UPDATED THURSDAY, FEB. 27 AT 9:25 P.M. - The Black Rock 201 concert has been postponed due to illness. It will be rescheduled for April 5th.
A Lansing musician is moving forward with a project to give Black artists the credit they deserve in the world of rock music.
Benjamin Hall was listening to the background music playing at his office job one day, when Prince’s Purple Rain came on. That’s when it hit him: here was one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time, being played by an all-time great guitar player, but Purple Rain wasn’t getting played by classic rock stations.
“As Americans, most of us believe that the Black contribution of rock and roll started with Chuck Berry and ended with Jimi Hendrix," Hall explained. "I felt it was my duty to educate people and to let them know that it started way before Chuck Berry, and it’s still going on.”
Hall, the leader of the Lansing band Fat Boy and Jive Turkey, then formed a supergroup of local Black musicians called the Black Rock Sextet for a program called Black Rock 101 a couple of years ago.
The band went on to perform the show three more times. The program included a version of Hound Dog, the Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton song later covered by Elvis Presley. They also dipped into the catalogues of other Black rock artists, including Jimi Hendrix and Lenny Kravitz.
If you think of Black Rock 101 as being a freshman-level class, it’s now time for Black Rock 201, a sophomore-level examination of Black culture and rock and roll.
The performances will range from jump blues to Motown to reggae and grunge. The band will cover music from performers like Smokey Robinson, Buddy Miles, Bob Marley and even Childish Gambino.
The first time he put on Black Rock 101, Hall didn’t know it would become a series, so he packed in as much in as he could.
The concert included songs from Fats Domino and the Black Pumas. Now, he wants to highlight lesser-known acts, like the punk band Bam Bam. They were fronted by a Black female vocalist, Tina Bell.
“They are considered by Seattle, Washington standards as one of the quintessential punk bands that led to alternative rock, but nobody knows about them, and a lot of that might be just because of who their lead singer was.”
The Black Rock Sextet is comprised of Hall on vocals, guitarist Bill Malone, bassist Eric Hamilton, drummer Clarence “Boonie” Dottery, singer and keyboardist Alan Sloan, and one white member, Jon Gewirtz on saxophone. Their resumes include local favorite groups like Global Village and Mixed Flavors.
Getting the group and the planned set list together has been a big challenge.
“There’s plenty of music. It’s just getting it together and learning all that new material, because essentially, it’s like, the average band, they spend probably six months putting their material together for a gig," he said. "We’re taking a month and learning a whole set worth of material for one gig.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has begun embracing rap and hip hop in recent years, inducting acts like Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur. Some observers complain that they don’t belong.
But Hall plans to challenge that criticism by including some choices for Black Rock 201 that might not fit the conventional thinking of what rock music is.
"There’s stuff that we’re going to play that people will say ‘that’s not rock and roll’, but I’d like to think that if it was covered by a white band, it would be considered rock and roll.”
For now, there’s only one scheduled performance of this program, but Hall hopes there will be other bookings. He’s also already thinking about that junior level class of Black Rock 301 someday. There might even be a senior thesis Black Rock 401 down the road.
Hall is 50 now, and he wants to do it while he still can.
“Father Time is ticking away,” he concluded. “So, I’m trying to do as much cool stuff as I can, while I still can.”
Like The Chambers Brothers, a Black rock band in the ‘60s, sang, the Time Has Come Today for Ben Hall and the Black Rock Sextet.
The sextet’s Black Rock 201 show falls on the last day of Black History Month, Friday night from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Green Door Blues Bar and Grill in Lansing. It’s a ticketed event.
