In Memory of Betty Davis, a Funk . Futuristic Force

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The three Betty Davis albums released in the 1970s – 1973’s “Betty Davis”, 1974’s “They Say I’m Different” and 1975’s “Nasty Gal” – weren’t huge commercial successes, but they were statements. insightful statement about interesting futurism.

Davis, who passed away this month at the age of 77, was much ahead of her time, a black woman who discovered the connection between blues vocals and funk rhythms creating music that began only a few years ago. years – or indeed, a decade or two – later. She was married to Miles Davis, and pushed him toward the hallucinations he explored on “Bitches Brew” and beyond. And her heirs range from Rick James and Prince to Joi and Janelle Monáe.

On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Davis’s unique music, the forces that conspired to make her career so short, and the path to her rediscovery.

Guest:

• Jon Pareles, chief pop critic of The New York Times

• Maureen Mahon, NYU associate professor of music and author of “Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll”

• Oliver Wang, professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and author of the notepad re-release of Betty Davis’ first three albums in the late 2000s

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