SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Edwin Hawkins & the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir

Everybody knows “Oh Happy Day” – the once-in-several lifetimes out of the blue hit that elevated an obscure youth choir in Oakland to worldwide gospel and pop music fame. Edwin Hawkins released a lot of great music in his career but nothing ever rivaled “Oh Happy Day.” But then, how could it?

Hawkins continued recording albums until his death in 2018, though in later years most were collaborations with his popular Music & Arts Seminar mass choirs. The seminars and their live recordings were truly events.

In 1984, Hawkins and the choir released another live album, titled Angels Will be Singing. It’s notable for a number of reasons – for one, the legendary Sallie Martin sings one of her last solos on the traditional gospel song “No Not One.” And that’s Richard Smallwood on the keyboards. But check out the on the manic concert finale – an impressive triple time, stop and start rendition of “None But the Righteous”!

MUSIC: “None But the Righteous,” Edwin Hawkins & the Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir, from the LP Angels Will be Singing, Side 2, Track 5

I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries and is funded by generous support from the Prichard Foundation.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Sarah Vaughan

The incomparable Sarah Vaughan recorded a handful of spirituals during her long career, including this gentle version of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Patterson Singers

The Patterson Singers’ “I’m Moving Up” features an irresistibly up tempo closing gospel vamp.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Swanee Quintet

In there more than 70 years together, the Swanee Quintet released a host of great gospel songs, including this one - “The Lord’s on My Side.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Dorothy Love Coates and the Original Harmonettes

The legendary Dorothy Love Coates was one of the true stars of gospel music and her powerful “99 ½ Won’t Do” was adopted as a freedom song during the civil rights movement.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Rev. Morgan Babb

The Rev. Morgan Babb’s passionate version of “Lord, You’ve Been Good to Me” spontaneously emerges from the altar call during one of his legendary sermons.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Singing Corinthians

The otherwise unknown Singing Corinthians deliver an impassioned version of the old spiritual, “The Lord Will Provide.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Blend Wright Trio

The Blend Wright Trio were a poppy, upbeat gospel group led by the multi-talented Eleanor Wright, who recorded for Savoy in the 1960s.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Bible Way Church of God

The Bible Way Church of God Choir’s “What Do You Say About Jesus?” features the church’s longtime pastor, Little Abraham Swanson.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Melody Kings

The LP Believe in Me by the Melody Kings features a rousing version of Lee Wallace’s gospel rave up, “I Pray.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Kindly Sheperds

The Kindly Shepherds’ “Lend Me Your Hand,” produced by Monk Higgins, is much coveted by Northern Soul vinyl collectors.