This, to me, is church: voices coming at you from all directions; your own voice dissolving in a sea of sounds.
“I Don’t Mind,” live, St. Luke Baptist Church, Sharon, South Carolina, 2003
Vodpod videos no longer available.Want more? Here.
Music has always been like medicine to me.
—Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville (with Allen Toussaint, piano), “I Know I’ve Been Changed” (excerpt), “I Done Made Up My Mind” (excerpt), 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.Friends and fans of Aretha Franklin offered prayers and good wishes after learning that the Queen of Soul, one of Detroit’s beloved musical artists, is suffering from pancreatic cancer.
A world without Aretha?
Impossible.
Aretha Franklin, “Oh It Is Jesus,” “Old Landmark,” live, featuring Rev. Cecil Franklin (brother) & Erma Franklin (sister), Detroit, 1985 (TV broadcast 1986)
Vodpod videos no longer available.If one sign of a great performance is that the moment it ends you want to hear it again, this one delivers—I just listened to it three times (may go back for three more).
Spencer Taylor & The Highway Q.C.’s, “I’ve Got Shoes,” live
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
radio
WGN Radio continues its celebration of the life of Ron Santo today, rebroadcasting one of “Ron’s Greatest Games” (Carlos Zambrano’s 9/14/08 no-hitter) at 2 p.m. (CST), with other special programs before and after.
With voices like these you don’t need instruments.
“Father, I Stretch My Hands To Thee,” live, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Chester, South Carolina, 10/08
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lagniappe
In African American Churches in certain parts of the South Eastern United States, there still exists a style of music that pre-dates what the Gospel Music industry refers to as “Traditional Gospel Music,” founded by the late Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey. Some congregations refer to the choirs that sing the foundational “old-style” music, made up of middle-aged adults to senior citizens, as Hymn Choirs or Prayer Bands. They continue to have choir anniversaries and Fifth Sunday singings, and are very much favored for Revival services.
These hymns date back as far as 1707, and the spirituals have been passed down by oral tradition over the centuries. This sacred style of music and the traditions associated with it are in danger of disappearing as the singers go on to be with the Lord. As you listen, you may find yourself going back in time — remembering people you haven’t thought about in years. On the other hand, the music and the message may be totally foreign to you — but yet intriguing. Whatever the case, you will definitely be impacted by what you hear.
According to William T. Dargan, Ph.D., Professor of Music at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, the old style a capella “spirituals and hymns are characterized by two and three part modal harmonies, gradual but drastic quickening of tempos, frequent and strong body movements as well as polyrhythmic clapping and stomping patterns.”
“Developed by slaves during the camp meeting revivals of the early nineteenth century, spirituals are rhythmic, call-and-response song forms that continue in oral tradition among African-American congregations. ‘Lining out’ is a method of performing a psalm or hymn in which the leader gives out the words, or the melody, or both, one or two lines at a time, to be followed by the congregation. This practice began in the early seventeenth century by the British Parish Churches as an aid for those who were unable to read.”
ain’t no grave can hold . . .
Johnny Cash, “Ain’t No Grave,” 2003 (recorded), 2010 (released)
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lagniappe
The Johnny Cash Project is a global collective art project, and we would love for you to participate. Through this website, we invite you to share your vision of Johnny Cash, as he lives on in your mind’s eye. Working with a single image as a template, and using a custom drawing tool, you’ll create a unique and personal portrait of Johnny. Your work will then be combined with art from participants around the world, and integrated into a collective whole: a music video for “Ain’t No Grave,” rising from a sea of one-of-a-kind portraits.
Strung together and played in sequence over the song, the portraits will create a moving, ever evolving homage to this beloved musical icon. What’s more, as new people discover and contribute to the project, this living portrait will continue to transform and grow, so it’s virtually never the same video twice.
Ain’t No Grave is Johnny’s final studio recording. The album and its title track deal heavily with themes of mortality, resurrection, and everlasting life. The Johnny Cash Project pays tribute to these themes. Through the love and contributions of the people around the world that Johnny has touched so deeply, he appears once again before us.
The Johnny Cash Project is a visual testament to how the Man in Black lives on—not just through his vast musical legacy, but in the hearts and minds of all of us around the world he has touched with his talent, his passion, and his indomitable spirit. It is this spirit that is the lifeblood of The Johnny Cash Project. Thank you for helping Johnny’s spirit soar once more. God bless.
