A Praiseworthy Collection

Retracing the path of the praise song--the good news gospel--just might be the only context that that old prickly concept of evolution may be raised alongside the tenets of the church.

“Testify! The Gospel Box” is Rhino Records’ ambitious and impressive connect-the-dots map of the circuitous trail of gospel music from its “sacrilegious” blues-drenched piano-tinkling beginnings to its soul flirtations, right up to its flashy, hip-hop incarnations.

Packaged like a purse-sized Bible, the three-disc compilation, produced by Elizabeth Pavone, Bobby Jones, Opal Louis Nations, Lin-Woods and Michael W. Johnson, leads the listener on a well-narrated, guided tour through the many incarnations of black gospel music, from the 1940s to present day.

“Testify!’s” strength is that it shakes the listener out of long-held assumptions--the old notions of what gospel music is, was or must be. That it continues to change and re-imagine itself, despite its frequent imbroglios within the church (about what is the appropriate way to articulate praise), helps a listener to understand why gospel music became and still is such a lively, ever metamorphosing and influential force in spreading the Word, and why it remains an all-important element in the sturdy foundation of a living ministry.

With its ear to the changing times and shifting tastes, gospel has remained as fixed as it is fluid--a centerpiece of the worship service that is able to change with each generation--reflecting not only the musical styles of that moment, but also addressing life’s shifting minefields, from war and rationing to crack and AIDS.

Any set purporting to survey gospel music could not ignore evergreens such as “Precious Lord,” “Amazing Grace” and “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” here sung by a range of artists such as LaVern Baker, the Rev. Maceo Woods and the Sallie Martin Singers, respectively. But there are also amusingly arcane additions--two wartime commentaries, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “Stalin’ Wasn’t Stallin’ “--that exhibit that the Lord works in mysterious ways. There, too, is an exquisite keepsake, Thomas A. Dorsey’s piano-and-organ-engraved spoken-word testimonial about the powers of gospel in his life.

Grouped by stylistic innovations typical to different eras, the 50-track set begins with a sweeping sampling of soloists, trios and quintets--the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Mahalia Jackson--gospel’s backbone. Here: the tradition of lacy harmonies, the centerpiece of voice woven through instrumentation that serves as flourish of a punctuation.

The second disc scares up memories of choir robes out of mothballs at a Sunday morning processional. Here you begin to hear the evolution of the punch and power of the mighty choir, how sweet soul music infiltrated the form and became an integral component in spreading the good news--from the wide-open expansiveness of Walter Hawkins & the Love Center Choir (“Goin’ Up Yonder”) to the gospel-as-ornate-love-letter penned by Andrae Crouch (“My Tribute”). Aretha Franklin proves that pop stardom hadn’t spoiled her for the sacred song in her famous 1972 recording with James Cleveland & the Southern California Community Choir, “Mary Don’t You Weep,” while the Edwin Hawkins Singers (“Oh, Happy Day”) remind us how pure and transforming a message music can be.

Contemporary gospel, the inheritor, struts out, decked in a musical wardrobe that mixes and matches ‘60s soul, pop R&B;, funk and hip-hop, which fills out disc three. Most evident in these recordings is the tumbleweed nature of gospel--the picking up and blending like the most expert of mix masters. The burnished harmonies of Take 6 (“Spread Love”) pay homage to ‘50s doo-wop street corner harmonies, in intricate arrangements blending R&B; and jazz, while the big-sound, arena-sized presence of ensembles such as Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers, John P. Kee and the New Life Community Choir expertly fold in a message with the infectious deep funk backbeat of hip-hop.

But the beauty of it all is that gospel refuses to be confined to a simple definition--that Pentecostal hand-waving passion and soul-laced solo testimony are all equally valid voicings of the Word--even in a contemporary context. What “Testify!” makes clear is that one can most certainly embrace the world and send it through the filter of gospel, and that the sober business of saving souls doesn’t mean a little fun and foot-tapping aren’t allowed.