Black Music Sunday: Prepping for Halloween
Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things black music, with more than 280 stories covering artists, genres, history and more, each featuring their own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
As we approach Halloween next Saturday, it’s time to get our spooky music playlists in order and there are plenty of tracks in every genre from jazz to blues, R&B and reggae that are about spooky and spooky things!
It’s become a tradition here at Black Music Sunday that I do a post about Halloween. In case you missed them, check out the stories and music of 2021, 2022, 2023And 2024.
Readers of these stories have contributed a lot of music that I didn’t cover in the comments sections (thanks!) and I’ll feature some of it in today’s post.
In the jazz genre, one of my all-time favorites was performed by Nina Simone, which was first recorded by Jay Hawkins screaming.
“I cast a spell on you”:
The vocal jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross playing “Halloween Spooks” is something I play every year:
In the jazz instrumentalist genre, Joshua Redman recorded a haunting “Ghost”:
This ghostly instrument appeared on Joshua Redman’s 2009 trio album. Compass. His sax playing is really strange; meanwhile, Larry Grenadier’s bassline seems to slink through the darkness and Brian Blade’s sparse percussion sounds like creaking boards and suddenly slammed doors.
In a scarier sense, the late, great Louis Armstrong’s scene from the 1936 film “Pennies from Heaven” is a classic. Ricky Riccardi, on dippermouth.blogspot writing:
Armstrong gets a musical number for himself in the film and it’s a great piece. “The Skeleton in the Closet” was written by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke, the same two men wrote the rest of the Pennies from heaven score. Filmed in California, Armstrong was seen leading a contingent of some of the West Coast’s finest jazz players, including trumpeter (and Armstrong disciple) Teddy Buckner, saxophonist Caughey Roberts, future Nat Cole bassist Wesley Prince and, as already reported, the big reunion of Armstrong and Lionel Hampton.
Moving on to the blues, Bessie Smith took us to a haunted house with his “Haunted House Blues”:
In the reggae vein, Ziggy Marley share a good opinion of felines in his song “Black Cat”»:
Black cat, come visit me, I don’t care what people say
I saw your hazel eyes, sparkling in the moonlight
Black cat, one day things will change, I will erase your bad reputation
my friend tells me you’re no good, and I say hey, I’m not afraid
Black cat you are beautiful, why does everyone run away
did anyone tell you, i care
Did someone tell you, I love you
In the world of R&B, two songs stand out to me:Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” of course, and Stevie Wonder’s “superstition”. But I prefer to play Stevie’s “Skeletons” and continue with Jackson’s mini-movie, “Ghosts”.
Philadelphia soul singers Blue magic contributed to “Born on Halloween”:
Queen Bey Beyoncé Knowles-Carter‘s “Ghost” and “Haunted,” released in 2013, aren’t typically associated with Halloween, but “Haunted” seems to fit into that exploration:
Since Halloween is all about ghosts and goblins, we can all participate Ray Parker Jr. and proclaiming “I’m not afraid of any ghost” from 1984’s “Ghostbusters.”
In the hip hop vein, I will end with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Prince of Freshness singing their 1984 hit “A Nightmare on My Street”:
Join me in the comments section below where I hope you’ll post your favorite spooky bits.
