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Mahalia
Jackson
Mahalia Sings the Songs of Christmas!
By Steven G. Fullwood
I have always been moved by the voice of Mahalia Jackson. She sings with
authority, grace and sublime simplicity. Hers is a voice of truth, daunting and sure. Ms
Jackson doesn't sing a song--she inhabits it.
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On Mahalia Sings the Songs of Christmas!, Ms Jackson gives
you first rate hymnals, carols and gospel songs that resonate with exceptional power.
Included in this collection are songs recorded at three sessions in 1955, 1962 and in
1968. The most soul chilling are the songs culled from the earliest session. On most of
these songs, Lionel Hampton, Robert Price and one hellified piano player named Mildred
Falls, accompany Ms Jackson. Here, her heavenly voice reigns supreme. She tears into such
classics as "No Room at the Inn," "The Holy Babe," and "Go Tell
it On the Mountain." .
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For me, Sister Mahalia's voice was the soundtrack of the
Civil Rights Movement. As she sings "Go Tell it On the Mountain," black and
white images of adamant demonstrators, water hoses, police with guns and dogs, Martin
Luther King's funeral and four girls in a church flood my mind. Her delicate phrasing is
precise--her aim sure, steady and accurate.
Every song on Mahalia Sings the Songs of Christmas!, is showered with Mahalia's abundant
love. Something about her voice makes me cry. On "A Star Stood Still (Song of the
Nativity)," she wraps her arms around the song--and you--and rocks gently, all time
whispering, "it'll be alright, baby, it'll be alright."
M
December 1999
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