The Swanee Quintet: Still Holding On, Indeed

Like many quartets that have stood the test of time, the Swanee Quintet has consistently adapted its sound to meet the changing tastes of gospel audiences. Led by the effervescent Reverend Reuben Willingham, the quartet released dozens of remarkable singles and LPs for Nashboro and Creed throughout the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, getting funkier as gospel music adopted the style of its musical progeny, such as rhythm and blues and soul.

Today, more than sixty years after its founding, the Swanee Quintet is still going strong. Under the leadership of Percy Griffin, the quartet just released a CD, Still Holding On, for Onyx Entertainment. While I am unsure how many original members are present on the CD, James “Big Red” Anderson is there, just as he was in December of 1951 when the group waxed its first Nashboro disc. Given that the Swanee’s membership had not changed much throughout the decades, and that the group still maintains its base in Augusta, Georgia, there is a strong possibility that other original members are in the current lineup.

Still Holding On is jam packed with more than an hour’s worth of traditional quartet crowd pleasers, such as “Old Time Religion,” “You Brought Me from a Mighty Long Way,” “Pass Me Not,” and “How I Got Over.” The only disappointment is that on a number of the tracks the quartet’s harmonies can barely be heard over the lead vocal and instrumental accompaniment. Despite this, the Swanee Quintet has produced a solid recording that gets better with each successive track. The project is sure to win applause from quartet fans, particularly in the South where sacred vocal harmony commands a sizable and avid audience.

Essential Gospel – Classic Recordings: Week 120

“How Long, Oh Lord, How Long”
Pattersonaires
1965
Chalice C-101

Although the Pattersonaires formed in 1953, they did not make any commercial recordings until 1965, when two singles were released on Stax Records’ short-lived Chalice imprint. The quartet cut several tracks for the Memphis-based label but only four were issued until the early 1990s when Fantasy/Specialty released Free at Last, a sampling of Chalice’s eight released singles and plenty of previously unreleased material. England’s Ace Records issued this same CD in 1993 as Disturb My Soul.

However, “How Long, Oh Lord, How Long,” a Rev. Brewster composition issued on Chalice 101, was not included on the compilation because the original tapes had been lost and – one can surmise – a clean vinyl copy was not available for remastering. Yet this is arguably the quartet’s finest recording. It opens with a tenor lead (probably James Shelton) calling out, “Hoooow loooong, hoooww loooong” in a clear, high falsetto, with the quartet cooing in hushed, tight, upper-register harmony. After a brief pause, the quartet responds with its own “How long,” sung in unison with a shadow of instrumentation backing them.

After this haunting and extended introduction, all instruments enter and the session takes on the standard jaunty quartet sound of the day, but awash in a dramatic minor key. The overall mood of the record is more reminiscent of spirituals than gospel music.

The Pattersonaires continue to ride the Gospel Highway, more than fifty years after their founding. In 1984, the quartet recorded a full length LP for the High Water label (the critically-acclaimed Book of the Seven Seals), and in 2000 entered their sixth decade of performing by releasing the CD Why Not Try My God (which, incidentally, is the title of the flip side of Chalice C-101).

Call for Contributors - Gospel Music Encyclopedia

From the Center for Black Music Research "Associate" e-newsletter, 12/17/2004:

The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music is to be published by Routledge
in Fall 2005. The one-volume encyclopedia will be the first comprehensive
reference to cover both African-American and white gospel music. It will
discuss all aspects of gospel music, including its history, performers,
instruments, recording techniques, broadcast media, styles, and influence on
other musical genres.

The editors are seeking contributors to submit article
manuscripts by February 15, 2005. For more information, visit
www.routledge-ny.com/enc/gospel or e-mail gospelmusic@taylorandfrancis.com.

Classic Gospel -- Essential Recordings: Week 119

Farther Along – The Skylarks
1951
Nashboro 513
[available on Pewburner CD 527: Skylarks of Nashville, Vol. 1 (1951-1954); available from www.pewburner.com]

In 1951, at the time “Farther Along” was recorded, the Skylarks were Willie Jefferson, Wilson Paige, James S. Hill, and Issac “Dickie” Freeman. Neither “Roberts” – Crenshaw nor Broussard – had joined the organization just yet.

While the Skylarks were always a powerful quartet, especially in their early days, the group’s greatest asset was Dickie Freeman, arguably the greatest bass singer in gospel music. Freeman and fellow Skylarks James Hill and Edward Thomas (who had left the Skylarks by this point) had been members of the famed Fairfield Four. Freeman would rejoin and gain tremendous success with the Fairfield Four later in his career, but for now he was busy providing the vocal foundation that propelled the Skylarks sound.

In addition to the rare opportunity to hear a young Freeman performing solo duties, what is striking about “Farther Along” is that if you imagine the quartet doo-wopping instead of singing words, this arrangement comes very close to Dixieland jazz with its complex rhythms and melodic lines. One listens, spellbound, as the quartet weaves vocal parts over and under each other with unbelievable intricacy. It is nothing less than magnificent quartet technique, forged, no doubt, in the crucible of constant touring from church to high school to auditorium along the gospel highway.

Classic Gospel -- Essential Recordings: Week 118

"I'm Glad"
1971
The GMWA Mass Choir feat. James Cleveland and Thurston Frazier
Savoy LP 14281

“I’m Glad” comes to us from the early years of the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA), when musical giants roamed the earth. Those were the days when gospel pioneers such as James Cleveland, Thurston Frazier, Mattie Moss Clark, Robert Fryson, and the O’Neal Twins contributed their talents to the GMWA, setting in motion what has become a commercially and artistically successful convention. No disrespect intended to the many wonderful people who organize the GMWA today, but to have such gospel music history collected under one roof back then must have really been something.

Thankfully, Rev. Lawrence Roberts and Savoy Records preserved the sounds of the GMWA for posterity’s sake, including those from the Fourth GMWA, held in Dallas in 1971. This LP features wall-of-sound choral singing and expert musical leadership from the likes of Cleveland, Frazier, Clark, Fryson, and Edgar and Edward O’Neal.

The album’s first track, “I’m Glad,” showcases the Mass Choir fronted by James Cleveland and Thurston Frazier, perhaps the only time both gentlemen were featured together on a live recording. While ostensibly a sacred song, “I’m Glad” also has a very pointed sociopolitical undertone. From the first line, King James at once offers his gratitude to Heaven and levels a directive at society: “I’m glad man didn’t make sunshine, because he may not let it shine on me.” Similarly, he sings, “I’m glad [man] didn’t create me, for he would surely, surely forsake me.” Like the spirituals, "I'm Glad" has a dual meaning, and Cleveland’s rough, husky delivery, one tear away from a cry, adds to the performance’s overall drama.

Complete with a classic false ending, a coda that features an ostinato melody that builds in intensity, and the growling voice of Thurston Frazier (now remembered at GMWA with the Thurston Frazier Memorial Choir), “I’m Glad” presents the Mass Choir as congregation to Cleveland’s and Frazier’s preachers, with small combo accompaniment.

Compared to today’s GMWA recordings, "I'm Glad" sounds almost primitive in its instrumentation, but its genuineness shines through all the same. Like rays of sunshine that permeate a dusty window, the recording still fires the soul. Unfortunately, while Cleveland’s sentiments about the state of race relations were expressed in 1971, they are as true today as they were thirty-three years ago, when gospel giants roamed the earth.