JUNE IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH BUT NOT *JUST* JUNE, #11. In the Upper Room with Mahalia Jackson. So if Sister Rosetta is raw and fun religion, Mahalia is full and complete spiritualism. Higher highs, lower lows. That humming organ her main accompaniment, all the different stops and setting for the different songs, plus gospel piano. If you didn’t listen to the words you’d assume it was an early soul record from Stax or something. On the first and last tracks a multi-part harmony-singing chorus joins her (and suddenly all you hear is that low low low bass singer). This record isn’t terribly well-recorded and it’s in fair shape but there’s pops and cracks here and there—thanks for taking as good of care of it as you did, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Robertson of Hackensack—but I stopped noticing the imperfections. All you notice is Mahalia’s demands on your attention. You end up focusing on her diction, which is often soft, and her big loud vowels. She really uses those big round vowel sounds. My favorite is when she sings the word “sparrow” in “His Eye Is on the Sparrow:” big bold “Spairrrrr” that swoops down to a small, precise “row.” #mahaliajackson #intheupperroom (at Noblesville, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCeCTHiAsyW/?igshid=rfcb8hyv873h
