The Mahalia Jackson Reader
Published on 6. August 2020
Book
Hardback
472 pages
978-0-19-046165-2 (ISBN)
Description
Born in New Orleans before migrating to Chicago, Mahalia Jackson (1911-72) is undoubtedly the most widely known black gospel singer, having achieved fame among African American communities in the 1940s then finding a wide audience among non-black U.S. and international audiences after she signed with major label Columbia Records in 1954. The newest entry in OUP's celebrated Readers on American Musicians series,The Mahalia Jackson Readerplaces Jackson's musical performances and their reception against key changes in 20th-century America, changes that include transformations of the recorded music industry, the increasing visibility of the civil rights movement, a florescence of Cold War-era religiosity, and an explosion of popularity of black gospel music itself. Jackson's career combines parallel tracks as a black church singer and as a national pop celebrity, and makes her one of the most complex and important black artists of the postwar decades.
Gospel is a particularly challenging genre to study because of the paucity of sources. Becauseof Jackson's celebrity, there is more substantial coverage of her life and work than other gospel artists, but Jackson scholarship is still largely dependent on trade biographies from the 1970s for source material. For this reader, Mark Burford has gone beyond the standard biographies and has drawn from extensive archival research, including in the volume interview transcripts and the largely-untouched papers of Jackson's associate Bill Russell, who kept a journal tracking Jackson's activities from 1951 to 1955. The new sources - in particular Russell's notes - uniquely enable an assessment of the reciprocal relationship between the two careers Jackson pursued, essentially simultaneously: as an in-demand church singer in Chicago, and as a media star for a major network and recording label.
Gospel is a particularly challenging genre to study because of the paucity of sources. Becauseof Jackson's celebrity, there is more substantial coverage of her life and work than other gospel artists, but Jackson scholarship is still largely dependent on trade biographies from the 1970s for source material. For this reader, Mark Burford has gone beyond the standard biographies and has drawn from extensive archival research, including in the volume interview transcripts and the largely-untouched papers of Jackson's associate Bill Russell, who kept a journal tracking Jackson's activities from 1951 to 1955. The new sources - in particular Russell's notes - uniquely enable an assessment of the reciprocal relationship between the two careers Jackson pursued, essentially simultaneously: as an in-demand church singer in Chicago, and as a media star for a major network and recording label.
Reviews / Votes
Absorbing. * Brian Priestley, Jazzwise * The Mahalia Jackson Reader is a treasure trove of writings about a singer who was a monumental artist of black sacred music and a symbol of hope and strength for the civil rights movement. An amazing anthology that needs to be on the book shelf of anyone who is serious about the study of African American life and culture. * Gerald Early, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters, Washington University in St. Louis, and author of Motown and American Culture *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
869 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-046165-2 (9780190461652)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Mark Burford is Associate Professor of Music at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he is also chair of the American Studies program. His research and teaching focuses on twentieth-century popular music in the United States, with particular focus on African American music after World War II, and late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Austro-German concert music.
