Just Moving On Blog
Quartet Treasures # 18:
Quartet Treasures # 18: Hills, Mountains, Rivers and Valleys
Tomorrow (Wednesday February 3) a new episode of Quartet Treasures will go 'on air' at the Quartet Spot. The theme for this episode is Hills,Mountains, Rivers and Valleys. These references to geographical locations are strong metaphors and analogies usedin gospel music. There is always a (implicit)reference to places and situations in the Bible (Jordan River, CalvaryHill). The number of gospel songs about geographical locations is staggering. I've selected 22 of them ranging from the funky Jordan River by the World Wonders to the beautiful Mountain Railroad by Roscoe Robinson.This episode of Quartet Treasures will be repeated for two weeks on Wednesday and Sunday. You can check the schedule to see when it's 'on air'. You can listen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over the internet to The Quartet Spot playing a beautiful mix of Golden Age, Seventies and Today's gospel quartets. You can also click on The Quartet Spot Player in the sidebar.
Singing Corinthians - Sweet Home
Singing Corinthians - Sweet Home
This is the first blog entry written by Per Notini. Per runs the Gospel Friend label that is concentrating on The Golden Age of gospel music. Expect more contributions by Per in the future.
Brother Henderson/The Singing Corinthians of L.A.
The interest in black gospel has been invariably focused on the performers, as groups or individuals, or on the music as such. Seldom has there been much attention paid to the promotional or business aspects of black gospel. Yet, without the efforts of DJs, promotors, record producers and record company operators, many a great and promising group might have remained largely unknown. To be fair, researchers have recently made serious investigations into the lives of people - Hoyt Sullivan of HSE or Waymon Jones of Pitch are good examples - who instigated many gospel artists, giving them opportunities to wider exposure by recording their music, distributing their records etc. Today's blog presents the scattered facts about one such important "instigator", the little known Brother Henderson of Proverb Records in Los Angeles. I have chosen The Singing Corinthians of L.A. to represent Brother Henderson's record output, which started in the late 1950s and lasted into the early 1970s.
In the gospel field, Henderson was known as a religious DJ, a churchminister and a record producer. On his Proverb singles and LP records he always appears as the producer "Brother" Henderson. As a church man, his background is unusually intriguing. Between 1945 and 1953, he was"Duke" Henderson an r&b performer comparable to Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown. Henderson, whose real name has the initials S.C., recorded prolifically with such jazz luminaries as Lucky Thompson, Jack McVea and Wild Bill Moore for record companies Apollo, Swing Time and Imperial to name a few. But like his more famous colleague, Reverend"Gatemouth" Moore, who had a similar career, Henderson renounced his wicked blues-shouting past after a decade in the business.
Henderson's conversion from "´His Majesty of the Blues" (as he was once billed) to the simple"Brother" is probably pronounced in his own recording (from ca 1955) by"Brother Henderson's Spiritual Lambs" on the odd record R&B 1312 with titles "I Made up My Mind"/"Pass Me Not". Anyone with access to a copy of this obscure disc, please come forth on this blog!
According to the Hayes-Laughton discography, the first traces of Henderson as a gospel entrepreneur appears to be his late 1950s recordings by the Mighty Clouds of Joy, issued on his then newly launched Proverb label. Although the initial 45 disc had no. 100, Henderson added a zero number and continued Proverb in a 1000 series. The highest known number is Proverb 1045 by the Los Angeles Angels. Of the more prominent groups Henderson managed to record and release on Proverb were the Pilgrim Travelers. His office address was 5328 South Central Avenue in L.A. Around 1964 Henderson started a subsidiary label named Gospel Corner on which he released ca fifty 45s. He also issued LPs, ca half a dozen on Proverb and at least sixteen LP albums on Gospel Corner, starring such artists as Prince Dixon and the Sweet Singing Cavaliers(Cavaleers), all of which Henderson seems to have produced. His LP series survived into the 1970s on a distribution deal with Kent Records in L.A.
When"Brother" S.C. Henderson died in 1972 he left a sizeable catalogue of mostly quartet gospel. He was responsible for giving the Mighty Clouds of Joy their first break, before they signed with Peacock Records, and hence built a career of unparellelled dimensions. Although the SingingCorinthians of L.A. displayed the same powerful urgency as "The Clouds", they made only a handful of records for Henderson's Proverb, and two 45s on Song Bird and then vanished. The Singing Corinthians' style is reminiscent of the extremely dramatic singing of the early Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio and other"hard gospel" gospel groups of the 1960s. The names that appear on their Proverb 45s are likely some of the members of the "Corinthians",which include Allison, D. Traylor, D. Sonder and Mose Wilson. It is possible that the group was from the San Francisco area, as there is a reference in Ray Funk's "San Francisco Bay Quartets" to a group called The West Coast Corinthians. One of the Corinthians' special features ist heir piano interludes, which is conspicuous on the high-powered Sweet Home, the A side of their first 45, Proverb 1005. I welcome comments by anyone who has further information on the Singing Corinthians of L.A. or on Brother Henderson.
Gerald Sisters - Soon One Morning
Gerald Sisters - Soon One Morning
 | Last October I wrote a blog entry on dating HSE and other Hoyt Sullivan related releases.In that blog entry I promised to write more about it in 'the coming days'. A short delay and some fine blog entries further I'm back on the subject of dating HSE releases. I've gone through old issues of Billboard magazine and found this advertisement. It's in the issue of November 9 1974 and it is the oldest HSE advertisement I've found in Billboard so far. As HSE address it has 1707 Church Street, Nashville, Tenn. This ad is another piece of evidence that Sullivan moved into 1707 Church Street some time in 1974. It's also a solid piece of evidence that both advertised releases where released in 1974. But there is more. On the label of the Gerald Sisters 'When The Sun Goes Down'(HSE LP 1433) the address printed is 1707 Church Street, Nashville. On the back cover of the album the printed address is P.O. Box 1095, Greenwood, South Carolina. My conclusion is that Hoyt Sullivan moved his recording business back to Nashville in the second half of 1974 and that 'When The Sun Goes Down' (HSE LP 1433) was released in or just after this transition period. There is even more. In the issue of november 3 1973 Billboard printed a few lines stating that Horohr Music Co, P.O. Box 1095 Greenwood South Carolina was looking for more distributors. Horohr Music was Hoyt Sullivan's holding company for all his music related business. His other business interest was in the beauty products market, mainly hair products for African American women. |
Bogard Brothers - One More Time
Bogard Brothers - One More Time
I've selected the song "One More Time" the title song of their in 1980 released album. The album was recorded at the American Sound Studios, set up by Al Green in 1977. Al Green was a regular visitor to their concerts and after he became Reverend Al Green he booked the Bogard Brothers to sing at his Full Gospel Tabernacle, the church he has pastored since. The album "One More Time" (BBR LP1280) was later, without the permission of the Bogard Brothers released on One-Way as "I Know It Was The Blood" (One-Way LP0050).
Southern Faith Singers - Trouble In My Way
Southern Faith Singers - Trouble In My Way
UPDATE:
Within two hours after publishing this entry both John Glassburner and Big Joe Louis mailed additional information. BJL wrote that 1965 wasn't the date of recording but the date of the Jewel trademark registration. John mailed that according to the notes on the backcover of the Southern Faith Singers album on One-Way their Jewel 45 was their first and only recording prior to recording for One-Way. Thanks guys.
Supreme Angels - Soon I Will Be Done
Supreme Angels - Soon I Will Be Done
While looking for some Nashboro live recordings in my record collection I came across the album "An Evening With Slim & The Supreme Angels" (Nashboro LP7195). It has the look of a live album, it has the title of a live album. The only thing it doesn't have is live music. What it does have is a beautiful 7 1/2 minute version of 'Soon I Will Be Done'. That's another name given to the gospel standard 'I'm Going Home To Live With God'.
Quartet Treasures # 17: Savoy
Quartet Treasures # 17: Savoy
Tomorrow (Wednesday January 20) a new episode of Quartet Treasures will go 'on air' at The Quartet Spot. In the second half of 2009 Ray Meyers and I have been working on and off compiling a nearly complete Savoy Gospel album discography. I've uploaded the discography a few days ago to the website. For many people Savoy was not more (or less) than an outlet for all the James Cleveland related large choirs. It's true that a lot of releases on Savoy feature Choirs, but when you put them aside you will find that there was still a lot of excellent 'quartet' orientated gospel music released on Savoy. For this episode of Quartet Treasures I've selected 20 songs by 20 different artists. Among them there are Just Moving On favorites like Dorothy Love Coates, Roscoe Robinson, and the World Wonders.You can listen to Quartet Treasures every Wednesday and Sunday. You can check the Quartet Spot broadcast schedule to see when the show is 'on air' in your part of the world. The Quartet Spot is 24/7/365 'on air' serving a great mix of gospel quartets from the 1950s to the quartets of today. You can start listening to the Quartet Spot by clicking on the 'Quartet Spot Player' in the sidebar (near the bottom) of this blog.
Swan Mellarks - Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King
Swan Mellarks - Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King
Jackson Golden Airs - So Hard To Say Goodbye
Jackson Golden Airs - So Hard To Say Goodbye
I've uploaded both the D-Vine Spirituals and JCR discography to the website. The discographies aren't complete. All additions, corrections and contributions to the discographies and all information regarding the labels will be highly appreciated.
Golden Aires of Cincinnati - Gone The Last Mile
Golden-Aires of Cincinnati - Gone The Last Mile
Membership of the group at the time of recording "We That Know Him" (Champ LP1979) was: George Russell (vocals), Rev. Leon Hamner (vocals), Willie Collins (vocals), Charles Collier (rhythm guitar), David Reece (keyboards), Bill Johnson (steel guitar), Will Jackson (drums).