Blues
Gospel Shout-Out
Jackie makes a rare Toronto appearance in the Toronto Blues Society's Blues Gospel ShoutOut on Saturday, September 29th at Revival, 783 College Street. Also appearing are Danny Brooks and the Rockin' Revelators, Ken Whiteley and Alana Bridgewater.
Ever wonder why gospel music has such broad appeal, why Christians as well as people of other faiths, along with non-believers, smile, clap their hands and tap their toes at gospel concerts?
Jackie , one of Canada's foremost singers of gospel, blues and jazz, says something about the beat as well as certain chords played in gospel music make it contagious, regardless of the lyrics. When she sings jazz, says she finds that audiences have to warm up to the music, but with gospel she gets an immediate reaction. "People in the audience are taken up by it. It lets you forget about yourself for a minute."
She's loved gospel music ever since she heard Mahalia Jackson - who she considers the best gospel singer - on childhood visits to her grandmother's. "It is my absolute favourite music to sing," says , who hosts the Vision TV series Hallelujah, which also features the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, and is now in reruns. "It's the music I'm most connected to. I try to nurture the spiritual side of life." She adds that some types of music feed a down mood, while music such as gospel can be "part of the healing process."
A dazzling performer, has a powerful and supple voice - it sounds as if it could almost soar to the heavens - and a warm, vibrant stage presence. Toronto gospel fans, and T.O.'s fans, are in luck as she's making a rare club appearance in the city, on a bill with Danny Brooks and his Rockin' Revelators, at the Toronto Blues Society Blues Gospel ShoutOut to be held at Revival on September 29.
says the moral distinction between gospel, "the Lord's music," and blues "the devil's music" was an issue for past generations, and, of course, doesn't apply any longer. She remembers that her grandmother, a staunch Baptist, didn't allow blues in the house. Blues, "the hip hop of the day," she notes, allowed many artists to talk about their lives and is a "very solid and wonderful part of music history."
A veteran of the stage and the small and large screens, has recently been singing the blues as Willie Mae Thornton in the one-woman show Big Mama. "It's a straight-ahead concert and she (Thornton) tells about her life," says.
So far, Big Mama has been nominated for three awards and has received one. The 1999 Calgary production was nominated for a Betty Mitchell Award; the show's musical director, Tim Williams, a guitarist who played with Thornton, won an award for best musical director. Big Mama's second production, in 2000 in Richmond, B.C., was nominated for a Jesse Award. The show's third production will be mounted in Edmonton this November.
and Williams, as part of the band, recently enjoyed a 22-show tour of Edmonton, Calgary, Banff and Winnipeg with Calgary's Decidedly Danceworks, in which scatted and sang the blues while 12 dancers interpreted the music.
With her glorious voice, it's not surprising that is in demand as a singer on other artists' recordings. Over the years, she has recorded with, among others, Rita Chiarelli, Morgan Davis, Anne Murray, Alannah Myles, Planet Earth (a band led by Ben Riley, Doug Riley's son), Joe Sealy, Ken Whiteley and Michelle Wright, and she sang on two of the Montreal Jubilation Choir's CDs. 's own CD, A Woman's View: Child Eyes, which is mainly contemporary jazz, can be found in record stores.
Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Richmond Hill, Ont., began singing in her church choir at seven. Her debut as a teenager with The Tiaras, a girl group that sang Motown covers, launched her professional career, which has spanned more than 30 years.
Music, she says, is "in her bones," and she has always been surrounded by music and by people who love music. Her sister Betty and her daughter Kim (who went to Montreal nearly 15 years ago for a couple of months to do Little Shop Of Horrors and ended up staying in Quebec, establishing herself as a singer there) are both amazing vocalists.
calls herself "the biggest fan of singers" and often has recordings by Ernestine Anderson, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Jill Scott, Yolanda Adams, Cece Winans and T.D. Jakes on her CD player.
wore out the new CD by Carlos Santana, one of her favourite musicians from the 1960s. "When I hear a song that really touches me, I'll play it a million times," she says.
- Ruth Schweitzer