et cetera.”
Another good description of gospel music can be found at the website
of the Center for Black Music Research (CBMR). They also provide a
sample clip.
Center for Black Music Research (CBMR)
Columbia College Chicago
http://www.cbmr.org/styles/gospel.htm
“Gospel Music
Definition of Style
The term “gospel music” refers to African-American Protestant vocal
music that celebrates Christian doctrine in emotive, often dramatic
ways. Vocal soloists are the best-known exponents of gospel, but vocal
and choral groups of widely varying sizes have also helped to define
the style. In gospel, simple melodies are heavily ornamented by blue
notes, glissandi, and a dramatic use of a wide vocal range; and the
form conducts an ongoing dialogue of influence with blues, jazz, pop,
rap, and folk styles. Major artists associated with gospel music
include Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, and the Soul Stirrers.
Thomas A. Dorsey is counted among the major twentieth-century
composers in the form.”
There seems to be some disagreement on the exact origins of gospel
music. Some information on the history of gospel can be found at the
following links:
The Princeton University Gospel Ensemble (PUGE)
HISTORY OF BLACK GOSPEL
http://www.princeton.edu/~puge/HOGM.html
“From the need to subjugate, or from fear, many American slave owners
did not allow blacks to use traditional African instruments, nor could
they play or sing their native music. Gradually much of the words and
melodies were forgotten and disappeared in North America. It is
because of this ban on their musical ancestral link, that a new
African American style of music was created. New songs were created
using the African traditions of harmony, call and response, behind a
strong rhythmic meter mixed with European traditions of harmony and
musical instruments. Gospel songs created by blacks used Christian
subjects with African vocal and rhythmic influences. The church became
a sanctuary for black slave expression. It was the only place that
groups of slaves could congregate without fear of white supervision.
Though not all slave holders allowed religious instruction or
permission to worship and had to meet secretly.”
All Music Guide
Gospel Music by Bil Carpenter
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J28
“Religion has existed for thousands of years, but gospel music is just
a few decades old. The term was coined by blues pianist Thomas A.
Dorsey in 1920 soon after he wrote "If You See My Savior," his first
religious song. After Dorsey established a firm that published his
"Gospel" songs and those of others (the first such company), the name
stuck.
Gospel music was born out of the blood, sweat, and tears of African
slaves working on Southern plantations and in cotton fields. They
attended segregated Protestant churches, where White ministers led
them in worship. Over time, Blacks combined the Southern folk music,
Protestant hymns, and European elements of the worship service with
their African traditions and Negro spirituals (which were not
religious songs but songs of vexation, e.g., "Nobody Knows the Trouble
I've Seen"), and the distinct Black gospel sound was born.”
All Music Guide
The History of Gospel Music by Opal Louis Nations
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J297
“Gospel praise singing — a combination of joyous spontaneity and
earnest supplication — has been around since the dawn of Christianity;
although prevalent through the Old World for centuries, it did not
take root in the United States until some time in the nineteenth
century, although small numbers of slaves and slave holders worshipped
together as far back as 1734. The first published New England
collection of hymns were those of Isaac Watts in 1907's Hymns and
Spiritual Songs. Philip Bliss' publication Gospel Songs appeared in
1876 during a period of intense Christian revival: while
pulpit-bashing sermons were being preached all over urban North
America, Pentecostal black communities of Holiness and Sanctified
denomination multiplied.”
An All Music Guide article by Bil Carpenter lists the styles of gospel
music as:
Black Gospel
Contemporary Christian Music
Heaven's Metal
Inspirational
Jesus Rock
Quartet Singing
Southern Gospel
Spiritual
Street Poetry
The article provides a brief description of each style.
All Music Guide
Gospel Styles by Bil Carpenter
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J29
Another style of gospel music described by All Music Guide is Country
Gospel.
