Favorite gospel quartets (more or less in the order of how much they are liked):
The
Swan Silvertones
The Soul Stirrers (with R.H. Harris)
The
Caravans (not a traditional quartet, but one of my very favorite groups and
I feel they merit inclusion on this list - make sure you get one of their records
that Shirley Caesar sings on)
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi (with
Archie Brownlee) - I came across this weird import called 'The Blind Boys
of Mississippi & The Sensational Nightingales - The Lord Will Make a Way
- Early Recordings 1947-1951 and I recommend it. It is really hard to find recordings
of this group made while Archie Brownlee was their lead singer. The link takes
you to the site of the label that released the record. It is in Japan, and I
can't figure out how to find the cd on their site, but good luck. Maybe I can
post an mp3 here later so that you can decide if it is worth the trouble of
trying to find (I think it is!)
The Golden Gate Quartet (aka the Gates)
The
Detroiters
The
Soul Stirrers (with Sam Cooke)
The
Five Blind Boys of Alabama
The
Pilgrim Travelers
The
Golden Echoes
The Sensational Nightingales (mainly
when Rev. Julius Cheeks was in the group) - See the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.
That record features Julius Cheeks on about half of the Sensational Nightingales
songs.
Dorothy
Love Coates and the Original Gospel Harmonettes
The
Mighty Clouds of Joy
I think that 'The Mighty Clouds of Joy' is the greatest name ever given to a
musical group. I only like their earliest songs, but I like their name (and
the designs on some of their records which you can see here
and here)
very much.
The links will take you to the records that I think best represent their work.
You can listen to samples for most of the groups on amazon and see for yourself
if you like them.
NOTE - A few of these groups (the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Sensational Nightingales,
etc) continued to record and perform after the year 1965. Please don't let any
of these post 1965 recordings be your first taste of a gospel quartet. The "Golden
Age" of the gospel quartet lasted from roughly 1947 to 1954, and most of
these groups finest recordings date from this period.
