DISC : Mahalia at Newport [1958] 4t

Single (45T) JACKSON «MAHALIA AT NEWPORT» Jazz Festival 1958 :

                                                  .
                                            (1958  _Philips [429 823 BE] Hollande / 45T - 4t live)

Side 1 :
_  Didn't it rain
_  A city called heaven
Side 2 :
_  The Lord's prayer
_  His eye is on the sparrow

.  COMMENTAIRES .

Album note :
Some say that Mahalia Jackson brought a minor miracle to the Newport Jazz Festival on a July evening in 1958. When the time came to appear on the open-air stage, rain had started to fall. But miraculously the rain stopped long enough for Mahalia to sing- and it started again just as she was being encored an eager crowd that would have kept her singing all night. Here - recorded during the concert - are four of the wonderful songs that Mahalia sang to that spellbound delivered-from-the-rain Newport audience. Many have tried in vain to describe what it is that is so captivating about Mahalia and the songs she sings. But one thing is certain: she and her art are made luminous by sincerity and her ability to project an emotion, regardless of its motivation, is unparalleled by any singer past or present - with the possible exception of Bessie Smith.
     Although the texts of Mahalia's songs are religious, one can be moved regardless of one's beliefs. She has one of the biggest, richest voices ever raised in song - and a heart to match. When she sings ´´'The Lord's prayer," it is with a reverence that soars to a climax of pure exaltation. No wonder that she once moved a critic of "Time" Magazine to write that she has a surge, vitality, and emotional genuineness that crackle across her listeners like electricity.
     Like a true jazz singer, Mahalia could sing the same song over and over again for an entire evening, and each performance would be different. Her impeccable sense of rhythm forces the listeners to participate. In the slow ballade-type songs, one is swayed a long with the beautifully sustained passages she spins out. All these, plus Mahalia's great devotion, contribute to her greatness. "Sunday at Newport" - a recording of twelve songs Mahalia sang on that memorable July evening in 1958 - is available on Philips B 07379 L. An American reviewer has described this as „One of the great, great albums ... a record that no lover of fine singing can afford to do without."

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Créé le 14 mai 2010 (18:04)