Black Music Month 2009

June is designated as Black Music Month in the States, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the initial event.

Kenny Gamble of the hit making R&B songwriting-production duo of Gamble & Leon Huff encouraged former President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to officially designate June as a time to acknowledge the contributions Blacks musicians have made to the art form.

Ever since then every president has issued a proclamation to commemorate it.

As someone to whom Black music kept a roof over her head, food on the table, put clothes on her back and sent her to college, I have a deep appreciation for my peeps music and the history that is intertwined with it.

My tastes run across the spectrum of R&B from P-funk to jazz, but much of my music collection has a definite 70's-80's-90's slant.

Black music is constantly evolving. It's creative and unafraid to experiment and innovate. We have see it from jazz to gospel to Motown to hip-hop, but at the same time pays tremendous respect to the pioneers on whose giant shoulders it stands.

It is the expressions of a mighty people, and this month we pay homage to it.