| Artist: | Mahalia Jackson |
Mahalia Jackson (1911 – 1972) was the preeminent gospel singer of the 20th century, her career spanning from about 1931 to 1971. She began singing in church as a child in New Orleans, then moved to Chicago as an adolescent and joined Chicago's first gospel group, the Johnson Singers. By demand, she began to sing solo at funerals and political rallies. For about 15 years, Jackson toured a circuit of churches and revivals spreading gospel blues throughout the U.S. working odd jobs to make a living. Her first recordings were made in 1931, produced by the owner of a funeral parlor in Chicago where Jackson often sang, although these have been lost.
In 1937, Jackson recorded four singles for Decca Records, a company focusing on blues and jazz. The sales were weak and she was asked to record blues and she refused, a decision she made repeatedly throughout her life. Nine years later, she attracted the attention of Apollo Records, a small company catering to black artists and audiences. She recorded four singles for them and again they did not perform well, but the fifth one, "Move On Up a Little Higher", sold two million copies and reached the number two spot on the Billboard charts in 1947, new achievements for gospel music. Based on that success, Jackson released 71 singles in total with Apollo between 1946 and 1954. Her recordings with Decca and Apollo are widely considered defining of gospel blues: they consist of traditional Protestant hymns, spirituals, and songs written by contemporary songwriters such as Thomas A. Dorsey and W. Herbert Brewster. The earliest are sparsely accompanied by piano and organ although Apollo added acoustic guitar, bass, drum, and backup vocalists in the early 1950s.
Jackson was the first gospel artist to sign with Columbia Records, then the largest recording company in the U.S., in 1954. At Columbia, Jackson released 28 albums between 1955 and 1972, the year of her death. Columbia expanded her repertoire to include songs considered generally inspirational and patriotic which were interspersed with the hymns and gospel songs similar to the ones she sang at Apollo. Though her early records at Columbia had a sound similar to her Apollo records, the music accompanying Jackson at Columbia later included orchestras, electric guitars, backup singers, and drums, the overall effect of which was more closely associated with light pop music. She was marketed similarly to jazz musicians, but her music at Columbia ultimately defied categorization. Nonetheless, Jackson won the first Grammy Award for gospel music in 1961 and the second in 1962. Three of her songs have been included in the Grammy Hall of Fame, including "Move On Up a Little Higher" which was also added to the National Recording Registry in 2005. Jackson received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. She was a staple on American television in the 1950s and 1960s. She hosted The Mahalia Jackson Show that ran locally in Chicago for a few months in 1955, and appeared as a guest on many national programs. She sang in four films between 1958 and 1964 and appeared in concert halls around the world while making regular appearances at black churches in the U.S. She estimated that she sold 22 million records in her lifetime.[1] Jackson's success ushered the "Golden Age of Gospel" between 1945 and 1965, allowing dozens of gospel music acts to tour and record.
| Song titles | Accompaniment | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 |
| If any, unknown | Jackson's agent, a funeral director named Bob Miller, arranged for her to record at a studio on Jackson Boulevard in Chicago with the intention of selling copies at National Baptist Convention meetings. According to Miller, "We'd take our bundle and the master, so we could get additional ones pressed--I don't think we ever did, but we could have. We cut quite a few." Biographer Laurraine Goreau only mentions the title "You Better Run, Run, Run" from this session. No copies of these recordings have been found.[2] |
| Date | Song titles | Accompaniment | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 3, 1946 |
| Rosalie McKenny, piano | ||
| September 12, 1947 |
| James Lee, piano; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ | "Move On Up a Little Higher" reaches No. 2 for two weeks on Billboard charts, sells two million;[4] inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998,[5] and added to the National Recording Registry in 2005[6] "Even Me" sells one million[7] | |
| December 10, 1947 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ; Samuel Patterson, guitar | "Dig A Little Deeper" sells almost one million | |
| July 15, 1949 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ; Samuel Patterson, guitar | "I Can Put My Trust in Jesus" wins Grand Prix du Disque from Académie Charles Cros[8] | |
| January 12, 1950 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ | "Just Over the Hill" sells one million[9] | |
| September 11, 1950 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Louise Weaver and Herbert "Blind" Frances, organ | ||
| October 17, 1950 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Louise Weaver, organ | ||
| July 7, 1951 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Kenneth Morris, organ; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ | ||
| March 21, 1952 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Herbert "Blind" Francis, organ; the Southern Harmonaires, vocals; Unknown bass and drums | "In the Upper Room" sells one million[10] | |
| May 5, 1953 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Unknown organ, drums, and bass; Melody Echoes, vocals | ||
| August 8, 1953 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Unknown organ, guitar, bass, and drums; Melody Echoes, vocals | ||
| October 9, 1953 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Unknown organ; Belleville Choir, vocals | ||
| October 12, 1953 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Unknown organ, guitar, and drums; Melody Echoes, vocals | ||
| June 10, 1954 |
| Mildred Falls, piano; Unknown organ, bass, percussion, and tenor saxophone |
| Album title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 |
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| 1956 |
| Bless This House includes "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012 | |
| 1959 |
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| 1960 |
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| 1961 |
| Album wins first ever Grammy Award for Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording category;[11] re-released as Best Loved Spirituals CS 8443 in 1995 (CD) | |
| 1962 |
| Great Songs of Love and Faith receives Grammy Award for Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording | |
| 1963 |
| Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord nominated for Grammy Award; re-released in 1972 as Lord Don't Let Me Fall Harmony KH 31111 (Vinyl) | |
| 1964 |
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| 1966 |
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| 1967 |
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| 1968 |
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| 1969 |
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| 1971 |
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| 1972 |
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| Album title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 |
| Includes "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010 | |
| 1962 |
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| 1967 |
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| 1968 |
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| Album title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 |
| Collaboration with Duke Ellington; Jackson performs improvisation of the 23rd Psalm |
| Album title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 |
| Includes "Closer to Me", "I Can Put My Trust In Jesus", and "Bless This House" | |
| 1963 |
| All Star Festival includes "Nobody But You, Lord"; When They Brought Down the House includes "A City Called Heaven" | |
| 1965 |
| Includes "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" | |
| Unknown |
| Includes "When the Saints Go Marching In" | |
| Unknown |
| Includes "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" |
| Album title | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 |
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| 1958 |
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| 1959 |
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| 1961 |
| Formally titled Apollo Records Requests the Honor Of Your Presence At the Command Performance Of Mahalia Jackson Re-Creating Her European Concert Tour although the tracks included Jackson's Apollo recordings up to 1954 as opposed to material from her 1961 European tour | ||
| 1962 |
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| 1968 |
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| 1972 |
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| 1973 |
| The Life I Sing About includes four music tracks and spoken word interviews of Jackson recalling her childhood in New Orleans | ||
| 1976 |
| How I Got Over receives Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance | ||
| 1977 |
| Re-released in 1989 as a CD Columbia P 14358 | ||
| 1979 |
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| 1981 |
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| 1991 |
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| 1992 |
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| 1993 |
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| 1994 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1996 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1998 |
| Re-released in 2002 as Gospel Christmas With Mahalia Jackson – Silent Night | ||
| 2004 |
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| 2016 |
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| Unknown dates |
| Mahalia! Kenwood SLP 504 (Vinyl)
| Apollo's and Colortone's versions of The World's Greatest Gospel Singer have different track listings |