''Black Music'' (''Black Music & Jazz Review'' from April 1978) was a pioneering British music magazine, published monthly. The first issue, edited by Alan Lewis, came out in December 1973 and the last in April 1984.''Black Music'' magazine front covers.
dancecrasher.co.uk, 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2014. It was the first publication in the United Kingdom to write about reggae as a serious cultural phenomenon and also the first to cover African music.Erica Joyner
"Little Known Black History Fact: Black Music Magazine"
''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', 25 June 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2014. Under the 1978–1984 editorship of Chris May, who succeeded, in chronological order, Alan Lewis, Tony Cummings and Geoff Brown, the magazine championed hip hop,

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Two Tone Two-tone or 2 tone is a genre of British popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional Jamaican ska music with elements of punk rock and new wave music. Its name derives from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in ...

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

and

electro music Electro (or electro- funk)Rap meets ...

in the face of hostility from British black music's, at the time, socially reactionary and still mostly white-controlled power structure, and published writing by black creatives whose work had an explicitly political dimension (notably including

Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His ...

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the p ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, a ...

Michael Thelwell Ekwueme Michael Thelwell (born Michael Miles Thelwell; 25 July 1939) is a Jamaican novelist, essayist, professor and civil rights activist. He was in 1970 founding chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massach ...

Gil Scott Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jacks ...

Thomas Mapfumo Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo (born July 3, 1945) is a musician nicknamed "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" (the praise name of his clan in the Shona language) for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his mu ...

and

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

). Under May's editorship, the magazine also maintained extensive coverage of

African music Given the vastness of the African continent, its music is diverse, with regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres amapiano, Jùjú, Fuji, Afrobeat, Highlife, Makossa, Kizomba, and others. The ...

, which May had introduced as a freelance contributor in the mid 1970s with his Afroheat column. In April 1984, Chris May left the magazine to head up the UK office of Celluloid Records. Following his departure, the title ''Black Music & Jazz Review'' (though not the editorial perspective) was absorbed by sister magazine ''

Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...

'' and ceased to exist other than as a small-print add-on to the BS masthead.

References

External links

''Black Music'' incomplete article list.Carl Gayle talking about Reggae on the ''London Weekend Show'', 1977
YouTube video

reggae-vibes.com
"Oh, What A Rat Race by Carl Gayle (Black Music, 1976)"
at Midnight Raver, 29 June 2014
"Wailers and the New Reggae by Carl Gayle (MOJO, July 1973)"
Midnight Raver, 23 December 2012

Six-page report by Carl Gayle from ''Black Music'', July 1974, Vol. 1, No. 8. Avant-garde magazines Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Hip hop magazines Jazz magazines Magazines established in 1973 Magazines disestablished in 1984 Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Works about reggae Works about soul {{music-mag-stub