Black American music worth celebrating

Black History Month is ending, and I couldn’t let the brief 28 days slip by without commemorating it in some way.

You don’t need a special time designated to explore the richness of black popular music (or black history, for that matter). But since this is the official month, I’d like to share my personal picks of what I consider to be among the best in black American music.

John Coltrane, “A Love Supreme”: One of the monumental albums in American music, period. It was released in 1964, three years before the jazz giant died. The intensity of the music, the depth of emotion expressed is almost overwhelming upon first listen.

At least it was for me. I was in my freshman year of college when I bought “A Love Supreme,” completely unaware of its revered status among jazz, rock and pop fans. I dug the title; the CD was on sale. So I bought it. And I’m glad I did. This record expanded my spirit in such a way, I haven’t been the same since. It’s like a glorious, enlightening sermon without words.

Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue”: What else can be said about this superlative album that hasn’t already been said since it appeared in 1959? If you call yourself a real jazz lover, then you should already own this CD and know it backward and forward.

I bought this album the same year I bought “A Love Supreme.” (Again, I was ignorant of its legacy. I dug the title. It was on sale.) That year (1996) was one of many personal ups and downs. Music was my balm during many dark hours. And Miles’ Kind of Blue was a sure soul comforter. It’s also great company during my more reflective moments. Go get it already.

Minnie Riperton, “Adventures in Paradise”: There was much more to the singer’s short musical legacy than the syrupy 1974 smash “Lovin’ You.” On this 1975 LP, whose biggest hit was the erotic “Inside My Love,” the Chicago native, backed by members of the Crusaders, offered a mature, jazz-inflected suite of songs that luminously explored her different sides.

There was the sexual Minnie (the aforementioned hit and “Baby, This Love I Have”), the playful (“Simple Things” and “Love and Its Glory”) and the philosophical (“Feelin’ That Your Feelin’s Right” and “Don’t Let Anyone Bring You Down”).

Four years after the album reached the Top 5 on the soul charts, the singer-songwriter died of breast cancer. She was 31. Widely available as an import, “Adventures in Paradise” sported a memorable cover with a regal-looking Minnie seated next to a lion.

Curtis Mayfield, “Curtis”: The soul man left the Impressions and launched his celebrated solo career with this gold-selling, socially conscious masterpiece. Released in 1970, months before Marvin Gaye dropped “What’s Going On,” the singer-songwriter-producer tackled in finely detailed songs many issues plaguing the country at the time: religious fanaticism, stifling poverty, political corruption, warped media images. (Well, well. Sound familiar?)

Aretha Franklin, “Spirit in the Dark”: This 1970 album is seldom listed as one of the most essential in her Atlantic catalog. But I can’t imagine a complete Aretha collection without it.

At the time she recorded the set, the legend was 28 years old, and a new age was dawning in her life. She had divorced her overbearing husband and manager, Ted White. She had fallen in love with photographer Ken Cunningham and had given birth to their son.

Musically, Aretha wrote more experimental, esoteric tunes, like the hit title track. Her self-penned numbers here – the bluesy “One Way Ticket” and the odd, gospel-touched “Pullin”’ – are among some of the best recordings Aretha ever waxed.

Donny Hathaway, “Extensions of a Man”: There must have been something in the air in the 1970s, something that moved black musicians to create ambitiously introspective music. And Donny must have caught it.

This 1973 album is his best and features his heartbreaking rendition of “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” and the soaring “Someday We’ll All Be Free.”

Known primarily to the pop world for his amiable duets with Roberta Flack, Donny, a gifted singer-songwriter-arranger, is slowly getting his due these days – thanks in part to the folks at Rhino Records. And his daughter Lalah, a fairly popular singer in her own right, always includes a Donny tune in her shows.

“Extensions,” the artist’s most personal album and his last solo release before his death in 1979, is a warm pool of various styles: easy listening, jazz fusion, a little Tin Pan Alley. But everything the man touched was strongly rooted in black gospel, steeped in holy feeling.

Valerie Simpson, “The Collection”: You probably had no idea that Valerie Simpson, the other half of the legendary husband-and-wife duo Ashford &Simpson, released two shimmering solo albums in the early ’70s: “Exposed” in ‘71 and “Valerie Simpson” in ‘72. But Motown, her label at the time, did nothing with them and the records fell into obscurity. Out of print for 30 years, the two solo albums are finally on CD in “The Collection.”

After taking in such wonderful gospel-pop numbers as “Sinner Man” and “There Is a God,” the Laura Nyro-like “I Don’t Need No Help” and the testifying “Can’t It Wait Until Tomorrow,” you wonder if Valerie would have been a bigger star on her own had Motown really gotten behind these awesome records.