Mass Choir Gospel
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The grand end of choir gospel: 75 to 200-plus voices recorded live in a packed sanctuary, so massed that the ensemble itself becomes the star rather than any single soloist. Thick section harmonies, wall-of-voices unison lines and thunderous 'praise break' shouts ride a full rhythm section of organ, piano, bass, drums and often horns. Arrangements favor slow-building anthems that erupt into up-tempo double-time celebration, with rotating lead singers stepping out of the ranks. Recordings capture congregational energy, hand-claps and shouted responses, giving the style its overwhelming communal sound.
History
The mass choir concept crystallized when James Cleveland's Gospel Music Workshop of America (founded 1968) began fielding enormous convention choirs, and it became a recorded genre in its own right with Rev. Milton Brunson's Thompson Community Singers and the great regional ensembles of the 1980s. Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi built the template with the Mississippi Mass Choir (assembled by Frank Williams in 1988), whose debut topped the gospel charts for months; the Georgia Mass Choir, Florida Mass Choir, Chicago Mass Choir and New Jersey Mass Choir followed, the last of which sang behind Foreigner's 1984 hit 'I Want to Know What Love Is.' Hezekiah Walker's Love Fellowship Crusade Choir carried the live mass-choir sound into the 1990s and 2000s, and the format remains the backbone of denominational conventions and gospel award shows.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Near the Cross(1989) — Mississippi Mass ChoirSpotifyYouTube
- I Need You to Survive(2002) — Hezekiah WalkerSpotifyYouTube
- God Is(1980) — James ClevelandSpotifyYouTube
- Every Praise(2013) — Hezekiah WalkerSpotifyYouTube
- Amazing(2020) — Ricky DillardSpotifyYouTube
- Peace Be Still(1963) — James ClevelandSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Robert Darden, People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music (2004)
- Bil Carpenter, Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia (2005)
- Jerma Jackson, Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age (2004)