Odetta – It’s A Mighty World (1964)

One of the strongest voices in the folk revival and the civil rights movement, Odetta (Gordon) was born on New Year’s Eve 1930 in Birmingham, AL. By the time she was six years old, she had moved with her younger sister and mother to Los Angeles. She showed a keen interest in music from the time she was a child, and when she was about ten years old, somewhere between church and school, her singing voice was discovered. Odetta’s mother began saving money to pay for voice lessons for her, but was advised to wait until her daughter was 13 years old and well into puberty. Thanks to her mother, Odetta began voice lessons when she was 13. She received a classical training, which was interrupted when her mother could no longer afford to pay for the lessons. The puppeteer Harry Burnette interceded and paid for Odetta to continue her voice training.

When she was 19 years old, Odetta landed a role in the Los Angeles production of Finian’s Rainbow, which was staged in the summer of 1949 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It was during the run of this show that she first heard the blues harmonica master Sonny Terry. The following summer, Odetta was again performing in summer stock in California. This time it was a production of Guys and Dolls, staged in San Francisco. Hanging out in North Beach during her days off, Odetta had her first experience with the growing local folk music scene. Following her summer in San Francisco, Odetta returned to Los Angeles, where she worked as a live-in housekeeper. During this time she performed on a show bill with Paul Robeson.

In 1953, Odetta took some time off from her housecleaning chores to travel to New York City and appear at the famed Blue Angel folk club. Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte had both taken an interest in her career by this time, and her debut album, The Tin Angel, was released in 1954. From this time forward, Odetta worked to expand her repertoire and make full use of what she has always termed her “instrument.” When she began singing, she was considered a coloratura soprano. As she matured, she became more of a mezzo-soprano. Her experience singing folk music led her to discover a vocal range that runs from coloratura to baritone.

Odetta’s most productive decade as a recording artist came in the 1960s, when she released 16 albums, including Odetta at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Spirituals, Odetta and the Blues, It’s a Mighty World, and Odetta Sings Dylan. (by Philip Van Vleck)

This LP by Odetta on RCA dates to around 1964 and never made it to CD . Odetta was part of the whole Dylan, Baez, Ochs, St Marie, Seeger 60s voice,but she always seemed more positive to me. With a huge, powerful voice, she sang of “love and things”. The title song puts later songs (the sappy “What a Wonderful World” comes to mind) to shame. But this album also includes a delightful version of “Froggy Went A-courtin.”  (by Richard Brickwell)

Odetta changed the music world and still stands as a powerful, unique voice. (by jwelkin)

Personnel:
Leslie Grinage (bass)
Bruce Langhorne (guitar)
Odetta (vocals, guitar)

Tracklist:
01. It’s A Mighty World (Gordon) 2.22
02. I’ve Been Told (Traditional) 2.48
03. Reminiscing (Traditional) 2.23
04. Hush Hush Mamie (Traditional) 2.11
05. Camphorated Oil (Traditional) 1.34
06. Bull Jine Run (Traditional) 2.11
07. Come A Lady’s Dream (Traditional) 1.48
08. Sweet Potatoes (Traditional) 2.02
09. Chevrolet (Young) 2.46
10. Love Proved False (Traditional) 4.24
11. One Man’s Hands (Comfort/Seeger) 3.52
12. Got My Mind On Freedom (Traditional) 3.59

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The Voice of Civil Rights Movement:

Odetta (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008)

Odetta – Christmas Spirituals (1960)

Christmas Spirituals is the name of two albums recorded by the American folk singer Odetta. The first was released in 1960 on Vanguard Records.

Odetta’s husky voice is often stunning, both in her a cappella performances and her songs with accompaniment. She says these songs are traditional spirituals, neither purely African nor American, but songs that emerged from the sufferings of slavery. Powerful stuff. (by Dennis MacDonald)

Odetta is an artist whose career really thumbs its nose to all cultural essentialists out there. Born in the American South, grown up in California, yet with a fan base mosly in the North-East. Trained as a contralto opera singer in the Marian Anderson mould – that vibrato could come from nowhere else – yet ending up in folk music, a genre obsessed with vocal simplicity. A proud sophisticate in a movement where African-Americans were almost universally coerced into fake primitiveness. A world-wide star with a huge black middle-class fanbase (Rosa Parks was supposedly her “number one fan”) singing in a genre constructed afterwards as particularly white-oriented. Odetta, through sheer force of will, defied easy categorisation.

