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Glorious Mahalia

Call Number

  • COMPACT DISC CLASICAL (CEN)

Performers

Kronos Quartet ((David Harrington and John Sherba, violins, Hank Dutt, viola, Sunny Yang, cello); in the 1st work, with archival spoken audio of Mahalia Jackson and Studs Terkel, includes sung vocals by Mahalia in Sometime I feel like a motherless child; in the 3rd work, with archival spoken audio of Clarence B. Jones.

Publication Information

Washington, DC : Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, [2026]

Physical Description

1 audio disc (51 min., 04 sec) ; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

Midway through Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic speech at the 1963 March on Washington, a voice rang out from behind him: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" That voice belonged to Mahalia Jackson, King's close friend and one of the most revered gospel singers of the 20th century. Glorious Mahalia, a visionary tribute to Jackson's life by the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet, uses that moment as a springboard to explore the depth of Jackson's musical craft and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement, including her relationship with Clarence Jones and Studs Terkel, other luminaries of the time. Featuring compositions by Stacy Garrop and Zachary James Watkins, a new arrangement of Jackson's astonishing version of the Antonio Haskell composition "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away," and archival audio of Jackson's voice, the album illuminates Jackson's historic artistry and advocacy.

Notes

Compact disc.

Program notes (39 pages : portraits) inserted in container.

Contents

  • 1-5 Glorious Mahalia. 1. Hold on (3:04) ; 2. Stave in the ground (6:48) ; 3. Are you being treated right (4:49) ; 4. Sometime I feel like a motherless child (3:33) ; 5. This world will make you think (3:13) / 6. God shall wipe all tears away / (3:04)
  • 7-11. Peace be till. 7. Doors of justice/black thread (6:24) ; 8. Protest (4:16) ; 9. Copter (3:08) ; 10. Symphony of social justice (7:55) ; 11. Tell 'em about the dream (4:37)