Photo Credit: Erik Ljung
Context may not be everything when it comes to music, but some styles become nearly synonymous with the places where they are nurtured. In Milwaukee, soul gospel of a relatively traditional flavor is found mostly in Northwest Side churches. This is where it both serves as an offering of congregational worship and as entertainment and edification in concerts little publicized beyond sanctuary doors, the AM radio stations catering largely to the city’s African American pew-sitters. So the second annual Milwaukee Gospel Jubilee at The Pabst Theater last Friday served manifold purposes. Not only was it a fundraiser for Progressive Community Health Centers, also the beneficiary of Collectivo Coffee’s recently concluded inaugural season of monthly Sunday gospel brunch concerts, it also drew some of that same brunch crowd of listeners who might not otherwise access the neighborhoods where such joyful music is abundant.
Spiritually frenzied dancing at the fronts of altars or in aisles isn’t uncommon in the music’s usual setting, but a more choreographed sort began Friday’s show. The Judah Dolls’ red/yellow/orange dresses and flag waving, per Moses’ altar in Exodus 17:15, made them appear as living flames lit unto the Almighty as they moved to a recorded female soloists’ work.
The live music began on a distaff note as well. The Spirit Of Charms assayed a couple of songs on their own and a concluding piece featuring one of the teen girls’ moms on lead vocals. The curly-haired youngster brandishing a rhythm guitar for her and her mates’ rendition of The Impressions’ “People Get Ready” strummed her axe assuredly. The same Chicago R&B group they covered also arose later in the bill as The Voices Of Faith interpolated some of “It’s All Right” into the closing vamps on one of their selections.
One of Milwaukee’s best-known and oldest male gospel vocal ensembles, The Masonic Wonders, couldn’t make the date despite being scheduled to perform. Holding sway for a solely male presence were The Sounds Of Faith, dressed in matching three-piece brown pinstripe suits. As with other groups tonight, theirs was an inter-generational combo, with three elderly gents and another looking like a grandson to one of them. Arguably even more scintillating were The Sounds’ female counterpart, The Independent Gospelettes, divas for the Divine in sparkly black ensembles whose ferocity belied their initially grandmotherly appearance.
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The most energetic ensemble of the night, Living Sacrifice is a small, casually dressed choir. Their rendition of Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Crusade’s throbbing “Let’s Dance” devastated in the right way. Another offering about having the best day of one’s life and being the head, not the tail, bespeaks some of the egotistic theological heterodoxy prevalent in the sort of contemporary soul gospel favored by commercial radio nowadays.
Headliners Pastor Rodney Cunningham and Company struck a balance between traditional and contemporary impulses. Cunningham and his ladies assayed a couple of rousing, encouraging numbers preceding their finale of The Edwin Hawkins Singers’ pop crossover “Oh Happy Day.” For the latter, most all the evening’s singing talent came back to the stage and the audience was urged to their feet to join in on the chorus. The Jubilee couldn’t have ended much more upliftingly.
