My Home--The Jubilee Quartet w. Whitey Gleason at the Piano (Mid-America Recordings LPST-203; 1966)

A stock cover, but a nice one.  On the back jacket, there are hard-to-see signatures from three of the members: Buddy Campbell, Norman Huxman, and the fabulous pianist, Whitey Gleason.  With the right lighting, they'd have shown up fine, but my scanner simply won't capture them (see above--or try to), even when I adjust the color levels after the fact.  Maybe I should try some "live" shots.

Okay, I just took some, using my computer desk lamp for the lighting.  The signatures are way easier to see...

So, imagine my surprise when I saw the great Lee Roy Abernathy listed under "Background Music" for this disc!  The composer of Gospel Boogie.  The astounding piano on these tracks, however, is supplied by "Whitey" Gleason (first signature).  The performances are marvelous, and the Jubilee Quartet appears to be from Georgia.  Not positive, but in the notes, "Whitey" Gleason mentions spending "many memorable and fruitful hours" in Abernathy's home studio in Canton Georgia.  In fact, this was recorded there--I'm looking at the credits now.  The label, Mid-American Recordings, was located in Memphis TN.  Quite a few of these numbers were tunes I've recently become acquainted with, so this LP--another thrift gift from Diane--is very good timing.

However, I'm rushing to press, and it's not because I waited too long to rip this, but because I had to overcome some limitations in the sound.  I don't know what happened, but one possibility is that, when this was being mastered, someone accidentally turned the treble knob all the way to the left. The sound was all bass and mid-range, and muffled highs.  I did two re-EQ's, and both turned out too weak in the lower end.  Third try, I simply added a pinch of treble and called it a day.  I didn't get great results, but what you'll hear is much better than what I was getting from the grooves.

Weak treble or no, this is a winner all the way--expert singing of the muscular Statesmen Quartet type, with workmanlike piano that occasionally breaks out in amazing passages.

Last time or so, I mentioned Barbershop, and there's a lot of Barbershop feeling here.  At this point in history (1962 1966) close harmony groups of any and every type were typically packed with "Barbershop" touches--touches that even found their way into the piano accompaniments.  For instance, the (probably African-American in origin) bit of "sliding" chromatically during a chord change, where time permitted.  And the vocal swoops, and so on.  These things had become integrated into close harmony singing, which, as I've noted before, is a phrase defined differently wherever you happen to look it up (my favorite definition has the top three voices contained within the range of an octave, with the bass free to roam).  I take the simple route--close harmony is simply that: close.  As in, notes close together.  It's harmony contained within the range of male voices--hence, the notes are literally scrunched together, with overlapping whenever necessary.  The "lead" (or tenor) can carry the melody, or it can harmonize above it.  The bottom line is that close harmony gets its special sound by the requirements of containing harmonies within a fairly narrow range (not a problem with SATB harmony).  Close harmony is typically notated in treble and bass clef fashion, with the understanding that the upper part will be taken down an octave.  In such a case, the formally correct way to notate the upper line is to add an "8" under the treble clef (to indicate one octave lower), but lots of close harmony is notated with a funky "tenor" clef that's not to be confused with the actual tenor clef used in Classical music.  I hope all that wasn't as confusing as it sounded to me.

Wow.  I really didn't get to saying the stuff I wanted to, but I'm out of time, so this essay will have to do.  Bottom line: great Southern quartet gospel.  Grade A.  The real deal.  I'd have preferred more treble, but it's a little late to write the label and ask for a remastering...

The set ends with one of my late foster mother's favorite hymns--He Hideth My Soul, which features one of the brilliant Fanny Crosby's most exceptionally distinguished and moving texts.






DOWNLOAD: The Jubilee Quartet: My Home (1962 1966) (Correct year provided by Bob.  Thanks, Bob!)

Lee