SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Jimmy Jones and the Sensationals

Who doesn’t love a great rumbling melodic bass voice? A memorable bass singer was mandatory if you wanted your gospel quartet to thrive in the 1940s and ‘50s. And the Harmonizing Four’s Jimmy Jones was considered one of the very best... so good in fact, he eventually left the popular quartet to lead his own group, the Sensationals.

While they only recorded one LP for Savoy Records, it’s a doozy. Jones, who also wrote many of his hits, could hit notes so low that it’d rattle the studio’s speakers... but he could also – if the spirit moved him – sing a few lines in a sweet, pure falsetto! One of Jones’ best known songs is “Before This Time Next Year” from 1959 – the same year the Sensationals were the surprise hits at the Newport Jazz Festival!

MUSIC: Jimmy Jones and the Sensationals, “Before This Time Another Year,” 45

I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.

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