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7 Gospel Concerts I Won’t Forget: Part 2

7 Gospel Concerts I Won’t Forget: Part 2

Last week was fun. We took a stroll down memory lane and re-visited some classic concerts by the Blendwrights, Dannibelle Hall and the Midnight Musicals at the annual COGIC Convocations. Let’s close with these four.

The Edwin Hawkins Singers at the WEUP Radio Station

If you’re an Oakwoodite, WEUP needs no introduction. For years it has been the top gospel radio station in Huntsville. Back in the day they would have live concerts at the station featuring some of the nation’s top gospel artists.

Now this was literally music to our ears because the Oakwood Church wasn’t exactly fond of gospel music. As far as they were concerned, if you looked up the word “Devil”, you’d probably see a picture of a drum! These days when I hear folk like Travis Greene and J.J. Hairston, and Kierra Sheard in the sanctuary, I’m still looking around for Elder Ward to cut the mics off.

The night the Hawkins family was at WEUP, I was there early, but I was already late. Why? Because the auditorium was the size of your living room….and I don’t even have to know how large your living room is! The place was packed but the music was wonderful. Tramaine, Daniel, Lynette, Walter, Edwin….” Oh Happy Day”, “Come and Go with Me”, “Early in the Morning”, “Here’s the Reason” and on and on and on. Enough said. That one I won’t forget.

James Cleveland in Columbus, Georgia

Pastoring in Phoenix City, Alabama and living in Columbus, Georgia was an experience. The people were great, but the area was isolated. Nobody was “coming through” Columbus on the way to someplace else. So, I literally could not believe the radio announcer when he said that James Cleveland would be in concert in Columbus. The city was a decent size, but Cleveland was by far the biggest thing in gospel music at that time.

I got an even greater shock when they announced the location, a church just about a mile from our home. I squeezed into a pew and I wasn’t disappointed. No praise and worship back then, they prayed and gave him the mike. For 2 solid hours he took the Cleveland Singers through his hits and classic hymn arrangements. He was a master. To this day, his Gospel Music Workshop of America is the largest annual gospel music convention in the world.

Thomas Whitfield in Orange County

Thomas Whitfield was a musician’s musician. Michael O. Jackson, one of my former Ministers of Music, traveled with him for a period and had amazing stories. Frankly, early on I didn’t particularly care for him. Some of his music reminded me of the progressive jazz albums my father loved, but that I couldn’t quite get with. Too dissonant for my taste. Strange chord structures. But the more I listened the more I understood.

In 1977 he formed the Thomas Whitfield Singers in Detroit and they changed a generation. Over the years, groundbreaking gospel artists like: Kirk Franklin, Donald Lawrence, Fred Hammond, Richard Smallwood, Yolanda Adams, Ricky Dillard, Kim Burrill and others have been asked about their musical influences. There was at least one name that appeared on everyone’s list. Thomas Whitfield.

I heard him in concert in Orange County California in 88 or 89. They opened with a strong praise and worship set by the host church and house band. Whitfield came on with some of his Detroit based background singers-Michael Fletcher, Gwen Morton, Larry Whitfield-but they added some local singers. It was seamless. They moved through all of his classics and more. Songs like:

“We Need A Word From The Lord”
“Hallelujah Anyhow”
“Oh, How I Love Jesus”
“Nothing But The Blood”
“Precious Jesus”

Two words kept coming to mind as I listened. Excellence and genius. I won’t forget that concert.

John P. Kee at Academy Cathedral in Inglewood

Some people collect rocks and coins. I’ve always collected concerts. There’s nothing like the energy and creativity of a live concert, and for years the king of live concerts was John P. Kee. Kirk Franklin and others patterned their concerts after his. The energy, the excellence, the humor, the dancing, the give-a-ways. All of these were John P. Kee standards. He was dubbed the Prince of Gospel Music for good reason.

