How Black Music Took Over the World

The intricate rhythms and protean harmonies of Africa lie at the heart of most modern music, according to this exuberant debut study. Composer and bassist Gibbs reflects on the evolution and recombination of African-derived music, centering his own recollections of the multicultural ferment of New York’s music scene from the 1970s onward and his career playing in jazz, blues, and electronica groups. Explicating complex rhythms with ingenious clock diagrams, the author charts the infusion of Black-originated blues harmonies and scales into country music, and unpacks the ways classic African elements like dual rhythmic structures gave funk and dance music “their body-moving power.” He also explores how Black communities and culture have adapted musical styles to slavery and Jim Crow, noting that the Gullah-Geechee community of South Carolina’s Sea Islands, who were banned from using drums or horns after the 1739 Stono slave revolt, developed a unique foot-stomping, hand-slapping “ring shout” style that influenced many corners of American music, including the 1920s Charleston dance craze. Gibbs combines erudite and rigorous musicology with an entertaining, loose-limbed picaresque of a working musician’s life, writing in supple prose that hymns “the floating grace of Jimi Hendrix’s music and the menacing lurch of Black Sabbath.” The result is a stimulating take on the complexities and influence of a rich and multifaceted musical tradition. (Apr.)