Word: grandisons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...stands in greater relief in this fragment than in his other books, largely because so much of the conventional history is familiar to us. Standard histories rarely discuss--rarely mention--the events and personalities Miller so vividly presents to us: the Great Awakening of 1857-58, the Reverend Charles Grandison Finney's revivals, the codifying patriotism of David Dudley Field, the fierce Irish eloquence of William Sampson, or any of a host of others...
...Mighty Clouds of Joy. Recently, its spirit and style and shouts of "Yeah!" (but rarely the rest of the lyrics) have crept into popular music, but only Mahalia Jackson has been popularly successful with the pure version. A couple of years ago, Brother John Sellers and the Grandison Singers became the first to sing gospel in nightclubs. A thin flock of groups followed, some complaining bitterly that cheating preachers had driven them into it by failing to part with a livable share of the church offering...
...Grandison Singers-three guileless-looking Negro girls in their 20s and a tenor-pianist-combine all three styles. They prefer to "take it apart and lay it on the table." When they put it together again it comes out something that might be called "distilled" gospel-a style that forgoes the screaming, stamping frenzies common to many a small church choir but that retains the slogging, sanctified beat of jazz and rhythm 'n' blues. As a close-harmony quartet, the Grandisons exude a curiously mingled air of sex and sanctity...
...Francisco's hungry i last week Sisters Mary and Helen Grandison and Cousin Dottie Webster, hips swaying under plain blue dresses, had every bottle on the bar rattling as they belted out old gospel favorites with poise and trombone clarity. The Grandisons have had little musical training. They left the sawdust trail only this year, after singing in churches all over the South, to try the nightclub circuit. The four write their own arrangements, frequently substitute new words in standard spirituals-e.g. Swing down, sweet chariot/ Stop and let me ride/ Rock me, Lord/ Rock me, Lord/ Rock...
Their own catching, lilting, hand-clap rhythm has helped establish the Grandisons as the freshest gospel-singing group in the land. And despite their switch from churches to liquor-serving clubs, the girls have no regrets. Says Mary Grandison: People in the nightclubs accept the music more than people in the churches. It's more quiet here. It's almost reverent...