Now, if you’re going to be a collector of concerts, you must master the fine art of sneaking in. Money is not the issue, it’s the space. That’s how I heard John P. Kee in back to back concerts at the Academy Cathedral in the early 90s. The 5pm concert was crazy, and I was determined to stay for the 7pm concert. My only problem is that security cleared the building between concerts. Somehow, they thought I was a part of the band and let me stay in…probably because that’s what I told them. Pray for me. It was a great concert.

So, those are my 7. What about concerts or artists that you remember? Who are the artists you enjoy today?

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7 Gospel Concerts I Won’t Forget- Part I

7 Gospel Concerts I Won’t Forget- Part I

Atlanta has been the Disneyland of the gospel music world this week. The Gospel Music Workshop of America is holding its annual convention in Atlanta and the city is buzzing. GMWA, founded by the late James Cleveland, is the largest music convention of its kind in the world. Everyone in the industry is in Atlanta.

Tuesday night, J. J. Hairston and Youthful Praise were in the middle of an incredible set. I began to reflect over the countless gospel concerts I’ve attended in my lifetime; some good, some bad, some unforgettable. I began to think about the concerts that, for different reasons, I remember clearly to this day. These are some of the gospel concerts that have stuck with me over the years,

The BlendWrights Concerts- Memphis, Tennessee

Every contemporary Adventist artist owes a debt of gratitude to those amazing ladies from Ohio. They fought the music battle in the heat of the day. They were singing passionate and creative gospel music in Adventist churches when you could get thrown out for singing, “ Elijah Rock!”

As a youngster, Pastor Robert Willis would bring the BlendWrights to Memphis, Tennessee each year and every concert was an event. Their instruments alone were banned in many Adventist churches. I enjoyed so many of those concerts, it’s impossible to pick a favorite.

As impressive as the singing and instrumentation, their lyrics were what changed lives. Songs like, “ Let Down the Ladder”, “All the World Is Mine”, “ How Many Steps to Heaven”, “ Courage”, “ Heaven Came Down”, and Eleanor Wright’s classic, “ Naaman the Lepar” could turn a concert into a full out revival. Unforgettable.

The Midnight Musicals- COGIC Convocations

It was understood that for a solid week each November, you could always find me and my buddies at the annual COGIC Convocation. Memphis is the headquarters for the Church of God in Christ International, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. It’s fair to say that no organization has had a greater influence on gospel music than them.

Groundbreaking artists such as Andrae Crouch, the Clark Sisters, the Winans family, the Hawkins family, and others all have their roots in the Church of God in Christ. Each year at the convocation, midnight musicals were held at Mason Temple. Many of the artists never became household names, but they are legends to gospel music fans. There would never have been a Hezekiah Walker or Ricky Dillard without an Institutional Church of God in Christ Choir. There never would have been a Kim Burrell without a Betty Nelson. I remember those concerts.

Danniebelle Hall – Memphis State University

I came to hear Danniebelle that night in 1978, because she was a popular lead singer for Andrae Crouch and the Disciples. But what I heard that night at the University was different from what I’d experienced before. She wasn’t just singing her hits, but she was leading the congregation in familiar gospel choruses. Some of them I was familiar with, others I wasn’t. But all of them were easy to sing and even easier to remember.

I was amazed at how the atmosphere changed as she wove her testimony through a series of simple, singable songs. I realized later that she and others were pioneering a worship form that’s familiar to everyone now-praise and worship. Before then it was either the deacons droning through a devotional service on Sunday, or “Father Abraham” and song service on Saturday. This was different and it caught on like wildfire.

Next week: James Cleveland, Thomas Whitfield and more. But enough about me. What are some of your favorite gospel concerts and concert memories?

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What Memphis Reminded Me

What Memphis Reminded Me

Yesterday brought back strong memories. I can still see the face of the television newscaster fighting back tears and announcing, “Dr. Martin Luther King is dead.” Just 10.5 miles from my home in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. King was cut down by an assassin’s bullet, April 4, 1968.

