Sounds of Blackness Aided by Uncompromising Allies

The team of Jimmy (Jam) Harris and Terry Lewis is one of the hottest producing-composing teams in the record business, with Janet Jackson as their best-known client. So when the duo launched their own label, Perspective Records, you would expect them to start out by recording some sure-fire R&B; or dance artists.

But the debut act on the A&M-distributed; Perspective label is a 40-member vocal ensemble called the Sounds of Blackness that sings a full range of African-American music, including jazz, R&B;, funk, new jack swing, rap, big-band swing and gospel.

As unlikely as their decision was, Harris and Lewis’ hit touch remains intact: The Sounds’ danceable “Optimistic” recently topped the Billboard magazine R&B; singles chart, and the group is appearing on the high-profile Luther Vandross concert tour.

Despite the R&B; success and the range of styles on the album, it’s natural to think of the Sounds of Blackness as a gospel group. After all, the album is called “The Evolution of Gospel,” and it includes such songs as the a cappella spiritual “Gonna Be Free One Day.” Lead vocalist Ann Bennett-Nesby sounds like a reincarnation of an Aretha Franklin from her early ‘60s gospel days.

But Gary Hines, the group’s leader, bristles at the pigeonholing.

“People see 30 or 40 black people singing together and singing some spiritual-oriented music, they right away think ‘gospel,’ ” Hines said. “That’s limiting thinking. We don’t think that way. Gospel is just a fraction of what this group does.”

That’s a mistake people have been making about the Sounds of Blackness for 20 years, ever since Hines started the group in the Minneapolis area as an outgrowth of a choir he had been directing at Macalester College.

The group might still be singing in the Minneapolis area if it weren’t for the Harris-Lewis connection. It all started back in the early ‘80s when the Time--later famous as a funk-rock group from Prince’s stable--was called Flyte Tyme and worked local engagements with Sounds. Two of its members were Harris and Lewis.

Active as background vocalists in the hip Minneapolis recording scene, the Sounds were doing session work for the team on an Alexander O’Neal Christmas album in late 1988 when the producers approached the group about recording an album. After attending a Sounds show in early 1989, an impressed Janet Jackson urged the pair to jump on the project.

“Her input helped them to decide to really do something as quickly as they could,” Hines said.

The “Evolution” album is the Sounds’ first for a major label. Before Harris and Lewis took an interest, the group’s recording prospects were limited, largely because of its unwillingness to compromise its principles.

“They had been offered deals but labels wanted them to change their name to the Sounds of Music or the Sounds of Harmony--anything but Sounds of Blackness,” Harris said.

“When you specify black , that often means that it won’t get much attention in the pop mainstream. Also, gospel labels wanted them for just gospel, but of course they wouldn’t do anything that limiting. But most labels were scared of them because they were too diverse and people weren’t sure how to market such a group.”

This isn’t the easiest group to find material for. The Sounds’ church roots placed some restrictions on the content of the material.

“We couldn’t do sexy songs,” Harris said. “We had to make sure the songs were uplifting. We went for positive, universal messages.”

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