On the afternoon of Sunday June 9, the Lucy Smith Quintet held a special Pride concert celebrating LGBTQ+ individuals in the world of Gospel Music.
“Shout Out: Gays in Gospel Music,” which took place at the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 1111th St., featured music from artists who are considered architects of rock and roll (Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Little Richard” Penniman) as well as others working strictly in secular music (James Cleveland, Clara Ward, “Little Axe” Broadnax)—with a few surprises (Billy Preston and Bayard Rustin) thrown in.
For over 90 minutes, vocalist Smith led her top-rate band (featuring Ivan Taylor on bass, William Kurk on keyboards, Derrick Tate on alto sax and Ernie Adams on drums) through a varied set of gospel standards that were composed or performed by LGBTQ+ individuals. Historian Cheryl Corley offered an insightful history of both the music and the times it emerged from.
Ernie Adams. Photo by Vern Hester
Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Down by the Riverside” unsurprisingly opened the show after Corley spoke about the unconventional-for-the-time performer whose singing and guitar playing inspired far more than just handclapping.
Corley noted that Tharpe introduced Little Richard early in his career, and spoke about Penniman’s meteoric rise to fame (between 1955 and 1958 he was second only to Elvis Presley in hit records) and his conflicted relationship with his religion and sexuality, which ultimately caused him to forsake rock and roll and return to gospel music.
From left, Ivan Taylor, Willian Kurk, Cheryl Corley, Lucy Smith, Dr. Carla Carter, Ernie Adams, and Derrick Tate. Photo by Vern Hester
Penniman’s style was hard to miss. He delighted in wearing make-up onstage and sang and played piano in an unrestrained manner. Some of his radio hits like “Tutti Fruity” were inspired by words and actions that couldn’t be said on the radio. His music disturbed some listeners in the ’50s, but was exciting to the white and Black youth market.
Clara Mae Ward and James Cleveland meanwhile managed to work within the church musically. Ward, who recorded many Gospel staples with The Famous Ward Singers and worked as the group’s arranger, eventually became the musical adviser to Aretha Franklin. Ward also wrote the classic “How I Got Over,” which Mahalia Jackson performed later at the March on Washington in 1963. At this point in the show, Smith offered up a selection of each artist’s works, including a reading of Penniman’s “Go Down Moses” and Ward’s “How I Got Over.”
Historian and moderator Cheryl Corley. Photo by Vern Hester
Including Rustin rounded out the show in an unexpected way. He has often been cited as an influential force in the Black Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s. What is not well-known is that Rustin had a harmonious relationship with religion and music, and went on to record an album that not only included gospel but Elizabethan religious music.
Smith and her band sailed through a subtle reading of “There’s a Balm in Gilead” that clearly moved this audience. Even more surprising was the addition of Billy Preston, who skyrocketed to fame with ’70s radio hits “Will It Go Round in Circles?” and “Nothing from Nothing” and performed with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, among others. Preston did not come out of the closet until just before his death in 2006, and Smith performed a refocused “You Are So Beautiful,” a massive hit for Joe Cocker which was co-written by Preston.
Corley also spoke about Willmer M. “Little Axe” Broadnax, who enjoyed a Gospel career on the stage for six decades, only coming out after their death as a trans man. Finishing up the show, Smith and her band recognized Sister Germaine Hagjan, whose pop song “Love One Another” was transformed here into a lilting soft jazz piece.
