Today’s Friday find is a 1964 concert from Mahalia Jackson I found while browsing YouTube.
Mahalia Jackson was a voice! The majesty of her voice and her ability to envelope the listener and move them through the song is amazing. Not only did she project while keeping her voice clear, she emoted and transported the listener in every. single. song.
Born in New Orleans on October 26, 1911, Jackson was raised in her Aunt’s household after her mother passed when she was five. In her Aunt’s household, Jackson was only allowed to listen to gospel music and no secular music.
After making the rounds in churches in Chicago, Jackson recorded her first Gospel record in 1948. The song she recorded was “Move On Up A Little Higher” for Apollo records. This record saw groundbreaking success since no gospel song had ever achieved the extent of sales Jackson obtained on the secular side of the music industry with the song. Stores across the nation scrambled to keep up with the demand for Mahalia Jackson’s first and greatest hit. To my untrained ear, “Move On Up A Little Higher” has a bluesy jazz undertone that would’ve fit into the juke joint playlist of the time well, which is why I assume the song probably performed so well in sells.
After this success, Jackson became a worldwide sensation. Storming radio and television, areas that were then off-limits to African American musicians and entertainers, Jackson became not just a vocal sensation, but eventually went on to host a popular CBS radio show In 1954 called the Mahalia Jackson Show. This Sunday night radio show ran for twenty-eight episodes from September 1954 to February 1955.
On the Mahalia Jackson Show, Jackson showcased a singing repertory that ranged from spirituals and gospel numbers to show tunes and sentimental parlor songs. She was backed by the pianist, Mildred Falls; organist, Ralph Jones; and the vocal harmony of the Jack Halloran Quartet.
According to scholar Mark Buford in the book, Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field, “The [Mahalia Jackson] Show was a turning point for Jackson as an artist and as a public figure, as she negotiated ambiguous and shifting performance contexts” (2018, p. 279). Jackson’s show also highlighted the interdependence of Black Civil Rights and The Cold War in how the singer was often asked to sing in front of audiences who wished her and her people ill treating her as a second class citizen while also spouting patriotic rhetoric against the countries adversaries.
Other appearances Jackson did also helped lift Gospel music from only being a genre sung in churches and at community revivals into a mainstream American genre of music. This can be seen in Jackson’s 1956 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, in her performance a the White House for President Eisenhower and at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and even when she travelled with Dr. King throughout the South. The last event is of importance because it was Jackson who prompted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to tell of his “dream” leading to the infamous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington.
Some of Jackson signature songs include, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” Come Sunday,” “Move On Up a Little Higher,” and my personal favorite, “How I Got Over.”
To this day, Mahalia Jackson has remained as a staple and blueprint for many of our favorite musical artist.
Have you ever heard of Mahalia Jackson?
Read More Here: NMAAHC’S article, “Mahalia Jackson: Gospel Takes Flight“
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