100 Best Songs By Black Composers

Ebony, June, 2001

WITHOUT them, there would be no Broadway, no Grammy, no jazz, no rock n' roll--no American music. The blues of America, the gospel of America, the jazz of America, the rock and roll and rap of America are all rooted in the rhythm and blues of African-American singers who came here in chains, bringing with them, W. E. B. DuBois said, "the gift of ... song--soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land."

In remembrance of The Gift, which has never been adequately recognized or paid for, we asked editors and experts to help us compile a tentative list of the 100 Best Songs by Black composers in the 20th century,* listed in chronological order. We define a song as a melody or song-like composition that can be sung, hummed, whistled and stored in the memory for recall, and we call attention to musical depth and originality in conception in major musical moments that attracted attention across all boundaries and that survived and are still in the musical memory.

To no one's surprise, Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington, the greatest of all American composers, is cited for the largest number of compositions (7), followed by Stevie Wonder with four. Five composers are cited for three works: Billy Strayhorn, Thomas Dorsey, W. Herbert Brewster, Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson. Ten women composers are listed, and one, Valerie Simpson of the Ashford-Simpson team, is cited twice.

This is, as we emphasized earlier, a tentative list, for we are still too close to the '80s and '90s and the new generation for proper perspective. One could, moreover, name 200 or even 300 additional songs, for we are dealing here with a bottomless Black well that has repeatedly fertilized modern music (the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Twist) and never seems to run dry. And we invite our readers to celebrate Black Music Month by sharing their list of songs by Black composers that still sing in their souls.

DR. UZEE BROWN Composer and Chairman, Department of Music, Morehouse College

Among his favorites ore:

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS Howard Swanson

MINSTREL MAN Margaret Bonds

SENCE YOU WENT AWAY Leslie Adams

GOD IS A GOD Wendell Whalum

SOLILOQUY John W. Work Jr.

THIS RIVER Uzee Brown Jr.

SONG WITHOUT WORDS Charles Brown

LOVE, LET THE WIND CRY Undine Smith Moore

IMMORTALITY Willis Laurence James

GRIEF William Grant Still

LOVELY DARK AND LONELY ONE Harry T. Burleigh

VELVET SHOES Hale Smith

DR. SAMUEL A. FLOYD JR. Director, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago

Dr. Floyd was asked to concentrate on strong entries in the "classical" category:

FOR YOU THERE IS NO SONG Leslie Adams

MINSTREL MAN Margaret Bonds

SONG WITHOUT WORDS Charles Brown

SWING ALONG Will Marion Cook

RED, RED, ROSE Will Marion Cook

THE CHARLESTON James P. Johnson

HELL HOUND ON MY TRAIL Robert Johnson

NIGHT Florence Price

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS Howard Swanson

DANCING IN THE SUN John W. Work Jr.

PHYL GARLAND Music Critic and Professor, Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism

Among her favorites are:

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING J. Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson

ST. LOUIS BLUES W.C. Handy

BACK WATER BLUES Bessie Smith

PRECIOUS LORD Thomas Dorsey

MEMORIES OF YOU Eubie Blake

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' Thomas Wright (Fats) Waller/Andy Razaf

SOPHISTICATED LADY Duke Ellington

LUSH LIFE Billy Strayhorn

RESPECT Otis Redding, as arranged and performed by Aretha Franklin

YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE Stevie Wonder