The Apollo Sessions: 1946-1951

Jackson, Mahalia

Early Genius from a Gospel Legend

Mahalia Jackson set a high bar for herself when, at the age of thirty-five, she went into New York's tiny Apollo studios to record her first consequential singles. Just about everything she did for Apollo is definitive—from her fulminating "Said He Would" to her oft-recorded "In the Upper Room" to what is easily the most energized recording of Herbert Brewster's "I Will Move On Up a Little Higher." Some of these intimate and refreshingly loose sides were captured on the cheap, at 3 a.m., with just a pianist providing accompaniment. They show Jackson testing the waters, figuring exactly how much blues fire and other secular traits she could slip into her gospel.

The spine-chilling contralto who became a cultural icon (she sang on the Mall in Washington, D.C., just before the Reverend Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech) was born in a poor section of New Orleans. She moved around as a teenager; in Chicago, she met the composer Thomas Dorsey, who encouraged her to integrate blues feeling into her interpretations of spirituals. One treat of the Apollo sessions is hearing Jackson ad-lib far more brazenly than most of her gospel counterparts dared.

Several of these selections became hits, and led to her signing with Columbia Records in 1954. That's when Jackson took off: The label's vast distribution network meant that her recordings could travel beyond the gospel circuit, and she quickly became a crossover star, performing in concert halls for adoring crowds of all races. (According to legend, the young Elvis Presley used to sneak in to hear her sing.) Although Jackson's Columbia output contains drop-dead classics (notably Bless This House and Live at Newport, 1958), the Apollo sessions catch the moment when her zealous blues-tinged singing solidified into the mighty sound that changed gospel forever.

Genre: Gospel
Released: 1994, Pair
Key Tracks: "In the Upper Room," "Didn't It Rain," "Said He Would."
Catalog Choice: Live at Newport, 1958
Next Stop: Marion Williams: My Soul Looks Back
After That: The Clara Ward Singers: Take My Hand, Precious Lord
Book Pages: 384–385