06/19/2025
June is Black Music Month!
During Black Music Month, Howard University music professor and seasoned jazz bassist Carroll V. Dashiell Jr. is reflecting on memory, history, and sound, and how enslaved people bent and twisted notes as a means of survival.
Dashiell says that Black music is all about communication, referencing the field holler and how slaves would communicate across fields.
“When they were planning the escape, they would use the bending and twisting of notes. One would recite something, and the rest of the field would respond—we call that call and response,” says Dashiell.
He also discusses Howard University’s rich legacy of African American influence in music.
From jazz legend Benny Golson, to Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, to Richard Smallwood and “Total Praise,” to Michael Bearden, musical director and producer for Michael Jackson, Howard’s music department has produced lots of talent.
Read more about Dashiell’s view on limiting the definition of Black Music Month, his adventures on the road with Ray Charles, and the future of Howard’s music department here https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/roots-are-still-talking-carroll-dashiell-jr-black-music-and-howard-universitys-enduring-voice
