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The History of The Black Gospel Quartet In Memphis-Elvis Home

Pioneer Quartets In Memphis

The Black Quartet has been a part of african american history since the days of slavery.

Memphis, Tennessee has been and still is a mecca for the black quartet and it’s music. Although Memphis is in the state of Tennessee, it borders Arkansas and Mississippi. It takes only fifteen minuets to cross over into either state.

In the post slavery days, many blacks migrated from Mississippi and Arkansas, to Memphis in hopes of a better life, however, entertainment was limited for blacks in those days.

The primary source of entertainment was "Blues" and Gospel "quartet" music. Many parents would not let their children sing the blues so quartet or choir was the only alternative but for the men, quartet was the outlet of choice. Few, if any, men wanted to wear a robe!

The oldest quartet in Memphis is a group called "The Spirit Of Memphis". This group is still singing today, yet only one original member is still active.
The second oldest quartet in Memphis is a group called "The Singing Southern Jubilee’s". This group was organized in 1937 and is still active today. There is one remaing original in this group also. The group released a new project (CD) and this 81 year old original member is featured as the lead vocalist on the title cut, "I’m on my way to Heaven", number 5 on the cd. The group maintains the old school harmony that includes a bass vocalist who is featured on number’s 7 and 10 on the cd.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/tssj

Gospel quartet singing is alive and well in Memphis, just ask any of the groups that travel around the country. It is said that "if you can’t sing, Don’t come to Memphis"!
Memphis has over 50 inter-city groups and 95% are recording artist that for one reason or another prefer not to go national but are well qualified. Any weekend of the year you can find some Good quartet singing in Memphis. Come see us.

Clarence W. Benjamin
Hear The Singing Southern Jubilee’s
http://cdbaby.com/cd/tssj

About the Author

Been in the gospel quartet field since the late 60’s. Worked with groups in the states of Fla., NC. and now TN. Lead guitarist and baritone singer and some lead. I am from a musical family, my youngest sister is a lead vocalist for the GA. Mass Choir. One of 8 siblings. Home is a small Fla. town, Palatka, FL. Currently residing in Memphis, TN.. the home of "Elvis" and the Blues.

Author Clarence Benjamin

Ever since some cognitive human beings have set foot on Earth, music has greatly taken part of their lives. The folks belonging to the days of yore created their own musical arrangements by plucking strings and hitting things like wood, hide, or stone. The sounds of nature have also served as one pleasant musical sound for them. They undoubtedly took pleasure listening to the sound of the waterfalls, the animals, and even the weather-related reverberations.

Music has then taken a further course. Throughout the passing of time, people have invented creative means of creating music. From the schools to the churches, there is music. The music industry has also created varied genres of music for all occasions.

You will often see or hear people preaching about the word of God. The gospel of the Lord is being delivered through the means of other people who serve as His own instruments. Simply listening to His words enlightens your spirit, right? God has often reminded His people to love one another as he loves everyone. He places every creation he has made under His care. Although every person has been created in His image and likeness, still no one leads a perfect life. To put it in a much simpler term, no one is as perfect as God is.

One’s spirituality and faith can thus be manifested by several means. Reading the bible, following the ten commandments of God, praying, singing gospel music, and attending mass are among the typical ways by which one’s spirituality is nourished. They often say that those who sing praise twice. Thus, by singing the gospel music, you are praising twice!

What is gospel music?

Gospel music is a religious music that contains the word of God. Gospel music is at all times used as one medium to praise God Almighty. In varying tunes and arrangements, gospel music can always be heard during the celebration of the mass, praise and worship activities, and healing mass.

There is no limit as to the use of gospel music. You can even make it as your morning praise habit. You can listen to it while driving your car. Or you can let it resound in your house. Some gospel music singers perform the genre in nightclubs and secular settings. These days, more and more gospel music are hence becoming danceable therefore making the enlightening of the spirit more effective.

The Roots of Gospel Music

The gospel music was first popularized by the African-American churches way back in the 1930s. Two styles of the gospel music emerged in those days—that of the black people and that of the white southerners. Despite the two separate styles, gospel music still traces its roots from the Methodist hymnal. There came a time when the artists from the two separate categories sang the gospel music of each other.

The onset of gospel music has marked a phenomenon in America regardless of the distinction between the while and black churches. Indeed, gospel music has reached Australia that gave birth to the gospel choirs of Jonah and The Whalers and The Elementals plus the beginning of the Australian Gospel Music Festival. Norway also gave rise to both the Oslo Gospel Choir and the Ansgar Gospel Choir.

The Influences of Gospel

The trendy pop music had greatly influenced the gospel artists. In turn, gospel music has also influenced the rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s up to the 1950s.
Gospel music has reached the peek of its popularity. Until now, several other gospel musical artists are gaining their own fame for the genre and a lot other patrons are getting drawn on them.

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The name conjures up an image of a mixed choir of men and women, all scrubbed up to perfection (but, in the case of the women, without makeup) and with not a hair out of place. They’re all wearing robes - a long coloured one underneath and a white one over the top (if you want to be really technical, they’re called a chasuble and an alb in old Episcopalian and Catholic circles). They may or may not hold hymn sheets as they sing their gospel songs, but there’ll be a choir leader conducting and possibly singing him/herself.

This choral picture is certainly the classic one of gospel music, particularly for those who are involved in a church. Those who haven’t been along to a church lately may think that all church music is gospel music, except, perhaps, for the old hymns accompanied by a massive pipe organ and sprinkled liberally with thees and thous.

This isn’t the case. In many modern churches, particularly the more charismatic ones, the music tends to be played/led by a drum-bass-guitar(s)-keyboard-vocals band that looks and sounds pretty much like your average everyday rock band, except the lyrics are Christian.

While gospel songs are most definitely Christian music, not all Christian songs are gospel songs, even though the secular media frequently confuses the two.

Gospel music and gospel songs proper are a tradition that came out of the black churches of the old days. Those who have read Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird will have read the description of "lining" where the choir leader reads or says the next line before the choir sings it. Although this tradition began because of a lack of songbooks and/or illiteracy in the congregation, it has remained a hallmark of gospel songs.

Gospel songs were popularised by signers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson, the latter of whom took gospel songs outside the church walls and to a wider audience, although their songs were not always performed in the traditional choral style.

Other artists who sang gospel songs to mass audiences were those who accompanied the great evangelists to their rallies and sang gospels songs during the altar calls or before the preaching began. The most famous of these gospel song singers is George Beverly Shea, who accompanied Billy Graham around the world on his crusades.
Popular gospel songs include some that were originally traditional hymns of the Episcopalian/Anglican tradition such as "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art", "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (the last of these was originally a German drinking song given new words by Martin Luther).

Gospel songs with a more traditional "black spiritual" feel to them include "The Old Rugged Cross", "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" and the classic "Kumbyah, My Lord".

But gospel songs continue to be written and sung. Some of these are written specifically for singing in the classic gospel song style; others are modern worship songs that are adapted for the choral style.

About the Author

frank j vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.gospel-songs-lyrics.com 2 Gospelsongslyricscom

Author Frank Vanderlugt

Today the contemporary gospel music uses guitars, keyboard, piano, drums and brass instruments for their sound. One can usually tell during the ballads how Jazz chord harmonies are used in the keyboard and piano. The harmony in Barbershop music like Jazz came from the African American Black gospel church community which use close four part harmony without accompaniment. This particular style of music without accompaniment is known as capella. The Mills Brothers were popular Jazz musicians who learned how this harmonization in the barbershop owned by their father.

The aesthetic appeal can be found in how each part of the music makes one feel once heard. All the different elements from the lyrical content to the kaleidoscope of colorful harmony to the depth of the mood provides its own ambiance of sound.

Cool Jazz - From the latter 1940’s and 1950’s a softer more gentle style of Jazz of both bop and swing with arranged harmonies that are present in Jazz ballads today.
The chromatic sound of the music allows the musician to freely play each of the twelve tones of the instruments without restriction. Musicians were able to play substitute chords as well as altered chords that could change the key of the piece in a whim. The change in rhythm became more discreetly energetic in sound which is used predominantly in Jazz music today. For instance, the cymbal was hit in beat of a 1+a 2+ a 3 +a 4 +a while the snare and bass drum are suddenly hit without warning.

Soul Jazz- From the late 1950’s, a style of music that derived from gospel and soul using the tenor saxophone, repetition with melodic groove hooks, and less intricate improvisation that occurred over the chordal harmonies. The music from the popular radio artist of the time known as Ramsey Lewis wrote "The In Crowd" a hit in 1965. Souls Jazz music signature was powerful bass lines and changing tempo of the song.

Jazz music today

Jazz music has evolved to the point where basic signature of the style has minimized into an influential element. For example, the Jazz music of the 80’s electronica music of IDM which stand for Intelligent Dance Music where such artists like Bjourk is known for. The drum and bass is another form of electronica that does not use the typical improvisation that is one of the key elements of Jazz music. In fact, this is not thought of as Jazz music at all, but a style that was influenced by Jazz music.

Rhythm and Blues music is a product of Jazz music that describes funk and soul. The musicians who successfully made their mark with this sound of jazz, boogie-woogie gospel, bebop and blues reinvented R&B into contemporary styles. Artist such as Robert Palmers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Keith Sweat, Mariah Carey, En Vogue, Guy, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Levert, Teddy Riley, Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, Lauren Hill, Brian McKnight, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are a few of the many people who’ve made this music popular. Later on Pop artist like Pink, Britney Spears and Gwen Stephanie used R&B musical elements in their songs. The wheel of the evolvement of Jazz music keeps turning into new styles, yet turns back at different times toward the root where it began.

About the Author

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Author Goodness Maseko

Once confined to the churches, Gospel music has now gone almost completely mainstream, and thanks to the efforts of stars like Amy Grant and Kirk Franklin, experts say faith-based music will become even more popular as the new millennium progresses.

"Like the blues, gospel will become part of the fabric of American music and will become synonymous with American music," says scholar and performer Horace Clarence Boyer. "It will be heard in elevators, over telephones, in department stores, movies and commercials."

Of late, big business has embraced the gospel genre, according to a recent article on Washington Post.com. "There’s been a growing interest in this faith-based market from mainstream corporate America," Max Siegel, president of Sony’s Zomba Gospel label, was quoted as saying in the article. "Initially there was a lot of hesitation due to the religious nature of it. A lot of companies liked to stay neutral, and no one could say exactly what the benefit would be. But the federal government has made faith-based initiatives acceptable," he said. The article noted that in 2004, African American gospel singers sold $140 million worth of CDs.

Siegel went on to not that in the past, the advertisers most interested in reaching this market were small church-based entrepreneurs — Christian book authors and small-time recording artists. But as the genre evolved from Mahalia Jackson singing sweet hymns in a choir robe to singers performing holy hip-hop for sold-out concerts in huge sports arenas, corporations noticed.

Both Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble have signed on as advertisers to the newly launched Gospel Music Channel, which turned out to be the fastest growing cable network in 2007, now viewed in 22 million households. "We were very ambitious in our projections for the channel’s cable growth this year," Said Charles Humbard, founder and president of GMC, in a press release." To exceed those goals by nearly double reflects both the strong desire of the cable operators to provide their customers with positive, family-friendly and inspiring music television programming."

The GMC release pointed out that the key catalyst for the network’s growth has been its ongoing commitment to producing original programming. "Gospel Music Channel has become the largest producer of original Gospel/Christian music television in the world, producing more than 200 hours of concerts, series, specials and video, producing all new content in High Definition," said the release. "Most recently, GMC premiered a new weekly series, The Kitchen Sink, an hour-long music performance, news, entertainment and variety program; the only national show of its kind featuring Christian and gospel music." The show is a combination of live in-studio performances by top artists, interviews, world premiere videos, the latest entertainment news and previews, undiscovered new talent, inspiring feature stories and more.

Gospel music is also featured on the oldest gospel station, Gospel Music Television, out of Gainesville, Texas, and Black Entertainment Television, which hosts a show called "Gospel Explosion," a premier showcase for new gospel songs. It seems that no matter where you look on the musical landscape today, you’ll find gospel music–praise the Lord!

Whether it’s southern bluegrass, soul or Christian gospel songs, you can find an array of faith-based tunes on the Web, at sites like Ez-Tracks.com. As you can tell by its abundance, gospel music is fast becoming a part of the mainstream and a musical experience anyone can appreciate.

About the Author

I have been a professional writer for twenty years and have written for publications ranging from The New York Times to Newsweek.

Author EZ-Tracks

If you’ve ever listened to blues music and jazz piano, then you must have noticed the similarities that both genres share with black gospel piano lessons. Quite often, the most significant difference between gospel piano and blues or jazz is the tempo, pitch or chords! We don’t mean to suggest that these genres are exactly alike however.

We mean to instead, underscore that the philosophies or motivations behind these styles are alike and they contribute to their resemblances.

Gospel piano shares deep roots with blues and jazz in that it originated from a desire to break from existing styles — styles that bore strong classical and patriotic American themes. It differs from blues and jazz however because of its spiritual and historical connotations. In the far past, gospel piano accompanied lyrics that both (1) worshipped and (2) instructed slaves out of slavery.

Gospel May Indicate A Greater Significance

This gives gospel music a greater significance for specific groups of people and as a gospel pianist, you’ll need to prepare yourself for this importance. With traditional piano, lesson preparation usually entails little more than a few finger exercises and a strong desire to learn. With gospel piano, lesson preparation may necessitate prayer, meditation, or any other type of exercise that’s relaxing.

The Gospel Pianist’s Role

This is because the gospel pianist is put into an important position. On one hand, he is a musician. On the other hand, he is a deliverer. The gospel pianist’s role is to deliver his audience into a higher state of consciousness so that it may reach a spiritual awareness or recognizing. As a vehicle of this distribution, the gospel pianist must also deliver the right rhythms and tones that will enable a divine transformation. Pianists who are tense, nervous, or unsure about playing the piano can not adequately facilitate this transference.

Understanding The Role Is Essential To Preparation

Understanding the important role of the gospel pianist then is essential to preparation. To fulfill this role, some go to the length of getting a spiritual cleansing before they play. Others will pray over the instrument and its music, while others may participate in a group meditation. We can not tell you in good faith what is extreme and what isn’t because the perspectives vary. What’s adequate preparation to one gospel pianist is extreme to the other (and vice versa).

So the most important thing that you can do is recognize your role as a spiritual administrator and then find a comfortable method of fulfilling that role. Every external event — whether positive or negative — can influence the way that you learn and play the music. Stress factors will not only work against you and cause frustration, they’ll also prevent you from absorbing the messages that your lessons try to teach.

About the Author

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Author Brian Shelton

Music has a universal language and it can express any emotion and feeling. Music says different things for different people, but the universally acknowledged thing is that music can express anything. Gospel music is a kind of music that is traditionally been sung to express faith, devotion and praise to god. The genre of gospel music is characterized by dominant vocals and strong use of harmony of a religious nature. Gospel music is more particular to Christianity. Gospel music was created by the exponents of African American churches during the 1930s. Gospel music is said to have originated during the enslavement of the African. At that time they were not allowed to pray openly and even if they were permitted they had to do it with their masters. It is due to this, that they started to pray secretly, for organizing meetings unknown to others. Here they developed their own hymns and music for the prayers and later this came to be known as Gospel Music.

In Gospel Music, the instrument most commonly used is drum, electric guitar and electric bass guitar. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of the most popular gospel singers. She was extremely popular and remained so till the 40s when she drew huge number of fans from all walks of life to see her perform live the gospel songs for them. She performed live across several venues in the United States, so the reach of her music was huge and confined to some particular territories. Though gospel music was started by African Americans, but the hymns spread worldwide. Now you can find this music being played and sung all over the world. Gospel music has several genres which were developed by the lovers of this music in the last few years. The reach of music has always been world wide and Gospel Music is no exception to this.

The first category under gospel music is urban contemporary gospel music and this genre was popularized by the southern slaves who sang the song to praise their gods. In the20s artists like Arizona Danes and other prevailing preachers of Christianity made huge contributions towards making Gospel Music popular. They started making a record of gospel music in a style that molded traditional hymns with blues and boogie woogie style with the inclusion of drums and other musical instruments. Southern gospel is another category under gospel music which is also huge popular. Like all other forms of music Gospel Music has also evolved a lot over the years. Today many new instruments and sounds have been added to this form of music, and the basic idea behind this being to make the music popular.

Some bands like The Mike and Kelly Bowling group, the Crabb family, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and the Three Brides have incorporated the new beats and style to this song. They perform regularly and that too to sell out crowds. A number of radio stations also broadcast Gospel Music making this a popular form of music among the younger generation of today.