Content
PART I: Louisiana Roots
1. Mahalia Jackson and Evan McLeod Wylie: Gumstump (1966)
2. Mahala Jackson's Birth Certificate (1911)
3. Laurraine Goreau: Mahalia Jackson in New Orleans (1975)
4. Mahalia Jackson: Childhood Memories (1952)
5. Octavia Randolph: For the Record (1955)
6. U.S. Census: Mahaly Jackson at Aunt Duke's (1930)
PART II: Commentary, Conversation, and Critical Appraisal
7. Bucklin Moon: A Great Gospel Singer (1949)
8. Bernice Bass: Louisiana Cinderella (1951)
9. Evelyn Cunningham: Mahalia the Mystery (1954)
10. Marshall Stearns: Jazz, Metronome Sense, and Blue Tonality (1956)
11. Mason Sargent: Meet Mahalia Jackson (1954)
12. George T. Simon: A Veteran Gospel Singer Thinks Jazz Should Have a Soul but "Gospel Penetrates Deeper" (1954)
13. Nat Hentoff: You Can Still Hear Her Voice When the Music Has Stopped (1957)
14. Raymond Horricks: Mahalia's Emotional Performance at Newport Festival (1958)
15. Langston Hughes: Singer of Gospel Songs (1955)
16. Ralph Ellison: As the Spirit Moves Mahalia (1958)
17. Alex Haley: She Makes a Joyful Music (1961)
18. Malcolm X: "Fishing" and Filling Up at the Storefronts (1964)
19. Duke Ellington: Come Sunday (1973)
20. Studs Terkel: Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson (1973/2005)
21. Hans Rookmaaker: Visiting Mahalia Jackson (1962)
22. Hettie Jones: Mahalia Jackson (1974)
23. Whitney Balliett: Halie (1972 and 1975)
24. Leonard Feather: Mahalia and Her Principles (1962)
25. Leonard Feather: A Talk with Mahalia Jackson (1964)
26. Leonard Feather: Mahalia Keeps the Faith in Turbulent Times (1969)
27. Leonard Feather: Mahalia's Gospel Truth in Asia (1971)
28. Anthony Heilbut: Mahalia the Queen (1971)
PART III: Press Coverage
29. Evangelist in Recital at Cleveland (1938)
30. Honored by Dayton Gospel Fans (1952)
31. Rob Roy: Boy, the Ear Muffs, Those "Gospel" Discs are Here (1953)
32. George F. Brown: It's the Gospel Truth (1953)
33. Jack Saunders: Mahalia Jackson Raps "Glamour" Gospel Singing (1954)
34. Dawn Francis: Mahalia and Clara in Hot Contest of Gospel Singers (1955)
35. Langston Hughes: Gospel Singers and Gospel Swingers are Gone (1953)
36. Spiritual Artists Survive Great Slump-Others feel "Pinch" (1954)
37. Gospel Singing!...It's Big Business! (1955)
38. Bishop William Jacob Walls: Swinging Spirituals? (1960)
39. Review of "Since the Fire Started Burning in My Soul" b/w "In My Home Over There" (1951)
40. Mahalia Jackson and Sarah Vaughan (1951)
41. Mahalia Jackson Given Top French Music Award (1951)
42. Ollie Stewart: Report from Europe (1952)
43. Songs in Bethlehem (1952)
44. Letter to Izzy Rowe from Israel (1953)
45. Jean-Robert Masson: The Place of Mahalia Jackson (1961/1972)
46. Manfred Sack: The Voice of the Other America (1981)
PART IV: Mahalia Jackson and Her Circle in Their Own Words
47. Mahalia Jackson: Gospel Singing (1951)
48. Mahalia Jackson: 1950 Carnegie Hall Debut (1967)
49. Mahalia Jackson: A Made-up Mind (1963)
50. Sallie Martin: Mentoring Mahalia Jackson (1972)
51. Brother John Sellers: Rooting for Mahalia Jackson (1972)
52. Alice McClarity: Being Mentored by Mahalia Jackson (2011)
53. Alfred Duckett: Celebrating Mahalia Jackson (1955)
54. Mildred Falls: Playing for Mahalia Jackson (1972)
55. Louise Overall Weaver: On the Road with Mahalia Jackson (1982)
PART V: Scholarly Literature
56. Willie Jennings: The Black Sacred Singer of Sacred Song as an Icon (1989)
57. Horace Clarence Boyer: The Vocal Style of Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer (1990)
58. Michael Harris: Thomas A. Dorsey's Training of Mahalia Jackson (1992)
59. Robert Marovich: "She's the Empress! The Empress!" (2015)
60. Adam Green: Making the Music (2007)
61. Johari Jabir: On Conjuring Mahalia (2009)
62. Emily Lordi: Ralph Ellison's Mahalia Jackson (2013)
63. Mark Burford: The Modern Gospel Singer (2014)
64. Barry Long: Mahalia Jackson, Jazz, and Signifying Spirituality (2014)
PART VI: Live Performance
65. Gospel Song Diva: Carnegie Hall, October 1, 1950
66. Peter Feldman: At the Brooklyn Academy, April 3, 1959
67. Dick Flohil: A Salute to Mahalia Jackson, Madison Square Garden, May 24, 1959
68. Hugues Panassie: Mahalia Jackson's Triumph: L'Olympia, Paris, April 25, 1961
69. Valerie Wilmer: Royal Albert Hall, London, May 18, 1969
70. D. A. Rodrigues: Concert Tour to India, April 29-May 8, 1971
PART VII: The Record Business
71. Mahalia Jackson and S. I. Hayakawa: Decca and Apollo (1954)
72. Mahalia Jackson: "Move on Up A Little Higher" (1951)
73. Richard Kleiner: Mahalia Jackson Sings for Glory of the Lord (1954)
74. Alfred Lorber: Columbia Records Signs Mahalia Jackson (1954)
75. George Avakian and Bill Russell: First Columbia Albums (1954-1955)
76. Mahalia Jackson: Sweetened-Water Songs (1967)
77. John A. Campbell: Letter to John McClure (1973)
78. Irving Townsend: Mahalia Jackson the Album Artist (1972)
PART VIII: Radio, Television, and Film
79. S. R. Garlington: Toast of the Town (1952)
80. 3,000 Hear Mahalia Jackson (1954)
81. Charles Wolfe: Mahalia on the Air, 1954 (1990)
82. Edward "Sonny" Murrain: Appraising The Mahalia Jackson Show (1954-55)
83. Willa Saunders Jones: Queen Mahalia at Greater Salem Baptist Church (1955)
84. Jules Schwerin: Imitation of Life (1992)
85. Mahalia Jackson: Letter to George Avakian about Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960)
PART IX: Bill Russell's Mahalia Jackson Journal
86. Bill Russell: Mahalia Jackson Journal, 1954-1955
PART X: Politics, Activism, and Entrepreneurship
87. Conrad Clark: Gospel Queen Threatens to Sue Leftists (1952)
88. Rev. James L. Lofton: Letter to John Foster Dulles (1955)
89. Mahalia Rocks Walking Folks (1956)
90. Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957)
91. Mahalia Plans Huge Rights Benefit (1963)
92. Mahalia Jackson: To All Freedom Fighters (1963)
93. Salute to Southern Freedom (1963)
94. Lerone Bennett Jr.: The March (1963)
95. Craig Werner: Mahalia and the Movement (1998)
96. Drew Hansen: Speech and Song (2005)
97. Martin Luther King Jr.: Letter to Mahalia Jackson (c. 1964)
98. Mahalia Jackson and Granville White: There Hasn't Been a Man Like That Since Jesus (1968)
99. Mahalia's House of Flowers
100. Mahalia Jackson: The Mahalia Jackson Foundation (1967)
101. Mahalia Jackson to Salute Black Women (1969)
102. Mahalia Jackson: Self-Help (1971)
103. Black Management (1969)
104. John T. Edge: Mahalia Jackson's Chicken System (2017)
105. Alice Randall: Glori-fried and Glori-fied (2015)
106. Mahalia Jackson Cooks Soul (1970)
107. Toni Tipton-Martin: Southern Cooking (2015)
PART XI: Poetry
108. Ted Joans: Mahalia Jackson (1968)
109. James A. Emanuel: Mahalia Jackson (1999)
110. Jacques Reda: Assumption of Mahalia Jackson (1980)
111. Michael S. Harper: mahalia: MAHALIA (1975)
112. Audre Lorde: The Day They Eulogized Mahalia (1973)
113. Quandra Prettyman: When Mahalia Sings (n.d.)
114. Ollie Griddine: Poem (c. 1960s)
1. Mahalia Jackson and Evan McLeod Wylie: Gumstump (1966)
2. Mahala Jackson's Birth Certificate (1911)
3. Laurraine Goreau: Mahalia Jackson in New Orleans (1975)
4. Mahalia Jackson: Childhood Memories (1952)
5. Octavia Randolph: For the Record (1955)
6. U.S. Census: Mahaly Jackson at Aunt Duke's (1930)
PART II: Commentary, Conversation, and Critical Appraisal
7. Bucklin Moon: A Great Gospel Singer (1949)
8. Bernice Bass: Louisiana Cinderella (1951)
9. Evelyn Cunningham: Mahalia the Mystery (1954)
10. Marshall Stearns: Jazz, Metronome Sense, and Blue Tonality (1956)
11. Mason Sargent: Meet Mahalia Jackson (1954)
12. George T. Simon: A Veteran Gospel Singer Thinks Jazz Should Have a Soul but "Gospel Penetrates Deeper" (1954)
13. Nat Hentoff: You Can Still Hear Her Voice When the Music Has Stopped (1957)
14. Raymond Horricks: Mahalia's Emotional Performance at Newport Festival (1958)
15. Langston Hughes: Singer of Gospel Songs (1955)
16. Ralph Ellison: As the Spirit Moves Mahalia (1958)
17. Alex Haley: She Makes a Joyful Music (1961)
18. Malcolm X: "Fishing" and Filling Up at the Storefronts (1964)
19. Duke Ellington: Come Sunday (1973)
20. Studs Terkel: Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson (1973/2005)
21. Hans Rookmaaker: Visiting Mahalia Jackson (1962)
22. Hettie Jones: Mahalia Jackson (1974)
23. Whitney Balliett: Halie (1972 and 1975)
24. Leonard Feather: Mahalia and Her Principles (1962)
25. Leonard Feather: A Talk with Mahalia Jackson (1964)
26. Leonard Feather: Mahalia Keeps the Faith in Turbulent Times (1969)
27. Leonard Feather: Mahalia's Gospel Truth in Asia (1971)
28. Anthony Heilbut: Mahalia the Queen (1971)
PART III: Press Coverage
29. Evangelist in Recital at Cleveland (1938)
30. Honored by Dayton Gospel Fans (1952)
31. Rob Roy: Boy, the Ear Muffs, Those "Gospel" Discs are Here (1953)
32. George F. Brown: It's the Gospel Truth (1953)
33. Jack Saunders: Mahalia Jackson Raps "Glamour" Gospel Singing (1954)
34. Dawn Francis: Mahalia and Clara in Hot Contest of Gospel Singers (1955)
35. Langston Hughes: Gospel Singers and Gospel Swingers are Gone (1953)
36. Spiritual Artists Survive Great Slump-Others feel "Pinch" (1954)
37. Gospel Singing!...It's Big Business! (1955)
38. Bishop William Jacob Walls: Swinging Spirituals? (1960)
39. Review of "Since the Fire Started Burning in My Soul" b/w "In My Home Over There" (1951)
40. Mahalia Jackson and Sarah Vaughan (1951)
41. Mahalia Jackson Given Top French Music Award (1951)
42. Ollie Stewart: Report from Europe (1952)
43. Songs in Bethlehem (1952)
44. Letter to Izzy Rowe from Israel (1953)
45. Jean-Robert Masson: The Place of Mahalia Jackson (1961/1972)
46. Manfred Sack: The Voice of the Other America (1981)
PART IV: Mahalia Jackson and Her Circle in Their Own Words
47. Mahalia Jackson: Gospel Singing (1951)
