Running With Cheese

Chicago

Wednesday we fly to Chicago and attend a midweek service at the Evangel World Outreach Center (Assemblies of God) where the newly promoted Pastor Tony Backhouse (well, that’s how I was introduced) led his group in two songs. We received a tumultuous response, partly I think because our a cappella traditional approach was an antidote to the other music in the church: highly repetitive modern songs often consisting of only a few words (which were nonetheless displayed on the screen) of the homogeneous sort that you could find in any pentecostal church, black or white, around the world.
    Thursday, we attend a rehearsal by the Apostolic Faith Church Massed Choir, 60 voices, (SAT with the odd second tenor)– gorgeous, soaring, passionate. When I hear a sound as fervent and beautiful as this, I wonder why I bother trying to direct choirs...the African American sacred tradition encourages, well, demands a level of commitment, volume, vocal extravagance and physicality that is beyond dazzling.
    Friday, I take the group to the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia where my friend Suzanne Flandreau organises for us to watch old TV footage, and gives us a talk on the history of gospel music. Saturday, I’ve lost my voice. I blame all the different air-conditioning environments. So I isolate, and let the group get on with it – they end up performing at a little local festival, Groovin’ on the Grove, with Phil H at the helm.
    Our last day in Chicago is the most demanding: an 8am service at Apostolic Faith(their choir is, as before, outstanding), an 11am service at Trinity UCC (Barack Obama’s old church) where the youth choir sang charmingly, then lunch with our friend singer JP Olson, (who, among other events over the years, organised for us to be on TV in Memphis last week) who gave me a copy of her new book on vocal health Voices out of the Box.
    From there, we went to an amazing program, the Douglas Singers’ anniversary at the very funky new Greater True Light Church (which looks like an old warehouse or office building), lasting from 4.30 pm until at least 9pm. A classic quartet program, gorgeous suits and uniforms and soul food for sale.


The Jubilee Travellers whip it out - the first quartet I've seen with a harmonica. For lack of a better word, 'bluesy'.

All the quartets honouring the Douglas Singers (the Walker Singers, the Brown Singers, the Jubilee Travellers and more) were staggeringly brilliant (if loud). Our group (billed as the Band of Angels) sang really well—I find it such an honour to sing at these events. Then the Douglas Singers came on, resplendent in royal blue, and blew our minds. The intensity, the groove, the interplay and communication between these six women, all phenomenally powerful soloists who bore down on the songs with all their might—it was beyond intense. Beyond intense.


Douglas Singers


It's almost possible to upstage the Douglas Singers if you're a tiny kid with a big guitar

New York

    Then Monday brought us the peak moment (for me anyway) on the tour. Having flown to New York that day, we went down the East Village in the evening for the Lavender Light Gospel Choir rehearsal. I last saw them 10 tears ago, and while they’e a smaller choir these days they sound superb. Every other superlative I’ve applied to other choirs applies to Lavender Light—and as well, they have a more evident sense of community and compassion. After working on a new song, they invited us to sit among them and sing with them (total fun), then they asked us to sit so they could sing to us. Now they sang Rev Paul Morton’s song Be blessed with deep feeling, directly from their hearts to ours. The chorus: ‘I pray for you, you pray for me—and watch God change things.’ I was brought to tears. We sang Shine on me to them, and they responded very affectionately and joyfully. Followed by hugs and cake all round. They are really inspiring—and without being church-based are an inspiring model for singing, community, service and outright love. I’m indebted to their general manager, my friend Maria-Elena Grant, for organising us to visit.
    Tuesday was a day of workshops in Harlem (gospel music history, voice, conducting, and the development of modern gospel choirs) run by my old friend Rev Henry Harrison from the Baptist House of Prayer and other local pastors as part of their Reach Week program. Reach Week brings together all cultures, there were Japanese, German and Costa Rican singers there all soaking up it all up, and my members got a lot out of the workshops.
    Wednesday, the Addicts’ Rehabilitation Center Choir’s lunchtime Hour of Power up at Metropolitan Methodist Church in Harlem (powerful) and an entertaining dinner with Phil and Lavender Light’s director Ray Gordon and Maria-Elena.


TB, Mara-Elena, Phil, Ray

    Thursday, we rehearsed in Central Park (should have put the hat out, we got so much attention) then subwayed up to Harlem again for the ARC Choir’s rehearsal. I’ve been to their rehearsals before, but not for 10 years. Director James Allen, while he’s grown a little old and frail, is still a powerful presence. He may have a  strong sense of community and a sense of humour, but he’s not to be trifled with. After a couple of songs, Dr Allen had us sing with them on Ride on King Jesus/the storm is passing over, then he asked me to teach them something. We sang Well well well and Steal away with them, then our group and the ARC choir sang together on a couple more uptempo numbers of theirs: we all ended up dancing, shouting, celebrating together in some deep vocal groove...extraordinary. My thanks to Dr Allen, to Lisa Singleton, Derek and all ARC members for their generosity.


Dr Allen calms the ocean

    Friday night, everyone went to see Aretha at Radio City Hall  (a mixed experience, I heard) and I slipped off to the Fat Cat, a pool hall with live music. First up a Black a cappella group singing Up on the roof, indistinguishable from the Black a cappella group on the street singing Up on the roof—I mean, very good but not thrilling. Stuck around for Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens‘ brand of soul gospel, which suffered by comparison with all we’ve heard recently. Hot singing,  good band, but not great. Well, this kind of music really works best in a church context, it doesn't take off when the audience is a riot of beer-drinking young whites who wouldn't bother to go uptown to hear a gospel quartet in church.
   Saturday, the group was one of the many choirs singing at an outdoor gospel concert in Harlem, part of the Reach Week program. A hot day and a distorted sound system gave me a headache, I left to go eat Caribbean tucker after the Reach Week massed choir (African-American, German, Japanese, Costa Rican etc.) who were not served well by the sound system or the blinding volume of the keyboards. Why is it that church keyboardists insist on playing louder than the singers? To be fair, some like Walter Hamilton at Bethlehem MBC, can get a little diplomatic when accompanying a soloist, but more often pianists and organists pound away at max vols even when teaching a song. I give up. That night, Marianne, my mother-in-law Mary and step-daughter Cristy arrived, we had a quiet night away from the tour group, and something approaching an early night.
   Sunday, the last day of the tour, we were in Baptist House of Prayer. We gave our final performance of the tour to a rapturous (or exceedingly generous) congregation. Marianne joined the altos, and ex-COTGOS member Andrew Dempster (there by synchronicity) joined the basses for the three songs. Carrying on the Reach Week mandate, a Japanese girl sang a spirited and impressive solo, and we had a German preacher, who did pretty well. .BHOP's band had an excellent organist, hallelujah, Gary, also gifted with a wiry tenor voice that pushed us through nearly an octave's worth on modulations on one congregational. There were some intense moments during the morning, the energy was high and some church members really got the spirit. A great finale to the tour—thanks to Rev. Henry Harrison, Rev. Terrance Kennedy and all at BHOP. Actually the finale was the farewell dinner at the excellent Monte's Trattoria that night, which predictably involved speechifying, singing and drinking.
   Thanks to Babette, Jules and Jelena for all your efforts to make the tour the wonderful event it became, and to all the tour group for your bravery, encouragement, supportiveness and hard work. Shine on!