SG History 101
SG History 101 - Accompianists
Our series on the great individual portions of gospel quartets (the primary performance unit of southern gospel music) continues this month with a look back at the genre’s great instrumental accompanists.
When one looks at a picture of a typical gospel quartet, one doesn’t see just the four singers, but usually one sees five people, the four singers and an accompanist, usually a pianist, since the piano has been the primary musical instrument used in gospel quartet music. For many years the piano was the only musical instrument used to accompany gospel quartets, partly because of its’ ready availability in churches and concert halls, and partly because it provides a greater degree of musical color and versatility that most any other instrument.
So then, with a few exceptions (the early Blackwood Brothers, the Rangers, and the Swanee River Boys) , gospel pianists have been the musical “stars” of gospel quartets. The pianist has usually been the most musically proficient member of the full gospel quartet, responsible for the arrangements used by a quartet and to a lesser extent, an extra vocalist when needed.
But even more so than the quartet’s bass singers, the pianists have been responsible for the gospel quartet’s entertainment value to audiences, whether for sheer musical virtuosity or comedy within the quartet from onstage. The great gospel pianists have been the ones that have defined the quartet musically and held it together, so to speak, in addition to giving it that “something extra” that makes audiences remember the particular quartet as distinct from all the other musical units.
As in the previous installments, we’ll highlight the outstanding gospel quartet musicians in more or less chronological order.
In fact, it can be said that the genre’s first popular performers were gospel pianists. The first professional quartets were not so much Christian entertainers as they were product salesmen, there to get people to buy the songbooks that the sponsoring publishing companies were offering in personal appearances.
But since there were a number of quartets, and two main publishing companies sponsoring them (the Vaughan company and the Stamps-Baxter company) , it followed that inevitably SOME quartet would do something to set itself apart from its’ competitors in some wat.
Perhaps the man who can be considered the “father” of gospel quartet piano styling was Dwight Brock, who played with the 1927 Stamps Quartet led by Frank Stamps. He was the first man hired by a quartet to accompany a group without doubling on a singing part. Previously, one of the quartet’s singers doubled up on the piano accompaniment as well.
But that was not the only claim to fame for Brock. Hw was a pianist whose musical skill went beyond merely that of a regular church pianist, and it was his piano style that has remained the basic gospel quartet piano style to this very day.
Brock’s style was a rhythm piano that was jazz-based, and his typical approach to a song was to play the first line or two of it and then without stopping, would go directly into the melody and the quartet would join him, on the fly, so to speak. Then at the end of a verse, Brock would play a brief interlude, and after it, the quartet would resume the song, all of this without stopping, as was the style of the day.
This technique became known as the “turnaround”, and it became the basis of the southern gospel quartet style to this day. Brock’s piano technique was as big a part of the Stamps Quartet’s ascension to popularity among fans of music as was the singing of the quartet.
This development was one of the keys to the development of gospel quartet music as a primary performance art in American music, and led the genre out of the solely songbook-selling business into the world of professional entertainment.
James D. Walbert
As innovative as Brock was, he was not the only gospel quartet pianist putting on “shows” for audiences. W.B. Walbert (who managed the Vaughan Quartet) had a son, James D., who was quite the piano showman. James developed a routine in which he would invert his hand position on the piano keyboard and play the piano “backwards”. His father frowned on such routines, thinking that they detracted from the experience of hearing the songs performed as they were written, but audiences loved Walbert’s piano excursions.
In addition to playing songs “backwards”, James would also play the piano with his elbows, keeping the melody going as best he could with his fingers all the while. Like Brock, James was a trained pianist in serious music, but he was never averse to “putting on a show”, and subsequent gospel quartet pianists would follow in their footsteps.
Other early quartet pianists would also augment their musical training with showy techniques, such as the Blackwood Brothers’ first two pianists, Joe Roper and Marion Snider. Another young man became popular in gospel music with his own mastery of piano technique in addition to his singing and his very unique compositions.
Georgian Lee Roy Abernathy became as well-known for the classic gospel songs he wrote (“Filled With Glory Divine”, “Newborn Feeling”, “Wonderful Time Up There”) and his development of gospel singers as for his very accomplished piano technique, developed over years of playing with many of the finest gospel quartets ever assembled. Abernathy’s many historical achievements in gospel music are chronicled in far more depth and space in other history articles here, but I list him here because he is undoubtedly one of gospel music’s great musicians, in addition to one of its’ primary influences and mentors.
I’ll take a brief interlude here to mention parenthetically that the piano was not the sole musical accompaniment of all gospel quartets. I mentioned earlier that the Blackwood Brothers did not at the outset of their great career. It was instead Doyle Blackwood (who was their original bass) who was that quartet’s first accompanist on the mandolin, before they joined the Stamps organization and brought Joe Roper on as their first pianist. In addition, the Rangers used tenor Denver Crumpler on guitar for many years, as did the Swanee River Boys with Billy Carrier.
But these were exceptions, and generally, when a quartet was able to use a piano for its’ accompaniment, it did, .possibly because the technique of a Joe Roper or a Lee Roy Abernathy was more entertaining to more people than a guitarist would be. Surely there was no dearth of splendidly gifted pianists out there for quartet audiences to enjoy.
The next major accompanist to come along was a young South Carolinian who had a lifelong dream to organize his own “super” quartet. Hovie Lister could not only play a great piano, but could sing and communicate to an audience like few others could. Lister developed and mastered his craft while serving apprenticeships with such groups as the Rangers, the LeFevres, and the Homeland Harmony Quartet before realizing his dream in 1948 with the organization of the Statesmen Quartet. His unique flair and showmanship from the piano was as instrumental as the quartet’s singing in making them one of the greatest gospel quartets ever assembled (see a familiar theme here?) .
