The 175 blue-robed choir members take the stage at the Apostolic Church of God on the South Side.
They crowd together, preparing for a service that will start momentarily.
A soloist stands at the center, the twinkle of the keyboard softly playing underneath his voice. Another soloist replaces him for the next stanza and before long the rest of the choir — some are mouthing words in the background — join in, warming the space with its melodies.
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Thousands dance, sing along and at times spill out into the aisles, touched by the sounds reverberating throughout the church.
This happens to be the time of year when churches prepare for a swell of extra parishioners. Like others, Apostolic Church of God is gearing up for an annual Christmas concert that likely will bring in fans of the sound regardless of whether they possess the faith that the music is based upon.
Chicago is where gospel music began and where it still has a strong footing. Though the music has flourished in other cities such as Detroit, Atlanta and Dallas, Chicago is still a center of creativity in this music.
As it does most Sundays, the Apostolic choir delivers a mixture of hymns, anthems, inspirational songs and what is known as classic, good old Chicago-style gospel music. Like so many other Chicago-area churches, this is a place where people go to take in that very specific style of gospel — the same kind that was given life in Chicago some 75 years ago.
This is the kind of music that moves people; some would argue it’s the only kind.
Intertwined with the intricate harmonic structure and the backbeat are rich, plain-spoken lyrics.
“When my way grows drear, precious Lord linger near/When my light is almost gone/Hear my cry, hear my call/Hold my hand lest I fall/ Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home,” says one of the genre’s most famous songs.
This is what gospel music is, and the words that define its sound are powerful. It’s almost as if the lyrics can physically touch listeners, shivering the soul with the message the words relay.
By design, gospel music is a way to honor a higher power, but its reach extends beyond those sitting in church pews.
“Beyond it being good music, great production, great songs and great singers, beyond those facts, we simply live in a world that is getting worse, worse and worse,” says gospel superstar BeBe Winans. “And people need something to lift them up, and when that need is there — even from people who don’t believe in God — they start to turn toward God. And gospel music is a message of God’s love in the midst of turmoil.”
Perhaps that’s why gospel music has stood strong at a time when the music industry isn’t doing too well. Early industry indications suggest album sales for 2007 will dip only slightly — including the small slice of black gospel music that accounts for anywhere between $150 million to $200 million a year in sales.
Thrives in Chicago
Gospel music thrives in Chicago — head to just about any gospel-based church in this area to see for yourself.
Chicagoan Ricky Dillard, one of the best choir directors in the country, released his seventh album this fall and scored his highest debut in a 20-year career. The project was crafted to re-create that rafter-shaking, soul-moving, old-time religion sound.
Dillard’s modern-day music appeals to a new generation of gospel-music listeners even as it is reminiscent of the sound that the genre’s pioneers crafted here: a freewheeling blend of older hymns and spirituals with a modern flair. The music itself is a melding of real life with an unwavering spiritual belief. There have always been questions about life, and for many subscribers to the Christian faith, the replies were heard clearest through song.
“The purpose of the music is to inspire the congregation. It’s also to inspire the preacher,” says Mark Jordan, minister of music at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God, in Hyde Park. His choir is preparing for its annual free Christmas concert, “The Joy of Christmas,” at 8 p.m. Dec. 14 with the Chicago Sinfonietta.
“It’s very inspirational. It’s very uplifting. It’s exciting. And even if it’s a song that is slow like ‘Precious Lord,’ the text of it is very uplifting,” Jordan says. “Gospel music should not be thought of as just a fast, screaming, hollering, loud foot-stomping music. There are slow songs, but it is the text — that’s the most important — it’s that text of the music that sends the message.”
The music, which is rooted in blues and jazz and evolved in the 1930s, predated the civil rights movement and was born in the thick of the treacherous Jim Crow laws, which drove many Southern African-Americans northbound to cities such as Chicago.
