Rev. Gary's New Beginning

When Jazz label Prestige began its Bluesville subsidiary in 1960, what would become the folk and blues boom was only then getting ramped up. Through the four short years of its existence, Bluesville released a near-staggering amount of quality blues, helping the fuel the revival as well as providing us, from the distant hilltop of these later years, with many of the idiom's essential recordings. In its first year alone, the Bluesville imprint would turn loose albums by Willie Dixon, Roosevelt Sykes, Lonnie Johnson, and a pair from Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. At the end of their first year, they introduced the Rev. Gary Davis to much of the world.

Davis had, of course, recorded for ARC in the '30's and the Smithsonian in the '50's. By the end of that decade, he was already a fixture in New York City, playing on its streets and, entering the 1960's, its coffee houses.

When Prestige/Bluesville released Harlem Street Singer, it would almost seem a gutsy move in hindsight, pitching an album of spirituals at a secular and an as-yet-still-unproven folk market. One would think that, were it just about anyone other than the Rev. Gary Davis, and especially this album, things might have worked out differently. As it went, it turned out very well indeed. Davis would stick around Bluesville, releasing two more critical albums, and his career moved, finally, into its most successful stage.

In late August, 1960, at a recording studio in New Jersey, Davis cut 20 songs in just 3 hours. Twelve of these would become Harlem Street Singer. Davis would open his repertoire back up a bit fairly quickly, incorporating secular material into his live sets, and then his albums. For this, his debut, Davis recorded exclusively spirituals. Spirituals that were designed to shake a man deep, music--and a man--that blended sanctified music, the blues, and trend-setting ragtime guitar into something seamless and singular. Davis' music still defies convenient labeling because he was able to bring them all to the fore simultaneously.

One could scarcely hope for a stronger opening than Davis' well-traveled Samson and Delilah, giving us what could easily qualify as its best rendition. What follows is a showcase dose of what made the man such a seminal figure. Whether riffing on ragtime or playfully playing call and response with his guitar, Davis' fingerwork throughout this album is just gorgeous. Frenetic one moment, introspective the next, this is the sort of disc, and Rev. Gary the sort of player, that requires repeated spins to catch the nuances.

Often as not, with Davis' rough-hewn, life-worn voice and blues holler inflections, most of his spirituals ended up sounding like blues. Davis wasn't on any sales pitch, he was just singing it like he felt it. Like he believed. When his voice got to booming, as it does through I Belong to the Band, Hallelujah, Great Change Since I Been Born and Twelve Gates to the City, Gary's giving it his all, straining for, wringing out that last note.

Harlem Street Singer would be the Rev. Gary's introduction to a broader audience that was finally primed to hear him. They found in his music, and the man, something decidedly genuine. Even joyous.

Peace, Mudcatz




Rev. Gary Davis
Harlem Street Singer
Prestige/Bluesville 1993

1. Samson and Delilah
2. Let Us Get Together
3. I Belong to the Band, Hallelujah!
4. Pure Religion
5. Great Change Since I Been Born
6. Death Don't Have No Mercy
7. Twelve Gates to the City
8. Goin' to Sit Down by the Banks of the River
9. Tryin' To Get Home
10. Lo, I Be With You Always
11. I Am the Light of the World
12. I Feel Just like Goin' On

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