Before leaving the 1940s, mention must be made of such influential pianists as the Harmoneers’ Charles Key, Reese “Rocket” Crockett of the Homeland Harmony Quartet and other fine groups, and Wally Varner (Melody Masters, Homeland Harmony, and the Blackwood Brothers of the early 1960s) . These three were certainly popular pianists and performers during the so-called “Golden Age” of gospel quartet singing.
It’s also worth mentioning the Blackwood Brothers once again in passing here, because they not only have had a tradition of great bass singers, but they’ve also had some of the finest pianists in gospel music history. The 1940s saw Hilton Griswold man their ivories for most of that decade. Griswold was not only an excellent piano technician, but he was also able to fill in on the other vocal parts when needed. And when Griswold left the quartet in 1950 to go into church pasturing, he was succeeded by one of the most gifted piano technicians in the genre’s history, Jack Marshall.
Marshall was another classically trained pianist who had the musical facility to adapt and master the gospel quartet genre, and he was also a master arranger whose penchant for inverted vocal harmony helped push the Blackwood Brothers to even greater heights of popularity than ever in the 1950s. Though diminutive in stature, Marshall ’s extraordinary musical skills made him one of the all-time “giants” in gospel quartet history.
The 1950s saw a glut of great gospel quartets, and naturally a lot of great gospel instrumentalists as well. Briefly, those instrumentalists would include Kenny Gates of the Blue Ridge Quartet, Jimmy Taylor of the Rebels, Livy Freeman (Homeland Harmony and Florida Boys Quartets) , Jack Clark (Homeland Harmony and Harvesters Quartets) , Easmon Napier of the Plainsmen, Eddie Wallace of the Sunshine Boys, Dickie Matthews of the Crusaders Quartet, and Henry Slaughter of the Weatherford Quartet (later of the Imperials) . In addition, a couple of female pianists had earned wide acclaim: Eva Mae LeFevre of the LeFevres, and Rosa Nell Speer of the Speer Family (more on them next month, though) .
The 1960s gave us even more gifted instrumentalists to celebrate, including Tommy Fairchild of the Oak Ridge Boys, Whitey Gleason of the Jubilee Quartet (and later the Blackwood Brothers after Varner departed in 1965) , L. David Young of the Ambassadors Quartet, the Sons of Song, and the Couriers Quartet, Eddie Crook of the Tennesseans and the Happy Goodmans, and of course Howard Goodman of the Goodmans (who was mostly a singer, but his piano style was quite entertaining and distinctive) , and Derrell Stewart of the Florida Boys (known as much for comedy as for musicianship) , and David Reece of the Rangers and Deep South Quartets (among others over a long career) .
Also, Tony Brown helped spark the Stamps Quartet of J. D. Sumner to the top of the gospel quartet world in the 1960s after stints with the Dixie Melody Boys and Klaudt Indian Family. Also, Martin Cook accompanied and led the Inspirations to the top of the gospel music world starting in 1964, when he organized that quartet.
Brown joined the Oak Ridge Boys in the 1970s, swapping places with Fairchild in the Blackwood Brothers. Even though changing sounds in gospel music brought full bands to quartets, pianists remained a key part of their sound, and by the late 1970s, another pair of legendary pianists entered the genre.
Anthony Burger
A young man from Tennessee joined the Kingsmen Quartet, and with his superlative technique, helped bring unprecedented recognition to that North Carolina quartet. Although the man Anthony Burger replaced, Nick Bruno, was one of the better gospel pianists and producers of the 1970s (excelling with a number of East Coast quartets and the Rebels Quartet prior to joining the Kingsmen) , Burger took gospel music by storm starting in the late 1970s. His virtuosity was reminiscent of Jack Marshall to many gospel music fans, and so popular was he with said fans that the Singing News magazine award for Instrumentalist of the Year was eventually named after him. Burger went on to solo recognition after leaving the Kingsmen and from there to the well-known Gaither Homecoming team, where his untimely passing in 2006 while playing on a cruise saddened and shocked many gospel music fans. Anthony Burger will always be remembered as one of gospel music’s most gifted musicians.
Roger Bennett
And another young man from Arkansas became well-known to gospel music fans after joining the Cathedral Quartet in 1979. Roger Bennett played with that group for the majority of its’ existence since that point until its’ retirement in 1999, when he formed a new quartet, Legacy Five. Besides being a superlative pianist and arranger, Bennett was also a fine song writer and MC who (like many pianists mentioned in this article) had a gift for onstage humor, and in all that became one of the most beloved gospel music personalities of his era.
Bennett also passed away at a relatively young age, losing a 12-year battle with leukemia in 2007. More than a mere instrumentalist, Bennett was a gospel music personality and mentor that is missed to this day.
Like the other articles in this series, no doubt there are other deserving names I ought to have mentioned here. Fortunately, these articles are interactive, .the comments feature enables any reader who wishes to point out errors or omissions in these articles to do so, I gladly welcome any input that might make my articles better and more complete.
I hope this article is a worthy tribute to some of the finest instrumentalists to grace the southern gospel genre, and that you may be led to discover these individuals further for yourselves, and consequently enjoy their numerous contributions to making the southern gospel genre the distinctive art form that it is.
Even though the focus during this series has been on male quartets, in the interest of equity, I’d like to wrap it up next month with a look at some of the finest female gospel music artists in the history of this genre. See you in March!
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Written: 02/06/2010
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Category: SG History 101
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