Got to Tell it: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel

by Jules Schwerin

Mahalia Jackson was one of the greatest gospel singers America has ever known, the woman who almost singlehandedly brought black gospel from the churches of Chicago into the public eye. In her pink, floor-length organza gown, her black beehive piled high atop her head, and her foot-stomping,
hip-swaying style, Mahalia was gospel personified. And whether she was singing in a local church, performing at Harlem's Golden Gate, or appearing on The Dinah Shore Show , her spiritual bewitchery and monumental voice were sure to lift the souls of those listening into an astonishing state of
grace.
Now, Jules Schwerin, the producer of Mahalia Jackson's Grammy award-winning record for best gospel and soul in 1976 and the creator of a highly acclaimed film documentary on Mahalia, brings us a firsthand account of the Queen of Gospel, based on his interviews with Mahalia. We hear Mahalia as
she remembers the local preacher who influenced her "There was a way that he would preach, would have a singing tone in his voice, that was sad. And it done something to me....It is the basic way that I sing." We follow Mahalia to Chicago, where her partnership with Thomas A. Dorsey (the
Father of Gospel) brought her local fame, and where a young disc jockey named Studs Terkel invited her to appear on his radio program, successfully introducing her and gospel music to the airwaves. (As he recalls, "Watching her in a church...her relationship to the congregation was something to
experience. You didn't forget the call-and-response, the give-and-take; she didn't sing with her voice alone, it's the body, the hands, the feet.") We hear her sing at the Montgomery, Alabama, boycott for Rosa Parks (the woman who had refused to move from the white section of a bus). We feel her
performance of "I Been 'Buked and I Been Scorned" unite and uplift the thousands gathered at the Second March on Washington ("I reached out and touched a chord...lifted the rhythm to a gospel beat...and joy overflowed"). And we also encounter the other Mahalia, who became possessive and paranoid
about her earnings and who fired her longtime companion and accompanist Mildred Falls when she asked for a much-deserved raise.
Got To Tell It is the result of Schwerin's personal odyssey to reveal the Mahalia that he and those close to her came to know--a woman who could be at once warm and giving, and also cruel and unmerciful, but whose music would always bring joy and inspiration. Complete with a discography of
Mahalia's recordings, here is an unforgettable portrait of the woman who brought gospel to the world.

Genres: Music

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 1992

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminiscences of movie director Jules Schwerin who some three decades earlier tried to make a documentary about majestic Mahalia Jackson (who at the same time made far more prestigious cameo in "Imitation of life") and his own take on the world he knew nothing about. While being impressed and drawn to the Afro-American community and Gospel music, Schwerin can only be embarrassed for the brutality and harshness of 1950s racial segregation (when Mahalia drove him around New Orleans, he had to sit at the back so it appears she is driving her boss) but basically he is outsider peeking into another reality. Peppering his story with testimonies of other travellers on the same road, author unfortunately falls in the trap of listening embittered voices who were left in the dust behind Jackson's international success - often its just pure envy and jealousy, claiming she had changed and somehow metamorphosed into shrewd businesswoman.

It seems that even decades after her passing, people still try to understand such towering presence that Jackson was and easiest thing is to point at her humanity: look in her private life, she was not so holy as we think. Schwerin gleefully lists anecdotes and lists of situations where the stress of travelling life on the road, searching for accommodation, taking care of finances and performing made even "Queen of Gospel" curse and people are quick to recall how she kept cash in her bra, etc - what nobody can explain is where this magnificent spirit came from and how coming from the poorest part of town, this impoverished washerwoman made her way blazing trough the churches of US into international stages, led by her steely confidence and conviction. Really, Jules Schwerin, a hundred years from now, nobody will care for you and your opinions but the world will still listen Mahalia Jackson in awe.

[Andrew Coes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grest info about an American treasure.