All Music Guide Music Glossary
Country Gospel
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=S2846
Other references:
NegroSpirituals.com
http://www.negrospirituals.com/
kusp.org
“The Gospel According to Brother Michael
(A Brief History of Anthem, Spiritual, and Gospel Music from Early
Slavery to the Mid Twentieth Century)”
By Michael Tanner
http://www.kusp.org/playlists/crosscurrents/history.html
Gospel Music Hall of Fame & Museum
“A Gospel Music Historical Chart”
http://www.gmhf.org/histchart1.html
Gospel Music Hall of Fame & Museum
“The Music Tree”
http://www.gmhf.org/histchart2.html
All Music Guide
Evolution of the Spiritual by Sarah Stollak
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J298
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Rhythm & Blues (R & B) is usually described as an urban music style
developed in the late 1930s and early 1940s based on the blues music
of the south. The Center for Black Music Research provides the
following description:
Center for Black Music Research (CBMR)
Columbia College Chicago
http://www.cbmr.org/styles/rhythmblues.htm
Rhythm and Blues
Definition of Style
While the term remains in use as a category designation by some radio
programmers and record retailers, the epoch of rhythm and blues (or
R&B) truly spans the late 1940s to the early 1960s. As the term
suggests, R&B was a combination of the swinging rhythm of jazz and
other “race” music with the lyrical content, sonic gestures, and
format of the blues. Its early days were dominated by high-energy
bandleader-musicians such as Louis Jordan and Johnny Otis, but R&B at
its height was largely a vocal form. The vocal-oriented exponents of
R&B include the doo-wop groups of the 1950s, such as the Moonglows and
the Penguins, and solo vocal artists such as Ruth Brown and Jackie
Wilson. Perhaps equally important, the unexpected melding of R&B with
country and western (or “hillbilly”) music in the mid-1950s gave birth
to rock and roll. Later still, in the mid-1960s, R&B would become soul
music, as illustrated by the long, varied careers of artists such as
James Brown.”
All Music Guide describes R & B as follows:
All Music Guide
R&B
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=C17
“Evolving out of jump blues in the late '40s, R&B laid the groundwork
for rock & roll. R&B kept the tempo and the drive of jump blues, but
its instrumentation was sparer and the emphasis was on the song, not
improvisation. It was blues chord changes played with an insistent
backbeat. During the '50s, R&B was dominated by vocalists like Ray
Charles and Ruth Brown, as well as vocal groups like the Drifters and
the Coasters. Eventually, R&B metamorphosed into soul, which was
funkier and looser than the pile-driving rhythms of R&B.”
All Music Guide Music Glossary
Rhythm & Blues
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=S2757
“A term that originated during the 40s, R&B was initially a Black pop
synthesis of big-band jump-blues, Tin Pan Alley, swing, and early rock
& roll. R&B submerged into soul as that genre gained prominence during
the 60s.Examples: Johnny Ace, La Vern Baker, Ray Charles, and Fats
Domino. -- Rick Clark”
A good discussion of R & B can be found at “The Rhythm & Blues Music
Primer”.
The Rhythm & Blues Music Primer
The R&B History File
http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/pdhist.shtml
The Rhythm & Blues Music Primer
The R&B History File - 2
http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/pdhist2.shtml
“Rhythm and Blues is perhaps most commonly understood as the term used
to describe the sophisticated urban music that grew out of the
urbanisation of the blues which began in the 1930s. The single and
most renowned exponent of this development is Louis Jordan who,
originally with a relatively small band, began to make blues based
records with humorous lyrics and a rhythm owing as much to boogie
woogie as to the more traditional classic blues form. Jordan, Amos
Milburn, Floyd Dixon, Charles Brown and even the great Joe Turner were
all leading practitioners of what came to be known as jump blues. What
distinguished many of these artists was the sheer breadth of material
played - straight 12 bar, intrumentals, blues ballads and straight pop
songs were all part of the scene at that time.”
Other references:
All Music Guide
Early Rhythm & Blues by Richie Unterberger
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J113
All Music Guide
Contemporary R&B
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=C4367
“Contemporary R&B developed after years of urban R&B. Like urban,
contemporary R&B is slickly produced, but many of the musicians —
Maxwell, D'Angelo, Terence Trent D'Arby — are obsessed with bringing
the grit, spirit, and ambitiousness of classic soul (Marvin Gaye,
Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding) back to contemporary soul and R&B.”
