Tonight, I was watching the Prairie Public PBS television station that we get here in Dickinson, North Dakota, when I happened upon a surprisingly good documentary titled, “Deep City: The Birth of the Miami Sound”.

I had not known, that besides the Black music recording industry in Detroit and Los Angeles during the 1960s, there was a totally separate and independent Black music scene in south Florida, in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale area.

In Miami, this Black soul music incorporated not only blues, jazz, and gospel influences, but also Caribbean sentiments from the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, to create what came to be known in the 1960s, as the Miami sound.

The record label, Deep City, had two of the most remembered artists from this time, Helene Smith and Betty Wright.  Here are some excerpts from this PBS documentary:

” “Deep City: The Birth of the Miami Sound” tells the story of how two musical geniuses created the first black-owned record label in Florida. They changed the face of soul music in Miami and eventually the country forever…

Deep City Records was the brainchild of producers Willie Clarke and Johnny Pearsall. One from the backwoods of Tallahassee, Florida, the other from the mean streets of Miami, this duo honed business and music skills they had learned at Florida A&M University. With its unique blend of Caribbean rhythms and marching-band cadences, this label was churning out the best soul music south of the Mason Dixon Line, creating what would later be termed the “Miami Sound.” “

Here is the link to this PBS documentary:

https://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365802656/