48. Mahalia Jackson: 1950 Carnegie Hall Debut (1967)
49. Mahalia Jackson: A Made-up Mind (1963)
50. Sallie Martin: Mentoring Mahalia Jackson (1972)
51. Brother John Sellers: Rooting for Mahalia Jackson (1972)
52. Alice McClarity: Being Mentored by Mahalia Jackson (2011)
53. Alfred Duckett: Celebrating Mahalia Jackson (1955)
54. Mildred Falls: Playing for Mahalia Jackson (1972)
55. Louise Overall Weaver: On the Road with Mahalia Jackson (1982)
PART V: Scholarly Literature
56. Willie Jennings: The Black Sacred Singer of Sacred Song as an Icon (1989)
57. Horace Clarence Boyer: The Vocal Style of Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer (1990)
58. Michael Harris: Thomas A. Dorsey's Training of Mahalia Jackson (1992)
59. Robert Marovich: "She's the Empress! The Empress!" (2015)
60. Adam Green: Making the Music (2007)
61. Johari Jabir: On Conjuring Mahalia (2009)
62. Emily Lordi: Ralph Ellison's Mahalia Jackson (2013)
63. Mark Burford: The Modern Gospel Singer (2014)
64. Barry Long: Mahalia Jackson, Jazz, and Signifying Spirituality (2014)
PART VI: Live Performance
65. Gospel Song Diva: Carnegie Hall, October 1, 1950
66. Peter Feldman: At the Brooklyn Academy, April 3, 1959
67. Dick Flohil: A Salute to Mahalia Jackson, Madison Square Garden, May 24, 1959
68. Hugues Panassie: Mahalia Jackson's Triumph: L'Olympia, Paris, April 25, 1961
69. Valerie Wilmer: Royal Albert Hall, London, May 18, 1969
70. D. A. Rodrigues: Concert Tour to India, April 29-May 8, 1971
PART VII: The Record Business
71. Mahalia Jackson and S. I. Hayakawa: Decca and Apollo (1954)
72. Mahalia Jackson: "Move on Up A Little Higher" (1951)
73. Richard Kleiner: Mahalia Jackson Sings for Glory of the Lord (1954)
74. Alfred Lorber: Columbia Records Signs Mahalia Jackson (1954)
75. George Avakian and Bill Russell: First Columbia Albums (1954-1955)
76. Mahalia Jackson: Sweetened-Water Songs (1967)
77. John A. Campbell: Letter to John McClure (1973)
78. Irving Townsend: Mahalia Jackson the Album Artist (1972)
PART VIII: Radio, Television, and Film
79. S. R. Garlington: Toast of the Town (1952)
80. 3,000 Hear Mahalia Jackson (1954)
81. Charles Wolfe: Mahalia on the Air, 1954 (1990)
82. Edward "Sonny" Murrain: Appraising The Mahalia Jackson Show (1954-55)
83. Willa Saunders Jones: Queen Mahalia at Greater Salem Baptist Church (1955)
84. Jules Schwerin: Imitation of Life (1992)
85. Mahalia Jackson: Letter to George Avakian about Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960)
PART IX: Bill Russell's Mahalia Jackson Journal
86. Bill Russell: Mahalia Jackson Journal, 1954-1955
PART X: Politics, Activism, and Entrepreneurship
87. Conrad Clark: Gospel Queen Threatens to Sue Leftists (1952)
88. Rev. James L. Lofton: Letter to John Foster Dulles (1955)
89. Mahalia Rocks Walking Folks (1956)
90. Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957)
91. Mahalia Plans Huge Rights Benefit (1963)
92. Mahalia Jackson: To All Freedom Fighters (1963)
93. Salute to Southern Freedom (1963)
94. Lerone Bennett Jr.: The March (1963)
95. Craig Werner: Mahalia and the Movement (1998)
96. Drew Hansen: Speech and Song (2005)
97. Martin Luther King Jr.: Letter to Mahalia Jackson (c. 1964)
98. Mahalia Jackson and Granville White: There Hasn't Been a Man Like That Since Jesus (1968)
99. Mahalia's House of Flowers
100. Mahalia Jackson: The Mahalia Jackson Foundation (1967)
101. Mahalia Jackson to Salute Black Women (1969)
102. Mahalia Jackson: Self-Help (1971)
103. Black Management (1969)
104. John T. Edge: Mahalia Jackson's Chicken System (2017)
105. Alice Randall: Glori-fried and Glori-fied (2015)
106. Mahalia Jackson Cooks Soul (1970)
107. Toni Tipton-Martin: Southern Cooking (2015)
PART XI: Poetry
108. Ted Joans: Mahalia Jackson (1968)
109. James A. Emanuel: Mahalia Jackson (1999)
110. Jacques Reda: Assumption of Mahalia Jackson (1980)
111. Michael S. Harper: mahalia: MAHALIA (1975)
112. Audre Lorde: The Day They Eulogized Mahalia (1973)
113. Quandra Prettyman: When Mahalia Sings (n.d.)
114. Ollie Griddine: Poem (c. 1960s)