Show #101: Tom's Easter Music Parade
Today is both Good Friday and Passover, so with Easter celebrations just around the corner, I thought we’d feature music for this special holiday this week on Rhythm Planet. Some of these tunes are…
By Tom Schnabel • • 3 min readRhythm Planet wishes everyone a Happy Easter!
Today is both Good Friday and Passover, so with Easter celebrations just around the corner, I thought we’d feature music for this special holiday this week on Rhythm Planet. Some of these tunes are homegrown; others come to us from different corners of the world.
Some would say there’s nothing like starting off Easter with a good, old “fire and brimstone” sermon by the Reverend Dr. J. Gordon McPherson (b. 1869–1936) to deter one from a life gone astray. The Reverend recorded six albums by the name ‘Billy Black Sunday.’ “This Old World’s In a Hell of a Fix” was the most famous of his fiery evangelical admonitions, recorded live in 1931 during a church service in Grafton, Wisconsin. Let’s then switch tunes and launch right into Easter with the Edwin Hawkins Singersdoing “Oh Happy Day.” Re-arranged from a 19th century English hymn, this 1969 remake topped the charts here at home and abroad and has since been recorded by countless artists. Next, we have Sister RosettaTharpepaying her respects to the Almighty on electric guitar with her classic “Up Above My Head, There’s Music in the Air.”One of my all-time favorites,The Dixie Hummingbirds, follow with their catchy gospel classic, “Bedside of a Neighbor.”
Rebecca Malope isSouth Africa’s Queen of Gospel. Born in the small township of Kanyamazane, she and her sister left at the age of 18, traveling 400km on foot to Johannesburg to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a professional vocalist. Fast forward 14 recorded albums, countless awards, and her own television program later, Malope is now an internationally touring gospel superstar. We’ll listen to her “Uhlal’Ekhona,”which translates to mean “He is Always Available” in Zulu. Then we have the prolific Trinidadian Wilmouth Houdini, who was referred to as the ‘Calypso King of New York’ back in the 1930–1940s for songs like “Happy Land of Canaan.” America had its own ‘Queen of Gospel,’ the powerful contralto and activist, Mahalia Jackson, who used her music to protest segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. She sang this live 1954 recording of “How I Got Over” for New York’s Bethel Gospel Assembly’s congregation before later performing it for 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Jackson used to say that singing gospel filled her with hope.
Next, we have baritone Billy Eckstineand Sarah Vaughandoing their jazz take on perhaps one of the most popular Easter songs of all time, “Easter Parade.” Written by composer and lyricist, Irving Berlin, the song was first featured in the 1933 Broadway musical, As ThousandsCheer, and has been reprised ever since. The Sons of the Pioneers hold a special place in Americana. In their various configurations since the the group was started by Roy Rogers in 1933, they have pioneered “a new genre and library of music…synonymous with the American West and the Cowboy.” We’ll listen to their 1937 classic country song, “One More River to Cross.”
G. I. Gurdjieff Sacred Hymnsis a deeply contemplative collection of religious hymns, written by the late Armenian mystic and composer, George Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Performed and recorded by Keith Jarrett himself for ECM Records, it’s an intriguing exploration into the psyche of Gurdjieff and perhaps his philosophy and spiritual teachings on ‘esoteric Christianity.’ Lebanese legend Fairouzcomes next with her Good Friday song, “Kamat Mariyam”which director Julian Schnabel once brilliantly included in his soundtrack for the film, Before Night Falls,about Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright, Reinaldo Arenas. Here are two tracks from my Trance Planetseries: a remix of “Ave Maria” by Belarusian male countertenor, Vyatcheslav ‘Slava’ Kagen-Paley, followed by a track by the Senegalese Benedictine monks of Abbaye de Keur Moussasinging “Mon Âme Exalte le Seigneur.”
The jubilant Golden Gate Quartet deliver a colorful a cappella rendition of “God Told Nicodemus.”And I’ll close out this week’s show with a rousing 1963 church recording from the Reverend Louis Overstreetand His Sons from the Powerhouse Church of Christ in Phoenix, Arizona. This is one powerhouse performance that just builds and builds… It’s an Eclectic Easter. I hope you all enjoy the show and have a good Easter (and Passover) weekend.
Rhythm Planet Playlist for 04/02/2015
Reverend J. Gordon McPherson / “This Old World’s In a Hell of a Fix” / Rare Blues Recordings 1920–1930 / Lilith Records
Edwin Hawkins Singers / “Oh Happy Day” / Jubilation: Great Gospel Performances, Vol. 1 Black Gospel/ Rhino Records
Sister Rosetta Tharpe / “Up Above My Head, There’s Music in the Air” / Gospel Train/ Verve Records
The Dixie Hummingbirds / “Bedside of a Neighbor” / Best of the Dixie Hummingbirds/ Universal Special Records
Rebecca Malope / “Uhlal’Ekhona” / Free at Last: South African Gospel/ EMI Import
Wilmoth Houdini / “Happy Land of Canaan” / The Gospel Tradition: The Roots & The Branches, Vol. 1/ Columbia/Legacy
Mahalia Jackson / “How I Got Over (Live)” / Mahalia Jackson/ Charly Records
Sarah Vaughan & Billy Eckstine / “Easter Parade” /The Irving Berlin Songbook/ Verve Records
Sons of the Prisoners / “One More River to Cross” / The Gospel Tradition: The Roots & The Branches, Vol. 1/ Columbia/Legacy
Keith Jarrett / “Easter Night Procession” / G. I. Gurdjieff Sacred Hymns/ ECM
Fairuz / “Kamat Mariyam” / Good Friday: Eastern Sacred Songs/ Voix de l’Orient
Vyatcheslav Kagen-Paley (Slava) / “Ave Maria, Remix #3” / Trance Planet, Vol. 3 / Triloka
Abbaye de Keur Moussa / “Mon Âme Exalte le Seigneur” / Trance Planet, Vol. 4 / Triloka
Golden Gate Quartet / “God Told Nicodemus” / Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet / Document Records
Reverend Louis Overstreet / “I’m Working on a Building” / Reverend Louis Overstreet With His Sons and the Congregation of St. Luke’s Powerhouse in the Church of Christ / Arhoolie Records