Spread quickly
The song that many consider to be the tune that gave birth to this new hybrid of music, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” by Georgian-turned-Chicagoan Thomas A. Dorsey, was written in 1932. It’s a musical prayer that was inspired by the heartbreaking loss of both his first wife, Nettie, and his son in childbirth.
Dorsey, who formerly was a blues man, taught the song as part of a grass-roots campaign to get others singing the bluesy-twanged single, taking it out on the road and teaching it to choir directors and church choirs everywhere.
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It was performed four times at the 1935 National Baptist Convention and started to take on a national buzz. Choir directors took the song to their home churches in droves, convinced that it would move congregations and would aid in driving home the minister’s sermon.
“Before ‘Precious Lord,’ there were the old slave hymns and the songs of slavery and the songs of trying times for people of color,” says contemporary gospel superstar Kirk Franklin. “These were songs that they would sing in very troubled times. That really started the bulk of black music. And from there you got the blues. … ‘Precious Lord’ happened to be your first pop gospel song that got national recognition.”
The music that Chicago helped make has been taken to new heights by others not from this area.
The genre’s humble musical roots kicked into high gear in the early ’80s when groups such as the Winans, the Clark Sisters and BeBe and CeCe Winans started releasing records and became the first acts to cross the music over into secular, mainstream urban radio. Those gospel artists — some of the first contemporary superstars of gospel music — were direct descendants of the Chicago gospel scene.
The Chicago scene still is vital, with contemporary artists such as Dillard and Donald Lawrence, who recently moved to Chicago, living and working here, adding to the national scene.
BET programming
This fall, the BET cable network added a reality-based TV series, “Sunday Best,” an “American Idol” of sorts for gospel music. Franklin, who is one of gospel music’s most successful artists, hosts the show. Chicagoan Shari Addison, 45, is one of the two finalists on the show. Her fate — possibly a recording contract — will be decided at the live finale 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The show has quickly become one of BET’s highest-rated shows, drawing more than 1 million viewers per episode.
“Everybody is here. And if they aren’t here, they started here and they just lived somewhere else,” Addison says. “Chicago is that hub for traditional gospel. The legends and the hitmakers and big names in gospel all came through here.”
And will the music that was born here in Chicago continue to survive another 75 years?
“Back in the ’70s,” Franklin says, “there was no way that the news would have been covering Vietnam and the music would not have been reflecting that. The music reflected the times. And now, you got people losing their houses, and rappers are still rapping about rims and ice. There seems to be a disconnect. So it seems that gospel music is the only music that is still trying to speak words of inspiration and hope. That’s not the way it should be, but it seems that that’s what happening right now, and that’s what will continue to happen for a long time to come.”
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Early figures in Chicago gospel
Thomas Dorsey: This former blues pianist is considered to be the father of gospel music. He intertwined blues and jazz music with Christian lyrics, creating an updated sound for church music that initially was widely criticized. His best-known song is “Take My Hand, Precious Lord, “that he wrote in 1932 and which many say is the song that launched black gospel music.
Albertina Walker: This influential Grammy winner is known as the queen of gospel music, and the Chicago born and bred entertainer began singing in the youth choir at the West Point Baptist Church at 3566 S. Cottage Grove Ave. on the South Side.
The Barrett Sisters: Many consider this group to be the greatest gospel trio. Members Rodessa, Billie and Delois began singing at Chicago’s Morning Star Baptist church in the 1940s.
Mahalia Jackson: She’s considered to be one of the greatest gospel singers, and she greatly influenced singers such as Aretha Franklin and Della Reese. She came to Chicago in 1927 from Louisiana and began her solo career in 1937. In 1997 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was honored in 1972, the year of her death, with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
James Cleveland: Cleveland, a Chicago native, is a driving force behind modern-day gospel music. He learned from Dorsey and Roberta Martin, who was a pianist in the choir at Pilgrim Baptist Church, which was located at 3300 S. Indiana Ave. on the South Side. A Grammy-award winner, he also greatly influenced Aretha Franklin’s career, and he was the first gospel artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
— Kelley L. Carter
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