the ecstatic impulse
Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, 1940-
“You’ve Got To Have Freedom” (P. Sanders)
Take 1: Live (with William Henderson, piano; James Leary, bass; Kharon Harrison, drums), Los Angeles, 2011
***
Take 2: Live (with John Hicks, piano; Walter Booker, bass; Idris Muhammad, drums), Los Angeles, 1981 (Live [Evidence])
More? Here.
Jazz, R&B, gospel—listening to him you’re reminded, again, that they all come from the same place.
passings
Whitney Houston, singer, August 9, 1963-February 11, 2012
What takes your breath away isn’t the way she pulls out all the stops—lots of singers do that. It’s how she pulls back (2:00-2:35, 3:00-3:20, etc.).
“A Quiet Place,” TV show (with mother Cissy Houston looking on), 1980s
***
As a girl she sang at her family’s church.
New Hope Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey, 1970s
(First clip originally posted 7/25/10, second 1/18/12.)
one of my desert-island singers
Dorothy Love Coates (1928-2002) & the Gospel Harmonettes
“I Won’t Let Go” (AKA “I’m Just Holding On”), live
More?
And here.
**********
lagniappe
Here’s the original recording (Specialty, 1950s).
*****
Were gospel to be more publicly acclaimed, she [Dorothy Love Coates] might have the stature of a Billie Holiday or a Judy Garland. Instead, for thousands of black people, she is the message carrier.
—Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times (6th ed. 2002)
***
[I]t was obvious that Keith [Richards] and Gram [Parsons] enjoyed spending time together. . . . [W]e just all cared deeply about the same things. We just loved, for instance, to sit and listen to Dorothy Love Coates, the gospel singer.
(Quotes originally posted 3/28/10.)
When the groove’s this strong, I don’t ever want it to end.
Give me another take.
And another.
Another.
Black Dub (Brian Blade, drums; Trixie Whitley, drums, vocals; Daniel Lanois, guitar, vocals; Jim Wilson, bass, vocals), “Last Time”
1: Santa Monica, 2/16/11
***
2: Philadelphia, 11/18/10
***
3: Vancouver, 2/2/11
***
4: Hamburg, 7/21/11
With voices like these who needs microphones?
Davis Sisters, “On the Right Road,” live (TV Broadcast), c. 1964
**********
lagniappe
my back pages
Thirty-five years ago tonight—how could I possibly begin a sentence “thirty-five years ago tonight” and be referring to something that happened when I was, at least nominally, an adult? Well, this actually happened that night so I guess it must be possible. On that cold, clear January night, at a small church thirty miles north of Chicago, Suzanne and I were married. Yes, there was music. Tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and pianist John Young (now gone) played before and after the ceremony. The processional was Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” played by Von alone. What did all this sound like? Thanks to my friend (and ace recording engineer) James C. Moore, these sounds can be heard, thirty-five years later, here (M4A—give it a few seconds).
gospel longa, politics brevis
These folks were singing long before Mitt, Newt, et al. hit town. And they’ll be singing long after they’re gone.
“If I Die Before I Wake,” Mt. Do-Well Baptist Church, McConnells, S.C.
Led by Brown’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Chester, S.C.
Let’s head back to Newark, to the church we visited last Sunday, this time to hear one of Dionne’s cousins, back when she was a young girl.
Whitney Houston, New Hope Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey, 1970s
*****
what takes your breath away
It’s not the way she pulls out all the stops—lots of singers do that.
It’s how she pulls back (2:00-2:35, 3:00-3:20, etc.).
Whitney Houston, with mother Cissy Houston (Ann Drinkard Moss’s sister, Dionne Warwick’s aunt) nearby, “A Quiet Place,” TV broadcast
(Second clip originally posted 7/25/10.)
Dionne goes to church.
Dionne Warwick, “Up Where We Belong,” live, c. 1985
New Hope Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey
Ann Drinkard Moss (Dionne’s aunt), Choir Director
**********
lagniappe
art beat
Helen Frankenthaler, December 12, 1928-December 27, 2011
Mountains and Sea (1952)
Let’s go to church.
Solomon Burke, “Silent Night” (Savoy, 1982)
music clip of the day 