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reading table
Without trouble, there is no life.
—New Orleans restaurateur Provino Mosca, quoted in Calvin Trillin, U.S. Journal, “No Daily Specials,” New Yorker, 11/22/10
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radio
Happy Birthday, Hawk!
Today, Coleman Hawkins’ (106th) birthday, the folks at WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) are celebrating in their usual way—playing his music all day (and then some [’til 9:30 a.m. tomorrow]).
When I heard Hawk I learned to play ballads.
I don’t know how boys do it these days—grow up, that is, without ever dreaming of being a cowboy.
Sunshine Boys (featuring J.D. Sumner), “We’re Gonna Ride on the Golden Range,” 1951 (Prairie Roundup)
MCOTD’s alter ego has a letter in today’s New York Times Book Review.
To the Editor:
In connection with his review of Stephen Sondheim’s “Finishing the Hat” (“Isn’t It Rich?” Oct. 31), Paul Simon, in the Up Front, says that when he wrote the refrain to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” — “Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down” — he had “no idea where those words and melody came from.” It takes nothing away from Mr. Simon to note that one apparent source of inspiration for this line was the Swan Silvertones’ gospel song “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep,” which was released in 1959. That recording, which features the wonderful Claude Jeter on lead vocals, includes the ad-libbed line “I’ll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name.” Mr. Simon has previously acknowledged this link.
RICHARD MCLEESE
Oak Park, Ill.
The Swan Silvertones, “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” (1959): MP3
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replay: a clip too good for just one day
If influence were compensable, Claude Jeter of the Swan Silvertones—a huge influence on Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Eddie Kendricks (Temptations), Al Green, even Paul Simon (who took inspiration from a line in the Swans’ “hit” “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” [“I’ll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name”] when he wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water”)—would have, when he passed earlier this year at the age of 94, died a wealthy man.
Swan Silvertones, “Only Believe,” live
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lagniappe
When he leaves the house [in NYC], he whistles his favorite tune, ‘What A Friend We Have In Jesus,’ while greeting the assorted neighborhood junkies and prostitutes who knew him mainly as sometime manager of the [Hotel] Cecil. ‘What’s new, Jeter,’ they ask. ‘Nothing new, nothing good, just thank God for life up here with these heathens and muggers.’
—Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times (1971)
(Originally posted on 9/13/09.)
Leon Russell loved these guys so much—both, alas, have since passed—that, in 1974, he recorded them for his Shelter label.
The O’Neal Twins
“Jesus Dropped The Charges,” live
Take 1 (Say Amen, Somebody [1982])
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Take 2
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“It’s A Highway To Heaven,” live (Say Amen, Somebody [1982])
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“Power In The Blood,” live (TV broadcast), mid-1960s
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“He Chose Me,” live
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“He’ll Give You Peace In The Midst Of The Storm,” live, Texas (Dallas), 1981
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lagniappe
In a 2005 interview with the Post-Dispatch, Mr. [Edgar] O’Neal spoke about the early challenges. “We always had bookings and recordings, but when we started, black gospel was not readily accepted with the wide range it is today,” he said. “And the money wasn’t there.”
The O’Neals—with Edgar on piano and both brothers singing—challenged gospel tradition. “The main gospel thrust at the time (was) male quartets, and we were a piano group,” Mr. O’Neal said. “We were considered in a different category from the male singing groups. But then the quartets got into piano. It took some years as we stayed out there before our style took hold.”
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The O’Neal Twins
Fontella Bass
Chuck Berry
Scott Joplin
Little Milton
Clark Terry
Ike & Tina Turner
When it comes to musical history, few cities are as rich as St. Louis.
What was it like to grow up, in the 1950s, in the lonesome state of Oklahoma?
Leon Russell knows.
So does this guy.
J.J. Cale (with Eric Clapton), “After Midnight,” live, Texas (Dallas), 2004
Who supplies the juice here?
It ain’t the guitar god from England.
It’s the grizzled guitar player from the state with the funny shape (:38-1:12, 1:41-44, 2:14-48, 3:36-50, 4:20-44).
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lagniappe
radio
Last week’s Sinner’s Crossroads (10/28/10) features a lot of wonderful music by the late Albertina Walker.
music clip of the day 