If I Could Only Hear My Mother Pray Again 1950
SR5016: Soulful Sounds -- Geraldine and Donald Gay
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"The song option on Soulful Sounds is entirely old schoolhouse, with classics such equally "Eyes Accept Non Seen," "Tell The Angels," "There is a Fountain," and "If I Could Hear My Female parent Pray Once again." Pay special attending to the strutting "Sing On My Singer," included here every bit a tribute to Mahalia Jackson. Donald's vocals get with Geraldine's barrelhouse piano manner like bacon and eggs. … What a treat it is to hear smashing musicians from a legendary gospel family given The Sirens' trademark crystal clear production. Information technology's as if y'all are sitting in a church building, enjoying a Sunday afternoon musicale on Chicago'south south side."
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In the 1950s and 60s, the Gay Sisters – vocalist Mildred, vocalist and pianist Evelyn, and pianist Geraldine – used their spirited singing and keyboard work to set the atmosphere for the brimstone – scorched imprecations of their younger brother Donald, and then known equally "The Boy Preacher." Geraldine dubbed "The Errol Garner of Gospel," is credited with pioneering the infusion of elements borrowed from jazz and R&B into modern-twenty-four hour period gospel piano, much as Sister Rosetta Tharpe updated the guitar during more or less the same era. In 2004, the Chicago-based characterization The Sirens released In The Right Hands, which featured Geraldine, Jessy Dixon, and Nash Shaffer Jr., along with Donald and the Gays' nephew Gregory Gay Jr. That disc re-ignited involvement in the Gays, and Geraldine and Donald – who hadn't recorded together since 1967 – have begun to perform more oft in the wake of its success.
Geraldine's two-fisted dexterity is virtually undiminished; her brother's voice, though it may have lost some of its youthful burn, remains sure and deeply expressive. On this set, which consists primarily of well-known gospel standards, they sound relaxed and confident; they convey as much fervor with subtle nuance equally others do with housewrecking emotionalism. And it'southward all delivered with an irrepressibly good-humored elan, aided by the easy-rolling swing of drummer Curtis Fondren and alternately, bassists Yosef Ben State of israel and Anderson Edwards.
Traditionalists raised on sterner faith might raise their eyebrows at that hip swagger; this is almost as far from burn down and brimstone as gospel music can become. Eyes Take Not Seen, originally a solemn admonition to remain spiritually steadfast in the face of worldly disappointment, sounds here almost similar a Low-era "better days are coming" pop bauble; the Gays even recast the harrowing admonition In that location Is A Fountain ("at that place is a fountain filled with blood") equally a gently propulsive, most lilting testimonial.
Just theirs is a organized religion born of compassion and understanding, rather than judgement; it acknowledges this life as gracefully as it promises eternal blessings in the next. As such information technology provides a welcome corrective to the moralizing that too frequently passes for mainstream religious discourse these days. In its own low-central way, the return of the Gays as a gospel powerhouse is proving to exist as historic and inspiring as the resurgence of Jody Williams was in the dejection globe a few years ago.
Similar all true gospel legends, gifted pianist Geraldine Gay and her brother government minister Donald with his strong, compassionate baritone offer pointed suggestions about how we should manage our lives and look for heavenly advantage. Change the lyrics from religious to secular and you'd have a vastly entertaining blues act, including bass and drums, that might be every bit pop every bit the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Soulful Sounds (The Sirens 5016) presents the gospel sounds of Geraldine and Donald Gay. Near songs characteristic drums, bass, and Geraldine'south bright piano; Donald sings. The imaginative presentation should concenter an audience beyond the core gospel crowd: The Gays' "You've Got To Motion" suggests Nat "King" Cole swing more than Mississippi Fred McDowell grit; "Sing On My Vocalizer," dedicated to Mahalia Jackson, has a jazzy lilt; and "just Another Mean solar day" falls somewhere in Ray Charles state. Wonderful.
If y'all don't know well-nigh the Gay Family, y'all don't know gospel.
The Chicago-based Gays – Mildred, Evelyn, Geraldine, and Donald in particular – are products of the Church of God in Christ and have been on the frontline of gospel music for decades. The original Gay Sisters (Mildred, Geraldine and Evelyn) had a monster gospel striking in 1951 with "God Volition Take Intendance of You lot." They recorded enough singles for Savoy in 1951 to fill an album later in the decade. Evelyn even accompanied Mahalia Jackson on piano from time to time.
Far from being one-hitting wonders, the Gays were sought after to participate on gospel programs in Chicago and throughout the country. They continued to record long afterward their Savoy sessions, delivering the goods for labels such as Decca, Chess, Blitz, Faith, B & F, Davis, and Hummingbird. Donald "Preacher" grew upwards and joined the group in the late 1950s and 1960s, when information technology was known as the Gay Singers.
