“Life In Heaven Is Free” reveals a section of African-American religious music that is as torrid as it is sensual. In Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s, the Chess brothers, masters of blues and rock’n’roll, also had a keen ear for gospel. Their Checker catalog is a treasure revealed once again.
Soul is the daughter of gospel. An obvious fact: almost the majority of stars of the genre started in the parish choir. Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé… the list goes on. Likewise, soul has never ceased to draw inspiration from the African-American sacred repertoire, whether it be its melodies, a way of achieving trance or even this art of response between a pastor and his flock. Some even spent their time in a ballet going back and forth between the cabaret and the sacristy, like Al Green and Solomon Burke, pastors of their own congregation and big names in the most sensual soul.
Conversely, gospel is readily renamed soul. We know less about that. The story rather remembers the indignant pouts of the congregation when one of its members prides itself on wanting to sing of carnal love rather than spiritual. Before breaking teenage hearts with “You Send Me,” Sam Cooke broke the hearts of his own Church of Christ parishioners when he left the pious Soul Stirrers in 1956 to walk the path of sin.
Two brothers behind Chess Records
In Chicago, brothers Phil and Leonard Chess, two immigrants from Eastern Europe, launched into the African-American music business in 1947, with the record company Aristocrat, then a label in their name, Chess Records . The rider logo has become famous. We owe him the success of bluesmen Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy then the triumph of rockers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Today, their former address, 2120 Michigan Avenue, has become a museum and place of pilgrimage for music lovers.
External content
This external content cannot be displayed because it may collect personal data. To view this content you must authorize the category Social networks.
Accept More info
The ingredients of success
The recipe for Chess success? A good recording studio, the best musicians available, engineers with keen ears and good business sense. Gospel records selling very well, the siblings entered this market with a sub-label called Checker. They first distribute during the sermons of a certain CL Franklin, the reverend father of sisters Aretha, Carolyn and Erma.
The success of Sam Cooke pushed them to explore a musical path aimed at the younger generations of the African-American community. Gospel soul was born. Checker is his birthplace. Producers Ralph Bass and Monk Higgins orchestrate the new cult. The idea: pious lyrics set to music as sexy as Wilson Pickett’s.
External content
This external content cannot be displayed because it may collect personal data. To view this content you must authorize the category Social networks.
-Accept More info
In tune with the fight for civil rights
Checker will not only record gospel that will stir the buttocks of the audience at the Apollo Theater, he will also accompany the socio-political evolution of the African-American community. Martin Luther King is there: religious redemption goes hand in hand with the fight for civil rights. Some of Checker’s gospel hits have evocative titles: “Stand up America, Don’t Be Afraid” or “I’m Fighting For My Rights”.
External content
This external content cannot be displayed because it may collect personal data. To view this content you must authorize the category Social networks.
Accept More info
Wonders gone up in smoke
In 2008, the fabulous Checker catalog was stored in a vast California warehouse belonging to Universal, current holder of the music rights. A fire, one more in California, reduced these wonders to ashes. What remains are the original second-hand vinyls, the transplants on Youtube by fans and now this miraculous compilation: “Life In Heaven Is Free” released by the sharp Londoners of Honest Jon’s, already responsible for a triple compilation from another gospel label , Savoy.
This delivery only exists in the form of a double vinyl album. If you don’t have or no longer have a record player, perhaps it’s time to convert. “Groovin’ with Jesus,” sing The Violinaires.
Thierry Sartoretti/mh
“Life In Heaven Is Free” – Checker Gospel 1961-1973 (Honest Jon’s Records). Sorti le 15 novembre 2024.
Related News :