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THE TWELVE GATES

Sarah Gregory voice Evan Gregory voice, organ Dalton Ridenhour piano James Hirschfeld trombone Mike Chiavaro bass Ted Poor drums and Josh Rutner saxophone

Saturday, August 11, 2012 Greenwich House Music School

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM


No Ways Tired James Cleveland claimed the title of Crown Prince of Gospel by the mid-1960s, and years before his death at age 59 in 1991, he would be widely hailed as the King of Gospel. Born into poverty on Chicagos South Side in 1931, he rose meteorically to one of the most important forces that gospel would see in the latter half of the 20th century. Over his career, he wrote more than 250 songs, many of which have become staples of the style. No Ways Tired is one such song. Its short but never stale-growing lyric (in its entirety) is: I dont feel noways tired / Ive come too far from where I started from / nobody told me that the road would be easy / I dont believe He brought me this far to leave me. On Our Way This triumphant song was recorded during the live performance that would become Aretha Franklins 1972 double LP, Amazing Grace, which, incidentally, remains Arethas biggest selling album of her career. On Our Way didnt make the original LP release (perhaps because Aretha doesnt sing on it, as it was a vehicle for James Clevelandwho sang, played piano, and directed the Southern California Community Choir during the performancesto get the crowd going before Aretha made her grand entrances), however, several versions of it were included in the Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings collection, which was released in 1999. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / What A Friend We Have In Jesus A mashup between two tunes with quite disparate provenances. Im So Lonesome was written by Hank Williams, Sr. in 1949 and was (as the liner notes of a recent Hank Williams box set sees it) buried on the flip side of My Bucket's Got A Hole In It, never quite reaching during Williams lifetime the standard status he knew it eventually would. What a Friend is a hymn with text composed by Joseph Scriven in 1855 as a poem to comfort his mother (who was living an ocean away) and melody by Charles Converse in 1868. Together, these two songs play off each other nicely, with the darkness and despair of Lonesome (Did you ever see a robin weep when leaves begin to die / Like me he's lost the will to live, I'm so lonesome I could cry) with the ecstatic hope of What a Friend (Are you weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? / Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer). This arrangement is based on an arrangement originally crafted by Evan for Sarah & The Stanleys. Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die) This rolicking romp of a country gospel tune leads off Loretta Lynns 1965 album Hymns. It marks one of the rare appearances of Hezekiah in song. Lo and Behold Appearing on James Taylors 1970 album, Sweet Baby James (his second, following his 1968 eponymous album on the Beatles Apple Records), this tune has JT talkin bout the gospel story! Come Ye Disconsolate This traditional song was beautifully arranged for two voices on Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaways aptly titled 1972 release, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (which also featured a version of Carole Kings Youve Got A Friend). The arrangements slow-burn tempo allowed both Flack and Hathaway to show off their incredible vocal control (and allows our Sarah and Evan to do the same!). Paul and Silas in Jail There has been a great deal of mystery surrounding the life of Washington Phillipsthe composer and performer of Paul and Silas in Jailwhose entire recorded output consists of 18 songs recorded for Columbia Records between 1927 and 1929. Very little is known about the first 47 years of his life. Even the instrument on which he accompanied himself on those 18 songs is hotly debated. (Many claim he played a dolceola, a sort of zither+keyboard contraption; some claimed that he played a homemade banjo that he laid down flat; still others claimed it was box-like instrument he made himself out of the insides of a piano.) From a 2002 article in the Austin Statesman called Exhuming the Legend of Washington Philliips, Michael Corcoran writes: In 1983, a researcher came across a Jan. 14, 1928 issue of the Louisiana Weekly containing a picture of Phillips holding two zithers, which look like autoharps and are played in a manner consistent with [Virgil Keeton, an acquaintance of Washington Phillps]'s recollection [that it was not a dolceola]. Still, some Phillips fans maintain that only a dolceola could make the heavenly accompaniment found on Phillips recordings. "I'm 100% sure it's a dolceola," said Memphis producer Jim Dickinson, who played the "completely illogical instrument" on Ry Cooder's "Crossroads" soundtrack. "The way it sounds like part of it is going backwardsthat's a dolceola. You can also hear the (keyboard-activated) hammer action in a couple places," he said. Is it possible that Phillips played a dolceola in the '20s, but then lost it or broke it and switched to a "harp-like" instrument in the '30s? But what about the 1928 photo? I Shall Be Released A Bob Dylan tune composed in 1967 during his tenure with The Band, whose version predated Bob's own solo version. After The Band's version broke big, artists began covering it in droves (and still do!). The Twelve Gates version draws heavily from Nina Simones 1967 version from her album To Love Somebody (which, as it happens, contains two other Dylan covers). While not a gospel tune per se, there are certainly overtones that give it that feel. (Any day now, any day now / I shall be released) Any Day Now Jesus, I'll Never Forget A pair of songs from the Sam Cooke-era Soul Stirrers. The Soul Stirrers formed in Texas in 1926 and began recording in the mid-1930s. Over the years, the group has seen over a dozen members. The group was led in its early years by Rebert (yep, Rebert) Harris, and taken over by (a then unknown) Sam Cooke upon Harris retirement in 1951. Cookes membership lasted up until 1957, when he set out to pursue a career in secular music. Step By Step The first release and signature song by the Boyer Brothers, a Florida-born brother duo act. They began recording for Excello (a major label for gospel in the 50s) while still in high school. Horace (the brother who sang tenor to James baritone) literally wrote the book on gospel music when, in 1995, he published the beautiful, How Sweet The Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel. Sermonette This melody, composed by jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, was given a lyric by vocalist Jon Hendricks and recorded with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross on their 1960 release, The Hottest New Group In Jazz.

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