ALBUM: Mahalia Jackson, ‘Mahalia Jackson Sings: The Great Television Performances’
The pre-cable, pre-internet streaming days of television are often thought of as the height of monoculture, marked by middle-of-the-road content designed to appeal to the mass audience.
But television’s early years, before the format had been solidified and when networks were eager for content, often created opportunities for a variety of broadcasts that today would probably be considered niche programming. This was particularly evident in the brief “filler” interstitials used to pad out the network’s schedule.
In an era when television programming was often broadcast live, rather than recorded and edited in advance to fit a precise time slot, the networks would keep material on hand to fill any few spare minutes and prevent dead air.
Out of this need for filler emerged a particularly inspired solution: Mahalia Jackson Sings, a series of “the world’s greatest gospel singer” performing 58 songs, each no more than a few minutes long.
The performances were recorded in 1961 at the height of Jackson’s fame. She had spent the previous decade amassing an audience of both religious and secular listeners enraptured by her uncannily powerful voice and bluesy take on the gospel. Performances at the Newport Folk Festival in 1958 and John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball in early 1961, as well as a featured appearance in the 1959 film Imitation of Life, helped bring her into the cultural mainstream.
She arguably found her biggest audience, however, with Mahalia Jackson Sings, which aired Sunday mornings on NBC directly into millions of American homes. (The performances would also air the following year in the UK, earning her international fans as well.)
After the need for television filler declined, however, Jackson’s interstitials were stored away, unseen for decades. The new compilation Mahalia Jackson Sings: The Great Television Performances, issued by Real Gone Music, gathers the audio for 16 of these songs for their first-ever CD release. The slightly muffled sound quality betrays the primitive recording equipment used to capture these performances for TV, but Jackson’s warm, expressive contralto and spiritual fervor shine through.
One of the elements that made Jackson so popular, apart from her undeniable talent, was the tendency to delve beyond the traditional gospel sound, dominated by piano, organ, and choir, into a more intimate style that drew from the blues and jazz.
On Mahalia Jackson Sings, she is produced by Irving Townsend (best known for helming Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue) and backed by a small crew of jazz musicians, including guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Red Mitchell, and drummer Shelly Manne, as well as Mildred Falls, Jackson’s long-term pianist and musical director. The result transcends musical boundaries but never loses sight of the spiritual feel that pervades all of Jackson’s performances.
The 16 songs on the compilation show the variety of material that Jackson interpreted. Upbeat praise songs such as “Come On Children, Let’s Sing,” her signature “Didn’t It Rain,” and an especially funky take on “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” are interspersed with solemn spirituals like “God Will Take Care of You” and “Somebody Bigger Than You and I.”
The liturgical-based “The Rosary” and “The Lord’s Prayer” rub elbows with the inspirational pop songs “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel) and “I Believe” (made famous by Frankie Laine).
As such, despite the less-than-ideal sound quality, Mahalia Jackson Sings: The Great Television Performances can double as a solid introduction to the gospel legend, even if it lacks such songs closely identified with her as “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley.”
It might also have made sense to include a DVD featuring some of Jackson’s broadcasts alongside the audio compilation, but the CD/digital music format undeniably makes for a more convenient listening experience. These recordings have been mostly unheard for half a century; any means of getting them to listeners is worthy of praise.
Get your copy of Mahalia Jackson Sings: The Great Television Performances from Real Gone Music’s online shop.
