Curated by Bobbi I. Booker
Lying in the midst of the vast urban community stretching down the Eastern Seaboard, Philadelphia is an integral part of the spirit of America, past and present. Enslaved Africans brought their music and dance traditions with them to the Americas and West Indies during the 1600s and 1700s. They incorporated these traditions into the communities they resided or worked in. At the beginning of the 20th century, Philadelphia was the site of the largest Black community of any northern city and those citizens augmented their communities with musical sounds that harked to pre-colonial times. The migration of Southern-born Blacks to the city throughout the first half of the 20th century continued the evolution ofthe many forms of African American music while impacting not only American music, but influencing music appreciation throughout the world. Those music genres include: gospel, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rap, hip hop, reggae, and many other musical genres that have their roots in African and African-American cultures.
The following list of selected artists are just a small portion of the gifted musical talents that has called Philadelphia home.
James Bland (1854-1911)
The contemporary New Year’s Day Mummer’s Day Parade in Philadelphia is an 100-plus year event that now features 10,000 men, women and children dressed in colorfully lavish costumes that twirl, sashay, pirouette and strut down the city’s main streets to the signature tune of Oh, Dem Golden Slippers, a 19th-century minstrel song that is played and sung all day long. The song was composed by African-American composer James A. “Jimmy” Bland who was recognized as the greatest and most prolific African-American songwriter of the late 1800s.
Bland’sGolden Slippers is a minstrel show song parody set in the style of a spiritual, and originally performed in blackface. According to legend, a 12-year-old Bland first heard an elderly Black street musician in Philly and fell in love with the banjo. Bland would go on to compose anywhere from 600 to 700 popular songs and was glowingly referred to as “The Best Ethiopian Song Writer in the World” and “The Prince of the Colored Song Writers.” In addition to penning the unofficial theme song of the Mummers’ Parade, Bland wrote Carry Me Back to Old Virginny, In the Evening by the Moonlight and De Golden Wedding. Bland died of tuberculosis in Philadelphia on May 6, 1911.
Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
Marian Anderson, the most celebrated contralto of the 20th century, was born in South Philadelphia on Feb. 27, 1897. Anderson, who died in April 1993 at age 96, is best known for her performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. Throughout her musical career, she played a vital role in the acceptance of African American in classical music and in other segregated performing arts genre.
In 1957, Anderson was appointed by the U.S. Department of State to serve as a special envoy to the Far East, and the following year President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations. She sang at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. In 1963 President Lyndon B. Johnson bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon her. In 1974, on her 77th birthday, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution ordering a special gold medal minted in her honor. The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced plans in 2016 to feature Anderson on one side of the redesigned $5 bill.
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
Philadelphia-born and Baltimore-raised Billie Holiday transformed American pop, jazz and blues music in the 20th century with an arrestingly textured, almost instrumental jazz quality about her voice. Holiday created a profoundly influential body of work thatincludedthe seminal performances — God Bless the Child, Lady Sings the Blues, Strange Fruit, and Lover Man — that have become essential to the American songbook.
Although Holiday never had any professional music training or read music, her natural talent propelled her career forward as she performed at various clubs. From 1952 to 1959, Holiday recorded about 100 recordings on the Verve label. She made her final studio recording for the MGM label in March of 1959. Despite her successes, Holiday lived a tortured life, and sang her way through abusive marriages, drug addiction and depression. After years of drinking and heroin addiction, Holiday died on July 17, 1959 in Metropolitan Hospital in New York at the age of 44 of congestion of the lungs complicated by heart failure.
Clara Ward (1924–1973)
Widely acclaimed among the greatest soloists in gospel history, Clara Ward was also the subject of much criticism from purists – with her backing group the Ward Singers, she pushed gospel out of the church into the nightclubs, infusing the music with a shot of glitz and glamour the likes of which had never before been seen. Decked in colorful gowns, towering wigs and dazzling jewelry, the Wards sang only the biggest pop-gospel hits, flamboyantly delivered for maximum commercial appeal; while many observers decried their clownish onstage behavior as demeaning not only to the music but also to their African-American heritage. At their creative peak, the group was a true phenomenon, combining superb soloists, exceptional material and innovative arrangements to leave an indelible mark on the generations of spiritual performers who followed.
