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He'll Bring it to Pass: The Spirituals of Hall Johnson for Voice and Piano. Louise Toppin, soprano; Joseph Joubert, piano. (Albany TROY846; 59:57)
"City Called Heaven," "Wade in de Water," "Heaven is one Beautiful Place," "Ain't got time to Die," "Oh, Glory," "Certainly Lord" (arr. Julius Williams), "Po Mo'ner Got a Home at Las," "I Got to Lie Down," "I'm gonna tell God all my Troubles," "His Name so Sweet," "My God is so High," "Crucifixion," "Everytime I feel the Spirit," "Mother to Son," "Le's have a Union," "Fix me Jesus," "Roll Jerd'n Roll," "Give me Jesus," "He'll Bring it to Pass" (arr. Joubert).
Hall Johnson is one of those figures in music whose name is quite familiar but whose story is not. Born the son of a minister in 1882, Johnson displayed exceptional musical gifts as a very young child and managed to teach himself the violin while still a youngster. He subsequently received a solid and well rounded education, including a stint at Juilliard, but his musical destiny was shaped perhaps most powerfully by the experience of hearing his grandmother sing authentic slave songs and spirituals. He organized the Hall Johnson Negro Choir in 1925 as a means to preserve authentic spirituals, and it was for them that he began to compose original works very much inspired by spirituals. They eventually made appearances on Broadway and also...