All Music Guide
Early British R&B by Richie Unterberger
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J229
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Although you only asked about gospel and R&B, I feel that my answer
would be incomplete without some mention of soul music. Soul music is
generally considered as a music style developed in the 1960s that is a
combination of gospel and R&B.
All Music Guide provides the following descriptions of soul music:
All Music Guide
Music Glossary Soul Music
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=S2455
“Soul music is a style of popular music originating in the 1960s that
combines gospel music with rhythm-and-blues, such as the music played
by Ray Charles.”
All Music Guide
Soul by Richie Unterberger
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=J120
“Broadly speaking, soul was the combination of rhythm & blues, gospel,
and pop. The gospel ingredient was most evident in the supremely
emotional, pleading, and jubilant vocals and harmonies. Rock-solid
rhythm sections, punchy horn arrangements, and tight instrumental and
vocal ensemble work were also frequent hallmarks of the classic soul
sound.”
All Music Guide
Soul
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80308282325&sql=C7
“Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization
of rhythm and blues in the '60s. Soul came to describe a number of
R&B-based music styles. From the bouncy, catchy acts at Motown to the
horn-driven, gritty soul of Stax/Volt, there was an immense amount of
diversity within soul. During the first part of the '60s, soul music
remained close to its R&B roots. However, musicians pushed the music
in different directions; usually, different regions of America
produced different kinds of soul. In urban centers like New York,
Philadelphia, and Chicago, the music concentrated on vocal interplay
and smooth productions. In Detroit, Motown concentrated on creating a
pop-oriented sound that was informed equally by gospel, R&B, and rock
& roll. In the South, the music became harder and tougher, relying on
syncopated rhythms, raw vocals, and blaring horns.”
Other references:
The Rhythm & Blues Music Primer
The R&B History File – 3
http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/pdhist3.shtml
“Very simplistically put, if rock'n'roll can perhaps be seen as a
white artist interpretation of rhythm and blues, then soul was quite
clearly a return to the roots of black music - to the blues and in
particular gospel and the church. The style retains similarities with
the blues; the emotional honesty, the vocal intensity, the use of call
and response. Ray Charles may well have been the first to secularise
pure gospel songs, but it reached full maturation in the work of the
Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Atlantic Records were again at the
fore of black music evolution, first producung Aretha in 1967 ('I
Never Loved A Man') at the start of one of the greatest series of soul
recordings of all time. But even before the work of Aretha, soul music
had broken through in the work of a range of southern artists on
southern oriented labels such as the legendary Stax Records.”
ListenSmart.com
Soul/R&B/Gospel
http://www.listensmart.com/learn/learn/aboutsoul.asp
Black Music Month, 2003
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/20030624-1.html
Early work songs and spirituals laid the creative foundation for the
development of gospel, blues, and jazz. In black churches throughout
the south, gospel offered a medium to share the good news. The beauty
of both gospel and the blues lies in their power to express emotions
that can be felt as well as heard. The blues were first popularized in
America by W.C. Handy. A classically trained musician, this "Father of
the Blues" helped to compose and distribute blues music throughout the
country. His music continues to touch people today.
In the early 20th century, the progression to jazz took place all over
the country, from the deep south of New Orleans and the Mississippi
Delta to northern cities such as Chicago and New York. Black artists
migrated to Harlem, New York in large numbers, creating a culturally
diverse hub for black art, writing, and music known as the Harlem
Renaissance. Harlem became a place of energy and magic, and timeless
music emerged from this period. The heart of the Harlem Renaissance is
reflected in the original and authentic music of such influential
figures as Bessie Smith, Count Basie, and Fletcher Henderson.
African Americans continued to influence popular music through the
1940s and 50s, with the emergence of rhythm and blues and rock and
roll. These revolutionary styles built upon various forms of
African-American music, fusing elements of jazz, blues, and gospel.
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I hope you have found this information helpful. If you have any
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Googlenut
Search Strategy:
Google Search Terms:
"gospel music" history
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"music history" gospel
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gospel "r&b" history
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black music styles
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Searched All Music Guide ( http://www.allmusic.com ) for descriptions
and articles about gospel, R&B, and soul. |