While her gorgeous alto was the centerpiece of hits like How I Got Over, arguably Ward’s greatest strength was as an arranger. Surely, the group’s biggest hit,even introduced a new waltz rhythm into the gospel lexicon. Ward’s declining health forced her into retirement in the late 1960s. She died January 16, 1973. (reference: Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide, allmusic.com) John Coltrane (1926-1967)
Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was among the most important and controversial figures in jazz. In 1943, when he graduated from high school, he headed north, settling in Philadelphia where he was hired by Miles Davis in 1955. His association with Davis was the big break that finally established him as a major jazz musician.
In the wake of the commercial success of My Favorite Things, Coltrane’s star rose; his playing was frequently in a style alternately dubbed “avant-garde,” “free,” or “The New Thing.” 1966 saw the release of the albums KuluSe Mama and Meditations;Coltrane’s last recordings to appear during his lifetime, though he had finished and approved release for his next album, Expression, the Friday before his death in July 1967. He had left behind a considerable body of unreleased work and recordings that continue to remain available and to be reissued frequently. (reference: William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide, allmusic.com)
Nina Simone (1933-2003)
Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to classify. She recorded extensively in the soul, jazz, and pop idioms, often in the same album; she was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway. Raised in a family of eight children, she originally harbored hopes of becoming a classical pianist, studying at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School of Music ̶ a rare position for an African-American woman in the 1950s. After her New York studies, Simone and her family moved to Philadelphia. Needing to support herself while she studied, she generated income by working as an accompanist and giving piano lessons.
Auditioning for a job as a pianist in an Atlantic City nightclub, she was told she had the spot if she would sing as well as play. Almost by accident, she began to carve a reputation as a singer of secular material, playing in Philadelphia and Atlantic City clubs, though her skills at the piano would serve her well throughout her career. Like many African-American entertainers of the mid-’60s, Simone was deeply affected by the Civil Rights Movement and burgeoning Black Pride. Simone fell on turbulent times in the 1970s, then had an unpredicted resurgence in 1987, when an early track, My Baby Just Cares for Me, became a big British hit after being used in a Chanel perfume television commercial. She published her biography, I Put a Spell on You, in 1991, but grew increasingly frail throughout the late ’90s and had to be helped on to the stage during a 2001 Carnegie Hall performance. Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003 at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, France, where she had been spending much of her retirement. (reference: Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide)
Grover Washington, Jr. (1943-1999)
One of the most popular saxophonists of all time (even his off records had impressive sales), Grover Washington, Jr. was long the pacesetter in his field. His roots were in r&b and soul-jazz organ combos, but he also fared very well on the infrequent occasions when he played straight-ahead jazz. A highly influential player, Washington was sometimes blamed for the faults of his followers, e.g., Kenny G., who largely based his soprano sound on Washington’stone. However, most of the time (except when relying on long-hit medleys), Washington pushed himself with the spontaneity and chance-taking of a masterful jazz musician. He moved to Philadelphia in 1967, becoming closely identified with the city from then on, and worked with several organists, including Charles Earland and Johnny Hammond Smith, recording as a sideman for the Prestige label. His biggest break occurred in 1971, when Hank Crawford could not make it to a recording date; Washington was picked as his replacement, and the result was InnerCity Blues, a big seller. From then on, he became a major name, particularly after recording 1975’s Mister Magic and 1980’s Winelight; the latter included the Bill Withers hit Just the Two of Us.
He died of a sudden heart attack on December 17, 1999 while taping an appearance on CBS television’s TheSaturday Early Show. Washington was 56. (reference: Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)