Since Evelyn and Mildred take passed on, Donald and Geraldine are the ones who represent the family unit on Soulful Sounds. And it isn't the commencement time The Sirens has featured the brother and sister duo. The Gays made their The Sirens debut on In the Right Hands, a Chicago gospel keyboard project that also featured Jessy Dixon and Nash Shaffer, Jr. Clearly, their talent warranted an entire project.
What will strike you lot while listening to Soulful Sounds is how tenuous are the marketing monikers that piece and dice music into categories. For example, on the opening rail, "This May Exist the Final Time," Geraldine plays as if she were with a jazz combo, and Donald sounds similar blues shouters Joe Williams and Jimmy Rushing. In reality, what we hear on Soulful Sounds is gospel as a youngster in the 1930s and 1940s, a time when some criticized gospel musicians for "jazzing the hymns." Listen to some of Sallie Martin'south belatedly '40s recordings for Capitol and y'all'll hear the same kind of sophisticated jazz combo backing.
Also noteworthy is how Donald'due south distinctive vocalization hasn't changed with time. He sounds the same on this CD as he did on singles he and Evelyn recorded in the 1960s.
The song selection on Soulful Sounds is entirely old school, with classics such as "Optics Have Not Seen," "Tell The Angels," "In that location is a Fountain," and "If I Could Hear My Female parent Pray Over again." Pay special attention to the strutting "Sing On My Singer," included here as a tribute to Mahalia Jackson. Donald'southward vocals go with Geraldine'southward barrelhouse piano style similar bacon and eggs. It's the finest cut on the CD.
The Gays are accompanied past Yosef Ben Israel, Gregory Gay (the next generation), Donald "Bozie" Hambric, Anderson Edwards, and Curtis Fondren, the latter who puts his Fellowship M.B. Church training to work by giving the Gays a pulsing backbeat when the music and the spirit dictate.
What a care for information technology is to hear great musicians from a legendary gospel family unit given The Sirens' trademark crystal clear production. It's as if you lot are sitting in a church, enjoying a Dominicus afternoon musicale on Chicago'due south southward side.
Geraldine and Donald Gay are gospel royalty. Equally office of the Gay Sisters Trio, Geraldine scored several hits during the 1950s. Presently after, along with brother Donald, they appeared with Mahalia Jackson at the offset gospel concert hosted by Carnegie Hall. Sam Cooke and Sonny Rollins adored them. Chess recorded the Gays in the late '60s. All the same their fame should loom larger. Both are natural performers – Geraldine rattles piano ivories with impeccable pacing and spontaneous technique; Donald's singing is infused with preacher instincts and bluesy tones. This is an album release prove for the duo's aptly titled "Soulful Sounds" (The Sirens), whose spirited emotions confirm that these locals know how to work a room.
If you have whatsoever doubt nearly the link between gospel music and the blues, bank check out Soulful Sounds, the latest release by the Chicago-based record label, The Sirens Records.
The CD features the music of Geraldine and Donald Gay, members of a legendary gospel family that had several striking records in the 1940s and 50s. A self-taught pianist, Geraldine in one case performed with the Gay Sisters Trio. She and younger blood brother Donald, a singer, were invited by Mahalia Jackson to perform at the first gospel concert always held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Though much younger than his sisters, Donald often sang with them recorded with the trio a few songs for Chess and Checker Records in the mid-1960s.
These days Donald is pastor of the Prayer Eye Church building of God in Christ on the due south side of Chicago. Geraldine serves as music minister in that location and plays every Lord's day. In 2004, the siblings participated in a compilation of gospel piano music for The Sirens called In the Right Easily - Chicago Gospel Keyboard Pioneers. A flurry of recognition followed, including a characteristic story about Geraldine before this year on ABC Channel seven Chicago. (Click on the video at that link to run into Geraldine in action.)
Soulful Sounds presents Geraldine and Donald Day performing xi tracks of mostly traditional gospel songs. You'll hear Donald'south rich baritone booming out such songs equally "This May Exist the Last Time," "Tell the Angels," "God Has Been Expert to Me," and "Sing on My Vocalist," dedicated to Mahalia Jackson. In every song, you'll hear Geraldine's melodic piano riffs. The sound is simple and intimate, near as if you lot're in a room with them and they're performing exclusively for you. The bare-boned bass-and-drums rhythm section is felt more than information technology'south heard. And, if you're a dejection fan, y'all'll recognize the sounds of the blues Donald's melodies and in Geraldine's keyboard work. Only the religious lyrics gear up this music apart from the blues.
