Customer Reviews

Live at Newport 1958

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Epiphany, is the word that describes this disc best. The power, energy, and the conviction that Mahalia possesses has never been duplicated. If while listening to such outstanding cuts like, "The lord's Prayer, Didn't It Rain, When The Saints Go Marching In, On My Way, An Evening's Prayer, and A walk In Heaven, you are not moved, then may I suggest that you make an appointment with your doctor, to check for a pulse.

In my childhood, I enjoyed this album at the home of a neighbor. I have always wanted my own copy of it and just recently found out, nearly 40 years later,that it was indeed available.

This is a "masterpiece". Mahalia's personality as well as her God-given talents are showcased here!

This is a collector's dream!

Richard Alan Henderson Anderson, IN

Here we hear the great artist in an original-restaured recording of the 1958 NEWPORT FESTIVAL, being in good form and having a great athmosphare.
Fortunately COLUMBIA-LEGACY found the original tapes and went on to restaure the real tapes, giving up the company's old goal to mix the live-recordings with studio-cuts to commercialize it.
Thank God the Legacy producers gave us back a time-document so precious and unique and i pray for more such holy sounds.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I saw a tape of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. I'd seen and heard her on the old gospel show "Jubilee Showcase"; and couldn't wait to see and hear her "live." Mahalia live is the most wondrous thing to see. She feels the music, feeds off the crowd and her energy is quite infectious. Anytime you can get any recording of Mahalia Jackson live is to hear the spirit and joy that she brought her music. Mildred Falls and the rest of the musicians on this disk are at their best.

Gotta question...can anyone tell me more about Mildred Falls?

I almost did not buy this CD, thanks to the pathetically inaccuate review claiming the sound quality is terrible. Amazon needs to remove such irresponsible and careless reviews. Now read a review from someone who's collected Newport recordings since 1963.

Yes, at the END of the concert, we hear Mahalia OFF-MICROPHONE: she's merely making her stage exit while still singing to the people! Naturally the volume of her voice fades into the thunderous ovation as she moves further away from the mikes. But this lasts for just a few bars--out of a nearly one hour concert--hardly anything that warrants a review calling the entire concert poorly recorded. And actually, hearing that spontaneous moment captured, while the audience cries for "MORE!" is one of the many exciting, inspiring you-are-there moments on this CD.

Mahalia does return, steps right up the the mikes, and gives her loyal, rain-soaked audience TWO encores, including "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well."

As Columbia Legacy did with the 1956 Duke Ellington Newport concert, the Voice of America STEREO tapes were used from Mahalia's concert. The audio is so real sounding, and superior in every way to previous issues, which have therefore become obsolete, I guarantold you!

Any fool who can't hear THAT truly needs to "Keep His/Her Hand on the Plow," Lord have mercy!!!

The Queen of Gospel sings live in 1958 long before there was "MTV Unplugged". Most of the tracks are clear but a few clearly show what happens in a live concert when Ms. Jackson steps away from the microphone or claps. It's raw, powerful and un-choreographed and that's what makes this album a one of a kind. Need further proof, listen to the cheers of "more" and "Brava" at the end of tracks "Didn't It Rain" and "The Lord's Prayer". If you want a clear track of "His Eye Is On The Sparrow", sorry but you'll need to buy something else of Ms. Jackson.

This concert was performed 1 month before my birth, & is very significant to me as I can learn about the type of music which was played in that era. Ms Jackson's voice was beautiful. I especially enjoyed listening to her pianist who did not miss a beat. She very interestingly would play a scale & move right into another song. Ms Jackson was very gracious & took song requests which is fortunate for me because my favorite songs are on this CD. This concert ended all too soon for me.

Man o Man! You just have to hear this! It starts out saying, Today is Sunday and we've got the greatest Gospel Singer in the world! WOW is right! Then at the end when you hear the crowd cheering her on, it's so moving it'll make you cry.

This is Mahalia Jackson at the peak of her career, And of all places the Newport Jazz Festival. Known for Jazz & Blues...Listen to what Mahalia does simply singing Gospel!!! The crowd was MOVED! And you will be too! EVERY CUT IS A WINNER!!!

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. By the late 1920s she was in Chicago, where 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.

I discovered Jackson in a serious way a year or so ago, and since then I have gone out of my way to purchase every one of her recordings that comes my way: if ever God gave breath to a gospel singer, it was to this woman, and her voice grabs you and rings you like a great bell. And after reading several commentaries on the brilliance of her 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, I was particularly eager to have this one.

Sad to say, the sound quality of this recording is very, very bad. Truth be said, you can actually hear the roars of the audience with greater clarity than you can hear Jackson--and given the power of her voice that is an astonishing thing. At times it sounds as if Jackson and the microphone are at opposite ends of the stage; at other times it sounds for all the world as if Jackson is singing inside a barrel. And more than anything, the recording leaves me with a tremendous frustration--for in its occasional moments of clarity it is very obvious that Jackson was giving a truly brilliant performance.

For all the frustration involved, I do not regret this purchase. If nothing else, it gives one a very clear idea of how Jackson interacted with her audience. But even so, this not a recording I would recommend to someone just beginning to explore the work of this unique and extraordinary artist. Let it be among the last purchases of her work you make.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer