Acknowledgements
Preface
1 Introduction: "Miss Jackson and her art (Gospel Singing)"
2 Family Affairs, Part 1: The Clarks of Louisiana
3 Family Affairs, Part 2: Black Baptists and Chicago Gospel
4 Gospel Singing as Black Popular Culture
5 Apollo Records and the Birth of Religious Pop
6 Mahalia Jackson's Apollo Recordings
7 Hearing Voices
8 Gospel According to Bill Russell
9 "Singing comes as natural as breathing": The Mahalia Jackson
Show
10 "The World's Greatest Gospel Singer"
11 "I'm just Mahaly to you all": The Meanings of Fame
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Mark Burford is Associate Professor of Music at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he is also chair of the American Studies program. His research and teaching focuses on twentieth-century popular music in the United States, with particular focus on African American music after World War II, and late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Austro-German concert music.
"Burford's study is built on a solid foundation of historical
sources, ranging from an array of interviews and contemporaneous
reviews to Jackson's expansive catalogue of commercial recordings
and radio/television broadcasts. The private journal of the
singer's confidant and unofficial assistant, Bill Russell, offers
fresh insight into her daily life and personal views on music and
religion during the critical mid-1950s period. ... Burford has set
a high bar
for future scholarly inquiry." -- Ray Allen, American Music
Review
"In Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field, Burford (Reed
College) draws from troves of previously unavailable interviews,
archival collections, and other historical resources to provide
readers with an insightful and in-depth analysis of Jackson's life
and career. In so doing, the author also tracks the rise of black
gospel music and the social and political culture of the US in the
post-WW II era. Burford's critical analysis transcends the
typical biographical treatment and offers a dynamic and engrossing
glimpse into the America in which black gospel music sprouted and
blossomed. Summing up: Highly recommended" -- CHOICE
"Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field provides a careful and
sensitive analysis of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson that positions
her at the center of significant sonic and cultural shifts that
redefine mid-century America. This is not the conventional
biography, but a critical study that uses Jackson and more
importantly her voice as a theoretical lens through which one can
interrogate the politics of identity, the racialized and gendered
politics
surrounding the reading of black women's voices and bodies, as well
as the communal and cultural implications that arise when the
culture of a people shifts from the insular environments that
birthed it to
the broader spectrum of mainstream popular culture." --Tammy L.
Kernodle, Professor of Musicology, Affiliate Faculty of American
Studies, Black World Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality
Studies, Miami University
"Mahalia Jackson has finally received the book she deserves -
thorough, precise, nuanced, and insightful. Mahalia Jackson and the
Black Gospel Field expands our understanding of this great singer
and the religious-musical history that she helped define." --Thomas
Brothers, Professor of Music, Duke University and author of Help!
The Beatles, Duke Ellington and the Magic of Collaboration
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
