Gospel 101

Jubilation!

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Jubilation!

Volume One: Black Gospel

Rhino / WEA

ASIN: B0000032DW

I’m sure that many of you have experienced the joy of introducing your friends and family to the blues. Even if they are already familiar with more well-known blues artists (B.B. King, Stevie Ray, etc.) there is that thrill that comes from sending them some Magic Sam or Jimmy Reed and getting an email later that day telling you how much they enjoyed it, and where can they find more?

I feel the same way about gospel, receiving the comments following the articles whether it’s someone thanking me, or even presenting a different point of view, always makes my day. So now, it’s my obligation to give you a starting point for discovering the classics, the great quartets, the soloists, and even the modern choirs.

Jubilation! Volumes One and Two

There is a three-CD series on Rhino records entitled Jubilation! Volumes One and Two focus on black gospel and Volume Three (another column for another time) focuses more on southern (white) gospel styles. Although they are all technically out-of-print, with a little searching you can usually find them. (Hint: There are several used copies available at Amazon).

Even if you have to shell out a few bucks, trust me, it’s worth it, I know of no more carefully chosen and sequenced collection available. I actually mentioned it in an article a few years back in BluesWax, and it has stood the test of time.

What makes it so special?

Volume One: Black Gospel

Describing music, especially a specific genre is frustrating if the reader has no point of reference. When I am comparing the difference between “Jubilee” style gospel and the later quartet style, you really need to hear the difference. In Volume One, you get the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, also known as “the Mills Brothers of Gospel,” singing their signature song “Golden Gate Gospel Train,” followed by R.H. Harris and the Soul Stirrers with their rendition of “By and By” Parts One and Two. You’ll find no more perfect examples of the respective styles, and when you listen to them side by side the difference becomes obvious.

The quartet style doesn’t end there, “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” by The Swan Silvertones (mentioned in a previous article) is here. The Dixie Hummingbirds check in with “Christian Automobile,” a song comparing one’s faith to a smooth-running car. (Interestingly enough, this song was recorded during the same time period that car songs, like “Rocket 88,” “No Particular Place To Go,” and “Crazy ‘Bout An Automobile,” were tearing up the secular charts).

Along with these, are several others, all five-star classics of the group style.

Although I haven’t discussed it as much, the development of gospel blues also gave rise to gospel choirs, and such musical pioneers as James Cleveland. These choirs, beginning in the mid 1970s and ’80s would eventually would overtake the quartets in popularity, and this collection features the song that brought choirs to the attention of the world outside of gospel.

The song is “Oh Happy Day” by The Edwin Hawkins Singers. Recorded live in a California church, it came out of nowhere in 1969 and soared to #4 on the Billboard pop charts. It received airplay alongside “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” and many credit it with being one of the first songs to usher in the style known as “Contemporary Christian Music.”

The album ends with Shirley Ceaser‘s ‘No Charge,” a song that has become the national anthem of Mother’s Day services in black churches across the country.

Jubilation!

Volume Two: More Black Gospel

Rhino / WEA

ASIN: B0000032DY

Volume Two: More Black Gospel

Volume Two continues on with the same formula, and it works just as well. On this collection we get Archie Brownlee and The Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi and their apocalyptic version of “Our Father,” a huge crossover hit in the fifties, as well as ‘Burying Ground” by Julius Cheeks and The Sensational Nightingales. Every word I have written, singing their praises in past columns is pretty well summed up by these two songs alone. On both cuts, you’ll actually hear the vocal tracks distort on the last verse of each song, the sheer intensity of their voices overpowering the recording technology of the 1950s. Amazing.

Although the quartet style was dominated by male groups, there were several outstanding women’s’ groups as well. Two of my favorites, The Caravans and Dorothy Love Coates and The Original Gospel Harmonettes turn in unforgettable performances.

The really outstanding feature of both Volumes One and Two is that they both include songs that were “outside the box” for their time. On Volume One, it’s “Oh Happy Day,” on Volume Two, its’ “Rough Side Of The Mountain” by Rev. F.C.Barnes and Rev. Janice Brown. This song, recorded by a duo from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1983, is the epitome of everything that is great about gospel music. There is absolute genius in its musical simplicity and message; hear it one time and you will never forget it. “Rough Side…” contains one of the most memorable refrains, or “hooks,” ever recorded, in any style of music. (A good blues comparison might be ”Got My Mojo Working”). I saw them in Raleigh around 1987 and they sung the refrain with the entire audience singing along, no less than twenty times.

For once, not only is the music as good as it gets, but the well written liner notes fill in much needed information for the listener.

I know that these albums will only make you want to listen to more of this great music, and they’ll serve as a great way to help you decide what appeals to you and what you’d like to listen to more of in the future. I have worn out two copies of each of them, and they both rank in my top twenty favorite albums of all time.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano.