Track Listing

1. God Put A Rainbow In The Sky
2. He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
3. Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho
4. His Eye Is On The Sparrow
5. Walk In Jerusalem
6. Come On Children Let's Sing
7. Summertime/Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
8. In The Upper Room
9. I Will Move On Up A Little Higher
10. God Is So Good (To Me)
11. How I Got Over
12. Didn't It Rain
13. Trouble Of The World
14. He Calmed The Ocean
15. Just A Little While To Stay Here
16. Part VI (23rd Psalm)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140849 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-17
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
By the late 1950s, Mahalia Jackson was a bona fide superstar, performing on radio and television, and at jazz festivalsand concerts in the United States and abroad. These recordings, culled from sessions cut at the peak of Jackson's commercial success (1954-1963), show her in top vocal form. Jackson brought an earthy dimension to the pious sound of traditional church music, inflecting her phrases with swinging cadences and bluesy flourishes. Jackson's sound and passionate Christian messages struck a common chord with people of all colours, and the demand for some of her recordings--many of which are included on this set--went through the roof.
Jackson brings a vitality to traditional songs like "Trouble ofthe World" that infuses the material with new life. Her treatment of Rev. W.H. Brewster's "I Will Move on Up a Little Higher" is also here. Her jubilees, hymns, and spirituals aresometimes imbued with a quiet intensity, and sometimes overflow with exuberance and joy (her fine backing bands and choirs don't hurt either). While not a comprehensive career overview, THE BEST OF is a superb one-stop introduction to one of gospel's all-time greats.

Customer Reviews

The Great American Gospel Voice of the 20th Century
Born to a poor family in 1911 in New Orleans, Mahalia Jackson grew up singing in her father's church--and soaking up the blues and jazz for which that city is so famous in the process. By the late 1920s she was in Chicago, where (according to this CD's liner notes) her distinctly jazz and blues-inflected singing style nearly got her thrown out of the Greater Salem Baptist Church. But Mahalia persevered, and in the early 1950s a series of radio and television broadcasts launched her first to national and then international acclaim.

Some thirty years after her death in 1972, she is still considered the single greatest gospel singer America has ever produced--and while nothing short of a box set can really do this singer justice, this particular CD offers a very fine sampling of her work. Opening with the short, up-tempo "God Put A Rainbow In The Sky," the collection includes such classic spirituals as "Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho" and such delicately performed classics as "His Eye is on the Sparrow"--and I simply defy any one of any faith not to break into a wide grin when the great Mahalia launches into such knock-you-flat songs as "Walkin' in Jerusalem."

Although she clearly influenced such later singers as Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson's voice is like none other, a great bell that rings sound from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. An extraordinary artist by any standard, Mahalia Jackson was and simply is the great voice of gospel music--and even if you're not a fan of gospel, you'll be a fan of Mahalia Jackson before the recording ends. Greatly recommended.

The Best of Mahalia Jackson
Forget your Aretha's, this girl is right up there in the Heavens of musical brilliance. What a voice. The only voice. I dare you to find a female singer better than her. Britney and Kylie can only dream of sounding this superb. Close your eyes and drink in her emotion. Enough to bring a tear to your eye. Can't wait to get her other cd's, Golden Collection and Forgotten Tracks.

the gospel queen wow but songs still missing!!
its very hard to find albums a best of cd with someones best songs the beatles elvis etc wheres nobody knows the trouble ive seen one of her most famous songs and one of the best!! still a good cd i would get this one and the gospel queen cd which is a good cover of her with her her hair like the retro soul singers of the 60s!! mahalia jackson is a legend R.I.P.