A second generation of Gays contribute to the album. Geraldine'due south son, Donald "Bozie" Hambric, plays guitar on one track, and Donald's son, Gregory Gay, sings a duet with his father on "There Is a Fountain." Other featured musicians are Curtis Fondren on drums and Anderson Edwards and Yosef Ben Israel on bass.
Yous tin tell this is going to exist a swell record the start time Geraldine Gay starts ad-libbing and urging on her younger brother Donald–off-mike. Geraldine basically does her matter on piano while Donald handles the vocals (even getting off a good duet with his son Gregory on "There Is a Fountain"). Only when Geraldine feels the spirit (on more than one song) and starts spontaneously harmonizing in the distant groundwork, the set up actually catches fire.
In the 1950s, Geraldine was a member of Savoy recording artists the Gay Sisters, who were a seminal group during what's now known equally the Golden Age of Chicago gospel. While Geraldine is the only surviving member, she continues to perform with her bro at the Prayer Center Church of God in Christ on Chicago'due south South Side (where Donald is pastor). Geraldine and Donald don't try to knock you down with religious fervor, but the songs jolt you lot before you have time to discover. There's a subtle jazz influence here–Geraldine isn't compared to pianist Erroll Garner for goose egg, and Donald belts out the lyrics like Count Basie Orchestra crooner Joe Williams. Things come to a shut with a marathon ten-minute version of the gospel standard "God Has Been Good to Me," and the offset five minutes and alter are devoted to Geraldine riffing away on the keyboard. Those five minutes fly by quickly.
Similar a lot of traditional music, gospel is i of those idioms in which any kind of amending or updating could fall flat in the incorrect hands. If Geraldine and Donald'due south bluesy jazz touches get over, it's considering the two remember that gospel is ground naught.
The Gay Sisters were a pop Gospel act in the forties and fifties, recording for Savoy, and pianist Geraldine is now the sole survivor from the original line-up. Singer Donald is the much younger brother – he recorded with his sisters in the sixties, nigh notably for Checker, and he and Geraldine at present carry on the family unit tradition, having recorded for The Sirens in 2004 ("In The Right Hands – Chicago Gospel Keyboard Pioneers", The Sirens SR 5010). It is nice to notation that the next generation also plays its office on this prepare too, with Geraldine'due south son Donald "Bozie" Hambric adding guitar to 1 track and Donald'south son Gregory duetting with his father on "There Is A Fountain".
At the start few notes, as the piano takes up the theme, Ramsey Lewis and "Wade In The H2o" came to mind – merely that is as mod as things get. For the rest of the time these are sounds of an earlier era, generally the fifties, just occasionally, equally on "Eyes Have Non Seen", Donald employs a swinging vocal way that recalls the forties very strongly. At other times, he can be equally melismatic equally the best of them, though e'er keeping a sense of what is appropriate, and several times his bluesy approach made me recollect of Ray Charles – although nosotros all know Brother Ray's style came direct from church building. Geraldine's playing reaches dorsum to almost ragtime in 1 or two places, but she is most often compared to Errol Garner, and although I am no Garner expert, I have heard enough to recognise that the allusion is valid. She improvises endlessly and often with a strong rhythmic footing, also quietly adding vocal feeds and reinforcement to her brother. I must also note the presence of drummer Curtis Fondren on near numbers, his direct-ahead socking of the skins almost a forgotten fine art these days.
Releases like this come along less and less often these days. If your interests include vintage gospel, this is certainly one to get.
Concerning (1) [Soulful Sounds], I will say that I grew upward away from gospel tradition as possible, unless you could count a late admiration for Mahalia Jackson'south immense soulfulness a redemptive act. I had not heard of the Gay Sisters, who had accompanied that same Mahalia and Sam Cooke. I knew nil of pianist Geraldine Gay (taught by her mother and by Kate Bell Nubin, mother of Sister Rosetta Tharpe) or of her brother Donald, pastor of the Prayer Heart Church building of God in Christ in Chicago. Thus, I had some trepidation as I began listening to the almost ten-minute performance of God Has Been Good To Me. But this speedily turned to adoration, as what starts out equally a moody pianoforte improvisation grows deeper and more intense in a Ray Bryant-Errol Garner manner before Donald Gay adds a sinewy voice. If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Once again, which appears in James Baldwin's Sonny'southward Blues, finds a funky, rocking momentum that is simple yet compelling. This format – a substantial piano solo that turns into a song-plus-rhythm selection, building through repetition of song and instrumental patterns, can be hypnotic. … even gospel skeptics will find much to admire."
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