[Posted Jan. 9, 2008]

Preserving Golden Age of Gospel Music Is Professor's Pursuit

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter

New Journal & Guide

Dr. Robert Darden is on a treasure hunt. He is not looking for  gold or old priceless paintings. He is looking for classic gospel music he fears may be disappearing.
Darden said an untold amount of the music he is looking for could be in Hampton Roads and other areas with large black populations. He’s also sorting through master recordings in the vaults of recording companies. 
      “You had a lot of Blacks who had good incomes and they could support these venues because of the manufacturing and professional jobs available in Tidewater and places like Birmingham,” he said. “These groups would go from place to place around the region where they lived. Then they would go outside the region to perform. A number of  Hampton Roads’ groups would appear at the Apollo in Harlem or places  in Washington, D.C.”
“Many of these records are at estate sales, or old music stores in the black community. Then there are attics and personal collections. Darden is also interested in recording music collections at Historically Black Colleges and Universities with large music archives, such as  Virginia State or Hampton.

Soul Stirrers

      Darden, who is a white journalism professor at Baylor University, became interested in gospel music when he was young. In the early 1950s, his father, who was  in the Air Force, the first branch of the military to desegregate, bought gospel music.  Young Darden was hooked.
      In its modern version, artists such as Kirk Franklin, have given it a hip-hop flavor,  on CDs or on TV, to capture the attention of younger listeners.  But the spiritual and religious pedigree can still be detected.
      The golden age of gospel music,  according to Darden, ran from the late 1930s to the 1970s. Gospel, an offspring of  Negro Spirituals, created famous artists such as Mahalia Jackson, Marian Williams, the Soul Stirrers, and even local groups such as the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, famous for producing classic gospel.
     
      

    Although those were some well-known names, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of other black gospel artists and groups, whose works have vanished, need preserving, or are in in the trash can, lost forever.
    Darden said over 80 percent of  all gospel produced during its heyday is missing.        

So since March 2007, Darden has worked on what he calls the “Black Gospel Music Restoration Project.” He is trying to collect and digitally record as many of the old gospel classics as he can recover.
      “Many of the (recordings) have wound up in the trash,” he said.  “Many (master recordings) are sitting in the vaults of  music companies which may not know the value of them or they do and are waiting to make money on them. 
“These recordings are in the attics of our grandmothers and other older family members. Although much of this great music is gone, there is a lot still out there and it needs to be preserved. It would be a shame if we did not do anything to save it.”
      “The first time I listened to Mahalia Jackson, I was  hypnotized,” said Darden.  “Her voice was so beautiful  and magical.  I wanted to listen to more of that music. Today I listen to it on my private collection and I also venture to black churches  which still have choirs and artists who perform gospel music  in the  tradition of Mahalia Jackson and other classic artists.”
      Darden is a drummer, and to show his appreciation for the genre, he wrote  about gospel music for Billboard Magazine.  He also wrote a book, “People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music,” which traces African American music from Africa to the present.
      “I discovered that a lot of the music I was writing about, I could not find. It was gone,” he said.
So Darden wrote an editorial for the New York Times, saying it would be a sin if this music vanished. “The next day I was inundated with inquiries and boxes of old recordings,” he said. “I am doing this for future generations of people who need to know about this musical gift to the world.”
      Financing came from investment banker Charles Royce of New York.  Royce has deep pockets financially but a shallow understanding of black gospel music and its history.
“He asked me how would I go about  preserving the music once I found it,” Darden recalled. “I told  him I did not know. He said ‘find out’ and wrote a check for a $347,175.”
      The money pays for an audio engineer, a cataloger, sophisticated digital recording equipment and means of acquiring the records. Dr. