Traditional Choir Gospel
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The classic, churchy choir sound before contemporary production: organ and piano leading massed voices through hymns, anthems and devotional selections at a stately or mid-tempo pace, with a robust lead trading lines with the choir. Harmonies are rich and traditional, the shout is driven by organ and drums rather than programmed beats, and the feel is unpolished, live and rooted in Baptist and sanctified worship. Vocals emphasize the full-throated 'church' tone, melisma and heartfelt conviction. The mood is reverent and communal, the sound of Sunday morning across the mid-twentieth century.
History
Traditional choir gospel is the mid-century mainstream established by Rev. James Cleveland, whose live choir albums from the early 1960s—recorded with congregations like the Angelic Choir of Nutley, New Jersey and later the Southern California Community Choir—set the standard. Rev. Milton Brunson's Thompson Community Singers, Rev. Clay Evans' Fellowship choir and the great community mass choirs carried the style through the 1970s and 80s, and the Mississippi Mass Choir kept the traditional flame burning into the 1990s on Malaco Records. It remains the reference point against which all later choir styles are measured and is preserved by heritage choirs and denominational conventions.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound (1971)
- Horace Clarence Boyer, How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel (1995)
- Robert Darden, People Get Ready! (2004)