50 years later, I’m standing about 300 yards from the Lorraine Motel balcony where he was shot. Thousands of us have returned to that spot to remember that giant and that day. The speakers were amazing. Jesse Jackson, James Lawson, Sister Peace, William Barber and others walked us through the history of a civil rights movement that changed this nation. They pushed us toward the ballot box to continue the fight for change.

At 6:01 PM the bells began to toll and the crowd hushed. They recognized that at that very moment 50 years ago a shot rang out and King crumbled on the balcony. Moments later the mood changed as Al Green sang songs that lifted our spirits and launched us from that place, determined to keep the dream alive.

I announced that this week’s blog title would be, “ What Happened to My Hymns?” I’ll get to that next week. Being in that historic gathering yesterday in Memphis reminded me of a number of things. Some important. Some, not so much. Here are a few.

There is nothing quite like the Black Church

There was one thing that most of the civil rights leaders past and present had in common. They were children of the black church. Even the ceremony itself reminded me of the magic of that institution. At times like a lecture. At times like a revival.  The music, the preachers, the fraternities, the speeches, the emotion, community, the choirs. Then and now there’s nothing quite like it.

We don’t realize how good the Aeolians are!

Where did that come from? Well, I was listening to the national HBCU mass choir sing, “Beams of Heaven” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and it occurred to me that I was missing something.  What was it?  The Aeolians. The HBCU mass choir was fine and twice the size, but not even close!  It reminded me again why the Oakwood University Aeolians are the 2017 Choir of the World. I’m afraid we take them for granted.

The more things change, the more….they don’t! 

Dr. King was in Memphis in 1968 supporting city sanitation workers. They were underpaid, disrespected, and the targets of systematic racism. King died supporting workers. 50 years later, Memphis is 64% black but 88% of senior managers in the city are white. Those are plantation percentages. The problems of crime and poverty and unemployment plague the city, but the downtown area is a growing shrine to gentrification. There’s work to do.

Movements are messy, and leaders are flawed. 

King was no choir boy. The leaders of the civil rights movement- male and female- were a mixed bag of energy, ideas, courage, and cowardice.  They were deeply flawed, but like the early Christian church they turned their world upside down. If you’re looking for a perfect movement, you’ll be waiting.

Friends come in all colors 

The bells tolled at 6:01 pm. It was the most important moment of the rally yesterday. Ironically, the speaker at that time was not a black pastor or politician, but a white Roman Catholic priest, Michael Pflegar. He has been an important player in the black community for years in Chicago. He wasn’t a token, he earned his spot.

The crowd began to boo when the mayor of Memphis and governor of Tennessee-both white- began to speak.  On the surface it seemed like a racial statement. But the jeers turned immediately to cheers when congressman Steve Cohen followed them. He has been a warrior of a representative for the black community-and he is white. You might not want to identify the friends or enemies of a movement by the color of their skin.

Our ancestors did more with less 

I was struck by the fact that most of the “builders” on the platform were in their golden years. They were recognized for the colleges, businesses, fraternities, and service organizations they had sacrificed to build. I’m afraid that sacrifice is a profanity to many in my world. We usually worship in churches and study in universities that our parents and grandparents built at great sacrifice. Of course, there is the problem of debt and the declining dollar. But the greater problem is a black community that is at times all talk and no action.

The power for change is still the power of God 

To the natural eye, the answers to the problems in the black community are obvious: economic investment, quality education, voter registration, etc. Those are powerful and legitimate answers. But James Lawson and the senior statesmen of the movement reminded us yesterday, that while we are pursuing those legitimate resources, the real answer comes, “not by might, nor by power” but by God’s spirit and power. Sound silly? I’d rather do it the way King did it than the way the scoffers and complainers aren’t doing it!

So those are a few of my thoughts about King and the movement. What do you think?