Gospel Music Minister of the Week – Remembering Mahalia Jackson
By James Hughes
Queen of the gospel song
Mahalia Jackson was raised in a strict religious environment. Her father’s family included several entertainers, but she was compelled to confine her own musical activities to singing in the church choir. She also listened—secretly—to recordings of Bessie Smith and Ida Cox as well as of Enrico Caruso.At the age of 16, she went to Chicago and joined the Greater Salem Baptist Church choir, where her outstanding contralto voice soon led to her selection as a soloist.“He’s got the whole world in his hands”Jackson first came to wide public attention in the 1930s, when she participated in a cross-country gospel tour singing such songs as “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and “I Can Put My Trust in Jesus.”In 1934 her debut recording, “God Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares,” was a success, leading to a series of other recordings.“Move on Up a Little Higher”
Jackson’s first great hit, “Move on Up a Little Higher,” showed up in 1945; it was especially important for its use of the “vamp,” an indefinitely repeated phrase (or chord pattern) that provides the base for solo improvisation.All the songs with which she was well – known—including “I Believe,” “Just over the Hill,” “When I Wake Up in Glory,” and “Just a Little While to Stay Here”—were gospel songs. They had texts drawn from biblical themes and strongly inspired by the harmonies, rhythms, and emotional force of blues.Jackson declined from singing any but religious songs or indeed to sing at all in surroundings that she regarded as inappropriate.Nevertheless, she sang on the radio and on television and, beginning in 1950, performed to overflow audiences in annual concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Eight of Jackson’s records sold more than one million copies each.“Silent Night”
Mahalia Jackson was enormously famous abroad; her version of “Silent Night,” for instance, was one of the all-time best-selling records in Denmark. She also made a notable appearance at the Newport (Rhode Island) Jazz Festival in 1957—in a program devoted entirely, at her request, to gospel songs.She sang at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in January 1961. In the 1950s and ’60s she actively participated in the civil rights movement; in 1963 she sang the old African American spiritual “I Been ’Buked and I Been Scorned” for a crowd of over 200,000 in Washington, D.C., just before civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.Mahalia Jackson died on January 27, 1972 at the age of 60 yearsWatch “Amazing Grace” by Mahalia JacksonDiscover more from NewsBreakers
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