When she tackles the treasury of African-American Christmas spirituals it sounds nothing like anyone else, such is her power. At its best, it’s equally far from the musical theatre operatics of Marian Anderson as it from traditionally sung spiritual styles. Accompanied by nothing more than double bass – sometimes bowed – and on most songs by an acoustic guitar, her voice veers through an impressive range of pitches and expressions. She sounds like an opera singer one moment, a gospel singer the next, a folk-pop singer sometimes, conciously evading settling in either.

Consistently, Odetta has a distinct, distinguished calm. In a way, it’s easy to see why Martin Luther King praised her above almost all other artists; their vocal convictions are similar, though filtered though entirely different prosody. She delivers Christmas music as though it were a political speech. And perhaps these songs, once sung in covert resistence to oppression, are entirely suitable to being sung that way.

Odetta renders classics like “Go Tell it On The Mountain” entirely unlike anyone else. And yet, it all sounds completely natural, as if these songs were made to sound like this, through perfect conviction. It’s an exhilirating experience. (by Johan Palme)

Odetta Gordon recorded this collection of songs in 1960, and at the time it was touted as recordings of “traditional negro spirituals,” but in the liner notes she said that they were Christmas spirituals that “…could not have happened in Africa alone, or in the United States alone. They are the result of the experience of slavery.” Her throaty voice carries both the weight of oppression and the heavy, reverent love for the birth of Jesus Christ. Her rich and emotional vocals are accompanied by sparse bass and percussion. (by Eric Shea)

Alternate frontcovers

Personnel:
Bill Lee (bass)
Odetta (vocals, guitar)

Tracklist:
01. Rise up, Shepherd, And Follow 1.42
02. What Month Was Jesus Born In? 2.25
03. Mary Had A Baby 1.50
04. Somebody Talking ‘Bout Jesus 2.03
05. Virgin Mary Had One Son 3.07
06. Go Tell It On The Mountain 2.30
07. Shout For Joy 1.57
08. Poor Little Jesus 2.49
09. O Jerusalem 3.15
10. Ain’t That A-Rockin’ 2.01
11. If Anybody Asks You 2.53
12. Beautiful Star 2.46
13. Children Go Where I Send Thee 1.59

All songs: Traditional

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Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008)

Odetta – Christmas Spirituals (1988)

This album was recorded in 1988 at White Crow Audio in Burlington, Vermont. It was the first time that Odetta (Gordon) had done a studio recording in over fifteen years. She put her trust in a fledgling record producer, Rachel Faro, and brought in bassist Bill Lee to rerecord the tracks she had done almost twenty years previously for Vanguard Records (the album is often assumed to be a reissue of the old Vanguard recording but it is actually a completely new recording). Initially released on Alcazar Records, it went on to win the INDI Award for Best Seasonal Release and has brought joy to thousands of listeners throughout the world.

Surrounding Odetta’s remarkable voice and songs are bassists Bill Lee and Lincoln Goines, with percussionist Carole Steele. The songs are mainly traditional with two originals by Odetta and new lyrics by Rachel Faro on “O Jerusalem”. Odetta herself wrote the profound and moving liner notes (see below) and the cover is a collage created by artist Colleen Patterson, depicting the Black Madonna by the River Jordan in Egypt, with the Three Kings and three shepherds from various cultures and races in attendance. It was a great honor to work with Odetta and we still feel the power of her truth, nobility and love around us.

Odetta’s husky voice is often stunning, both in her a cappella performances and her songs with accompaniment. She says these songs are traditional spirituals, neither purely African nor American, but songs that emerged from the sufferings of slavery. Powerful stuff. (by Dennis MacDonald)

Personnel:
Lincoln Goines (bass)
Odetta (vocals, guitar)
Bill Lee (bass)
Jeff Salisbury (percussion, drums)
Carol Steele (percussion)

Tracklist:
01. Rise Up, Shepherd, And Follow (Traditional) 1.45
02.  What Month Was Jesus Born In? (Traditional) 2.25
03. Mary Had A Baby (Traditional) 1.52
04. Somebody Talking ‘Bout Jesus (Traditional) 2.05
05. Virgin Mary Had One Son (Traditional) 3.08
06. Go Tell It On The Mountain (Traditional) 2.01
07. Shout For Joy (Traditional) 2.31
08. Poor Little Jesus (Traditional) 1.56
09. O Jerusalem (Traditional/Faro) 2.51
10. Ain’t That A-Rockin’ (Traditional) 3.20
11. If Anybody Asks You Gordon) 2.00
12. Beautiful Star (Gordon) 2.54
13. Children Go Where I Send Thee (Traditional) 2.45

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