Styles – Contemporary Gospel

Synopsis

Contemporary / urban gospel, pioneered in the 1980s, is a more polished version of traditional gospel, drawing influences from modern R & B, jazz, blues and even hip-hop. Most contemporary gospel is recording in a slick, radio-ready format and musically most resembles “urban” music.

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Explanatory Article

Contemporary / Urban Gospel had its roots mostly in spirituals sung by southern slaves during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Thomas A. Dorsey (“Take My Hand, Precious Lord”) and other pioneers popularized the more freewheeling form of religious devotion of “Sanctified” or “Holiness” churches. In the 1920s, artists such as Arizona Dranes, many of whom were also traveling preachers, started making records in a style that melded traditional religious themes with blues and boogie-woogie techniques and brought jazz instruments, such as drums and horns, into the church. Early Urban Gospel music of this nature was often frowned upon in more established black churches, which preferred traditional Baptist and Methodist hymns without rhythmic accompaniment.

In the mid-twentieth century, groups such as the Dixie Hummingbirds, Soul Stirrers, Swan Silvertones, the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy introduced even more stylistic freedom to the genre, often emulating R & B forms, and in turn influencing top popular performers such as Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Sam Cooke, who himself had been a member of the Soul Stirrers.

At the same time that these quartet groups were reaching their zenith, a number of female singers were achieving stardom. Some, such as Mahalia Jackson and Bessie Griffin, were primarily soloists. Others, such as Clara Ward and The Caravans sang in small groups. Roberta Martin led groups that featured both men and women singers and sponsored a number of individual artists, such as James Cleveland, who went on to change the face of Gospel in the decades that followed with his large choral arrangements in the Urban Gospel style.

In the 1960s, Urban Gospel started to break way from the traditional church setting. More artists emerged during these decades, and they often began to perform, more than to minister. More recently, younger artists such as BeBe (Benjamin) and CeCe (Cecilia) Winans and groups, such as Take 6, deliver music Gospel music with a hip hop flavor. Contemporary Gospel songs are usually written in the sub-genre of either “praise” or “worship”—the former being faster in tempo, stronger and louder, the latter being slower in tempo and more subtle so the message may be taken in.

Source: New World Encyclopedia

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Contemporary Gospel Style Singers

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Examples of Songs / Artists

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Recommended CD Compilations

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Further References

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