Today we're continuing our series on The Black Church in Detroit, which is produced in partnership with the Ecumenical Theological Seminary and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

So June is Black Music Month, and we're taking a look at the power of music to evoke emotions, connect cultures, and promote mental wellness.

From the spiritual sung by our enslaved ancestors to the pastor's musical cadence while delivering a sermon, African American religious music is extremely powerful.

I spoke with Reverend Larry Simmons of Baber Memorial AME church, and Dr. Brandon Waddles, an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University about the role of music in he black church.

So I wanna start with just a story about my own musical sensibilities.

One of my favorite jazz tunes is "Work Song", and my favorite version of that is the one recorded by Cannonball Adderley.

I just, I listen to it all the time, and of course, it's jazz.

It's a jazz standard in many ways, but I don't know that everybody knows the history of that song, that it is a call to work songs, which were the way that enslaved Africans in this country made the burden of slavery just a little more bearable, right, by singing, coming up with songs to pass the time and survive the brutality of slavery.

And I tell that story to say that so much of our music today comes from that experience, and of course, jazz is one form of that, but gospel's another, and of course they are also tied together.

All of this is along this continuum that has its roots in our history, so I think when we talk about gospel and the power of gospel in the black church, we have to start with the power of song in the period where we were enslaved.

Brandon Waddles, did I get that history right?

- You have it absolutely correct.

How wonderful.

You know, I've had the pleasure of serving as a Music Director for Ledisi for the past five years, and she has been attributing the great Nina Simone, who of course has a very definitive setting up of that same work song.

- That's right.

- And it's so interesting, so powerful to realize that these songs that were birthed out of hard times have now become our uplift.

And it's just a testament to, I just think that the great potential within our community, the great fight that we have within us, that is not only within the negro spirituals of that time, but of African music that inspired it before, before we were even brought over here against our wishes, and that translates into all of Black American music.

That translates into most, to all of American music today, and certainly gospel and jazz are no different from that.

So wonderful, thank you, historian.

- Yeah.

(all laugh) Reverend Simmons, talk about, in your church and other black churches, the role that this music plays now, and how it connects to that history I was talking about.

- Well, you know, I'm so glad that Dr. Waddles, I got to tell you, I knew your dad.

To be in your presence is to be in the presence of music royalty of Detroit.

- Aww.

- For those who don't know, just Google Waddles, that's all you gotta do.

- Right?

(laughs) - And pick one of them.

- Pick one of them, right?

They are, they have been for decades, part of that history.

They created part of that history about which you made reference, Stephen, and it's an honor to be here with you, Brandon, and let me say that music is fundamental to faith.

I'm not gonna take you all the way, you know, into the deep end of this, but you gotta know that the Bible actually says that the sound of God is like a trumpet.

This sense of music is intrinsic.

When in the Bible, in the Old Testament, when the Jewish nation was being divided, God created a special group of people called Levites, Sons of Levi, one of whose primary functions was to bring music to worship.

The Bible's replete with stories of music being used by God to usher in the Holy Spirit before people would begin to prophesy.

If you go all the way to the end of Revelation, in the very first chapter, it says that the sound of God, the voice of God was like mighty waters, like the sound of a trumpet is what John says he heard.

Just understand that we are bringing forward a move of God, which is as old as creation, because the Bible says that God spoke and created the earth, and it is intrinsic to us, and I'm gonna tell you, I can't prove this.

Dr. Waddle's be able to speak to this far better than me, but there's something about African Americans, really the African diaspora.

There's something about us that the music we create, that music reverberates through every culture on the planet.

Now quickly, a quick story.

My son, as you know, Jamal, has worked in the White House, and Jamal tells me a story about walking in Jakarta.

This is how long ago this was, and there are boys walking down the street with their hats turned to the side, with their jeans sagging, reciting Tupac Shakur, who can't even speak English.

- Right, right.

(laughs) The music goes everywhere.

- This power that God has invested in us is huge, and you know, the Bible teaches us the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.

I got another story, I'll tell if we have time, I'll tell it later, but I just want to note that this thing is transcendent, and it can alter mood.

There's research that says it can help plants grow.

Music is just an incredibly powerful medium.

- Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Waddles, talk about how that influence, I guess, moves from Africa to enslavement here, and then into the church through gospel and also of course, meter and tempo, and things that we see from black preachers.

It becomes more than just, as Reverend Simmons is talking about, more than just a part of what we experience.

It is what we experience.

- Absolutely.

Many great points.

First of all, Reverend Simmons, I am deeply heartened.

Thank you so much.

We're so grateful, so this means a lot to be here with you.

This story of translating music and African culture, or the diaspora into the United States begins with our journey over here, and to know that music was the universal language that helped us to communicate when we were speaking Igbo and Yoruba you know, we had so many different dialects and languages.

You have to realize that when we got over here, many of us did not know each other, but to be able to communicate through the music, and then, when you had many of these missionaries who were coming down South to use Christianity, mind you as another enslaving mechanism, mind you that one scripture, "Slaves be good to your masters."

Well, they made a mistake and also told us about Joshua fighting the bit in the battle of Jericho, and Daniel getting out of the lions den, and I tell 'em, they really made a mistake when they talked about Jesus being crucified and dying, but rising up in three days.

That was to us, our story, so we created music from those stories, and we also used some of what we all called the old Watts tunes, you know, Isaac Watts, one of the great hymn writers of the day, and so we formulated that with syncopation and poly rhythm.

We'd already had that.

Probably besides that the other most important aspect of that is that of the Griot, the storyteller, who is important to all the folks tradition, but specifically in African diaspora, the Griot is the community lead.

That means the Griot is the lead singer.

