Sometimes when it comes to listening to spirituals the less said the better. Just listen and be free!
For those of you who know the music of the Black church and are listening to her be warned you might just stand up where you are, wave to heaven, and catch the quicken! Nuff said!
Welcome to Black Music Month (BMM) on Justsoulyouknow. All month long I will be posting photos that are both historic and iconic as well as cool and awesome. Every other day or so, I will feature an amazing photo then give a little detail about that photo or the individuals contained in the photo. I intend to connect you to the amazing history of Black Music as well as demonstrate why Black Music maters.
Patti wasn’t the first to kick off her shoes and sing a verse!
First up is this amazing photo of Mahalia Jackson and Dean Martin sharing a good hearty laugh together. Life Magazine’s Allen Grant took this photo on Oct 1, 1958 during rehearsals for Bing Crosby’s new T.V. show called The Bing Crosby Show: Presented by Oldsmobile. During the time of this photo Mahalia Jackson was at the top of her game. She had just recorded her latest gospel album titled Live at Newport ’58, where she was part of the first ever Gospel Showcase of the Newport show. Her album was released in early ’59 and would later be consistently touted as one of the greatest live gospel albums ever recorded. Jackson was riding high on her new found fame as a singer/actor on the silver screen as well. Her performance in the film St Louis Blues, where she beautifully sang and acted, garnered great reviews from critics. Her appearance on the Bing Crosby’s show, which brought her image directly into the living rooms of America, was risky and bold. America was in the midst of an epic battle, which involved African Americans attempt to gain inclusion in American society while powerful whites labored to hold onto a segregated America. Jackson’s appearance threatened the national sponsorship of the show because America had yet to fully embrace an integrated performance on TV. However, as history has informed us, it was in part though the power of Black music that the civil rights struggle changed minds and freed a nation.
Check out the result of their rehearsal below:
Emerging out of the rich tradition of work and prison songs were the spirituals and gospel music.
The choir sings its praises
To begin, spirituals expanded the role of song beyond the plantation grounds and prison walls. It expressed the newly embraced tenants of Christianity of the enslaved. In short, the spirituals articulated the sureness of a paradise after a long life of bondage. The songs narrated the promise of God through individuals of the Old Testament and ultimately reinforced salvation, as they were hymn lined through call and response in churches and prayer houses [Negro Spirituals].
Gospel music expanded the role of song further for the enslaved and free black bodies. It encompassed the promise of the spirituals but also added the lyrical account of a personal relationship with Jesus. 
Gospel music was first testimonial in that it relayed to the listener the fruits of faith through the many trials of life. In this way, gospel also reinforced salvation, but on a more personal level. Furthermore, gospel’s music signified the genre like no other form of black music. Its choir and instrumentation: organ, piano, drums, bass, guitar (a contemporary musical element), are used in unique ways to achieve and maintain a heighten level of Christian worship. You know it when you hear it. When spirituals and gospel are expressed sincerely they do indeed invite the Holy Spirit into worship.
Spirituals and gospel, music according to scholars, are the purest form of black music in terms of how the genre parallels and revolves around the black presence in the U.S. They are heavily and undeniably embedded in black culture. Spirituals and gospel has continually allowed the black soul to experience freedom, and great joy in the midst of hardship.
Continue to enjoy and embrace Black Music Month and take a listen to some spirituals and gospel music:
A classic spiritual:
Gospel by Sam Cook. Contemporary R&B has its roots firmly planted in Gospel.
Contemporary Gospel is powerful.
Gospel is very personal.
Just SOul You Know 