James Cleveland
Rev. James Cleveland was gospel's most influential postwar arranger, building the modern mass-choir sound by scoring traditional Black gospel with the harmonic reach of soul, pop, and jazz. His 1963 recording of "Peace Be Still" with the Angelic Choir became a genre-defining hit, and by the 1970s he was directing the choir behind Aretha Franklin's landmark Amazing Grace album. Ordained a minister and honored with four Grammys, he earned the nickname "King of Gospel" before his death in 1991.
Cleveland made his choir debut at age eight under Thomas Dorsey's direction at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, where Dorsey — composer of 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' and the architect of modern gospel — personally mentored him and wrote a composition for him.
listen forDorsey's blues-inflected, emotionally naked hymn-writing on 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' reappears in the plainspoken, testifying lyrics and slow-building arrangement of Cleveland's own 'Lord Help Me to Hold Out.'
Martin played piano for the youth choir Cleveland sang in as a boy and directly shaped his piano style; in 1948 she was impressed enough by his teenage composition 'Grace Is Sufficient' to begin publishing his songs, giving him his start as a professional gospel composer.
listen forThe rolling, church-piano touch and carefully blended, individualized voicings Martin pioneered with her group carry into Cleveland's own choir arrangements — listen for how his backing choir on 'God Has Smiled on Me' balances distinct solo voices against the group the way Martin's Singers did.
Jackson's home and beauty shop were on Cleveland's boyhood paper route, and by his own account he spent time there listening to her hum gospel melodies while she worked — an informal early exposure to the 'surge singing' style that defined her sound; the two remained close throughout their careers, and Cleveland's choir later backed her friend and labelmate Aretha Franklin on the gospel album Amazing Grace.
listen forBoth records use the same tool — an unhurried, moaning build that stretches a single line out until it breaks into full-throated release; Jackson does it with just piano and choir behind her, Cleveland scales the same idea up to a full mass choir.