Two new highly recommended books on black music

[heikki]

Hi!

Besides those two books, also Peggy Scott Adams talks about her latest CD release, at

http://www.soulexpress.net/deep2_2018.htm

Best regards
Heikki

[soulster]

I'd like to see sample texts of those books before I buy them.

[heikki]

Hi Soulster!

I just checked: at Amazon you can have a look at two pages of John Lias' book,
and Facebook has a page of its own called "Those Old School Records", and I hope you can find more info on there.

Unfortunately I don't have the right to put/copy/scan anything on here.

Best regards
Heikki

[daviddesper]

Heikki:

Will that bio of Denise LaSalle come out at any point or was it too far from being finished when she passed away? Also are any of her labels planning on any tribute albums or re-issues or anything to pay their respects toward her?

[heikki]

Hi David!

I forwarded your question to the author, David Whiteis, and this is what he answered:
............
If all goes well, I will have the manuscript submitted by December of this year [[the original timeline of my contract with U. of Illinois Press), meaning that the book should come out relatively early next year. [[Tell your friends on the Soulful Detroit forum that one of her most touching and vivid memories, albeit a brief one, actually occurred in Detroit!)

Since she passed away, I have learned some things about her early life that contradict some of the things she told me [[e.g., she was actually born in 1934, not 1941 as she claimed, and certainly not 1939, as most other biographies suggested -- I suspected this strongly, and I was waiting for the right time to ask her about it -- a tricky and delicate conversation, to say the least! -- but she left us before that could happen). I have also learned some new things about her early marriages. I am still tracking down specific information, and I will then have to find a way to incorporate at least some of the new information into her narrative. In a week or two, I'm going up to Wisconsin with Denise's daughter to speak with her older sister, Naomi, whose memories are very vivid; I'm hoping that she can help us straighten out some of the inconsistencies and mysteries. [[I feel like a detective -- this is actually fun!)

I'm sorry I didn't have the opportunity to ask her about a few other things that would have been very interesting stories: In 1976 or so, she was the first African-American secular artist to ever perform at the notorious Parchman Farm penitentiary in Mississippi [[I found that out by accident, while looking through an old Billboard news release about her); I will be able to talk with Kenny Ray Kight, who was her guitarist at the time, to get at least some recollections of the event, but it's not the same as getting the story directly from her. I have also discovered that she was a very good friend of Erykah' Badu's mother -- again, a story I wish I could have learned more about.

It would also have been wonderful to have had the time to go back and ask her about the production and arrangements of some of her post-"Trapped" chart hits [[e.g., "Get Up Off My Mind", which only reached No. 96 in 1974, but featured a very interesting stylistic blend – a Delta-fried blues guitar intro that segued into a bass-heavy rhythmic and melodic line borrowed from Motown, seasoned by congas and punched by JB-derived horn blasts) -- she took pride in having gone into the studio with a full idea of how she wanted her songs to sound, so I have not doubt that this was the sound she had in her mind when she recorded that. Where did it come from? it was pretty radical for its day. That was one of many things I wish I could have had the opportunity to talk with her about.

Nonetheless, what I have is substantial, and I believe the book will be successful, especially her memories of her early life in Mississippi and her early years in Chicago, when she was just beginning her career on the local club circuit.

One reason, by the way, that her book was originally intended to come out at the end of this year or the beginning of next year is that the other book I've been working on, Legacy [[concerning the contemporary Chicago blues world), was already under way when she called me and told me she wanted me to work with her on her autobiography. So that one had to be completed and submitted first.
..........
I'm sorry but I haven't heard or read about any tribute releases.

Best regards
Heikki

[daviddesper]

Thanks so much. Keep us posted.