It's the worship.

They're the pastor, you know, so the Griot finds their way in people like Reverend Simmons.

They find their way in figures like, you know, oh my goodness, Steve, the father of African Methodism, you know, and how we come to find Richard Allen, of course, you know, how we come to find our own independent black denomination, shortly, sometime before we are actually free from slavery in a sense, and so this idea of music and pastoring this idea of music and preaching, which is also wonderfully discovered through that documentary series that Gates put on about black gospel music.

They are so well put together, and we have such an amazing history of that in the city of Detroit, you know, with figures like Reverend C.L.

Franklin.

Oh my goodness, you know, the eagle, the nest, and this idea of, you know, the tuning up at the end of the sermon, all of that is so wonderfully enveloped, but we gathered all of those techniques and tactics really for survival purposes.

That was the way that we were able to connect to each other, and we used those stories to be able to tell us how to follow the drinking gourd, go to freedom, you know, "Get on board little children.

There's room for many or more."

That was your meeting, you know, that was your meeting call, and with the spirituals, and then with gospel music, which is the birth child of the spiritual, mind you, we used those, all of these songs in a new time of how shall we say, survival during the Civil Rights Era, right?

They've they now become our protest songs, and so the Invisible Church of Enslaved Africans now translates to figures like Thomas Dorsey and Lucy Campbell, and Mahalia Jackson, and Rosetta Tharpe, you know, the godmother of rock and roll.

You know, I love how all of this music, it does two things.

I believe that the most powerful music of the Black and African diaspora calls to the reality of the situation, but then also says that there is a present hope, you know, for a bright future.

You know, "I may be in this situation, but I ain't gone be in it for too much longer."

Yeah, so it's our form of communication to each other.

I mean, we come from all different backgrounds.

I'm so grateful to be able to be here in Detroit, but I talk to people in LA, and I talk to people on the East Coast, and everybody's able to connect to Miles Davis, and everybody's able to connect to The Clark Sisters, and everybody's able to connect to James Brown.

You know, they all make you feel the same good stuff in deep and dark times, yeah.

- And what's so powerful about that is, by the way, did you know that the Eagle Sermon by Pastor Franklin is still the largest selling gospel recording in history?

- Really?

I did not know it.

- It was as of a year ago.

I'm not sure who would've eclipsed him between last year and the now, but it is amazing that it still lives.

This thing about music is transcendent and like, in James Cleveland, a song that we sang in my church, "May the Lord God Bless You Real Good".

It's a simple song, but it is a song of power, because what it says is that the believer has the capacity to invoke the Lord's, the creator of the universe's blessings upon those to whom they are speaking.

This aspiration of power, "May the Lord God bless you real good," and then closes with, "Send your blessings", turns the attention from the believer to God and says, "Send your blessings", and they're simple lyrics, and everybody can participate, so there's this communal moment when we are all gathered together in this worship of God.

Now, the problem here is that the enemy knows about this power, so you actually see music being used by spirits that oppose the antithesis of God.

I'm gonna tell you this story right quick, I don't know how many of either of you or those who are listening were at the opening of the, I keep saying the train station, Michigan Central, so you've got, you know, people from all over the city, and you got, you know, all of the muckety mucks who are big time and important in the city, Black, white, Hispanic, Arab are there.

So Eminem comes out, and Eminem brings a Eminem concert.

Now, I don't know if you're familiar with Eminem's music, but Eminem language might be considered a little raw, - It's a little (indistinct).

- There's a song which is like an underground anthem in Detroit called "Welcome to Detroit".

sung by Trick Trick.

Trick Trick comes out and sings this song unfiltered.

Now here's what's so phenomenal about the power of music.

First the story is about Eminem calling on Trick Trick to protect him against some guys who gonna beat him up and what they do to these guys, but they call on everybody to lift up their hands and show that they're in Detroit, and you got all of these city muckety mucks with their hands in the air.

(laughs) Music is powerful, powerful.

- Well, I love, in that story, you know, Eminem's a white artist, but he is performing black music, and whether, you know, whether that's complicated or troublesome or not, it's just true.

There isn't another way to describe what he does other than as African music.

- He says it.

- Yeah, right.

- You know, we, we often complain about Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley admitted that his music came from black and specifically from the black church.

- Yes.

- Black church.

They said they could find Elvis in the Memphis churches all the time, and he was, as James Brown was as well.

His dance moves were, in a way, inspired by black preachers getting caught.

- Right?

(laughs) - Yes.

- It's amazing.

You know, I tell this story all the time because I deal with a number of predominantly white choirs that are concerned about singing spirituals, you know, singing spirituals because of the background behind all of it, and I say spirituals are the birthing point of music in America, which they are.

I believe that to be true.

Then I believe all music then I truly believe that that music has to be shared among all of us.

It demands a certain amount of respect that not only we, as descendants of enslaved Africans, but also those that are descendants of the ones that enslaved us have right and a responsibility to that music, and that storyline continues with, you know, Benny Goodman as the King of Swing.

You know, Elvis Presley is the King of Rock and Roll, you know, and these two individuals would've told you, you know, that they were very respecting of their forefathers.

You know, Benny Goodman was just as respectful of Louis Armstrong.

- That's right.

- Elvis was respectful of Little Richard, you know?

Really the issue is the system.

- But lemme tell you this, we are here because God wanted us to lift up the spirituality which is unique to us for the benefit of the rest of the world, - For everybody, yeah, yeah.

You're absolutely right, Doc.

- All right, Dr Waddles, I can't think of a better way to celebrate Black Music Month than the way we just did.

Thanks so much for being here on "American Black Journal".

- Thank you.