Category: Mahalia Jackson

Parents, eh? They can influence us in ways they’re unaware of and in ways that endure.

I had two parents. Then I had one. Now I have none.

From a very early age both parents seemed to enjoy music. From what I can recall – it’s quite the recollection for what would have been an 8-year-old. I recall Elvis, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, Perry Como, Mario Lanza, Doris Day and Yma Sumac, among many others.

The post 8-year-old – now with just the one parent – recalls the prophetic and devastating sadness of Mud’s It’ll Be Lonely This Christmas; a song I still struggle to listen to. A few years later a closeness was forged with my ma – Saturday afternoon telly – films with Doris Day, Judy Garland, Yma Sumac, Mario Lanza and Mahalia Jackson. Out of all of those the artist that affects me most is Mahalia Jackson, although Yma Sumac is a close second with Mario Lanza sneaking in – a tenuous reminder of my da which became more tenuous and odder when I unknowingly visited Lanza’s ancestral home town in Italy many years later.

My ma, who liked a lot of the above singers, seemed to adore Mahalia Jackson and Yma Sumac and had a soft spot for Lanza as he reminded her of my da. Those Saturday afternoons seemed long and boring, if I’m honest, but I know I must have enjoyed some of the films – sometimes I’d be treated to a snowball (a cake) when the van (a mobile shop) decided to show up. I found it difficult to remember the name of the film Mahalia Jackson was in but always referenced it by ‘she sang at a funeral’. The film is, of course Imitation of Life (1959).

Note: I pronounce her name Ma-ha-lee-a… others pronounce it Ma-hay-lee-a. Ma-hay-lee-a is correctt I’m not one for change.

I must have been ten or eleven when I first heard Mahalia Jackson sing in this film and I was moved. At this point in my life, I was an altar boy and quite familiar with the standard fare of ‘spiritual’ but I hadn’t ever heard devotional music like this before. There was a ‘power’ that I can’t fully explain and I guess, at the age I was, I believed this to be some kind of divine intervention. The message of Imitation of Life was a strong one and at my tender age I watched the injustice unfold – even if I didn’t properly understand it.

I looked forward to an Yma Sumac film with my ma, it was escapism, but Imitation of Life was our film and far from escapism.

Fast forward about 15 years and my own musical tastes have developed as has my utter revulsion of any form of religion

but… at a car boot sale I see a Mahalia Jackson LP. I want to buy it but have internalized issues about the religious content – all songs are gospel spirituals. Do I really want to hear that?

I buy the LP – Great Songs of Love and Faith (1967).

Fuck me (sorry, Mahalia). What an incredible LP. Despite buying it – I think part of me didn’t want to like it be because of the obvious religious content – this was an incredible record that holds a significant place in my collection. The way she sings seems to this day, a way that only she can sing. Her pronunciation is individual (‘I’ sung I as if it sounds like ‘Oi’).

There were two songs that I was familiar with Danny Boy and Crying In The Chapel but… I’ve never heard them quite as beautifully constructed as this. The orchestra and chorus are conducted by Johnny Williams (who we now know better as John Williams). It’s on this LP that my favourite Mahalia Jackson song resides… Because.

Because opens the LP and if another track never appeared I wouldn’t have cared. It’s just a beautiful song that affects me each and every time.

I fought hard with myself to extricate Mahalia’s devotion from my own aural pleasure. I understood her commitment to her God. Her love of her God. To me though that was only a channel through which I got to hear her sing. Her religion was hers. My joy through her music was mine.

It’s long been mooted that Mahalia turned her back on the trappings of fame – at the height of her popularity – and that is generally accepted. However, Mahalia – in later life – enjoyed great privilege and stayed in some of the very best hotels across the US and Europe… she did enjoy some of the earthlier trappings. However, she was known to be extremely generous throughout her lifetime, often paying for the education of those who could not afford it, or providing financial assistance to those that needed it. She seemed to be living her faith.

Her significant role in the development of the civil rights movement in the USA should not be underestimated. Working in racially segregated venues she’d ask her audiences to integrate themselves and sit together. She and her band of musicians would often play then go to their accommodation only to find that hotels would not accept them – leaving them to sleep in their cars on a 200-night tour – not for the faint-hearted. As her fame grew, she used that ‘fame’ to raise further awareness of inequality and to directly challenge what she believed to be injustices. She became a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and his family, and a vocal supporter of JF Kennedy. Mahalia resisted calls for her to sing secular music – a move which would have saw her reap significant financial dividends – but to her, when she sang, she sang to her God. She sang for her God.

Mahalia Jackson died in 1972. She was already dead by the time I was watching Imitation of Life. She is someone that I admire. She’s a vocalist like no other.

I offer this ICA. I do so with limited knowledge of Mahalia’s entire output. I’ve chosen songs that I own, but have replaced some with live versions from live performances and tv appearances (quality may not be great). I hope you’ll listen and enjoy.

1. Because

2. Elijah Rock (from Louis Armstrong at Newport, 1970)

3. Power In The Blood

4. Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho

5. Crying In The Chapel

6. Didn’t It Rain (live at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1958)

7. My Friend

8. Trouble Of The World

9. Just A Closer Walk With Thee (from Louis Armstrong at Newport, 1970) *

10. A Perfect Day

* Track 9 is over nine minutes long as Louis Armstrong joins Mahalia on stage.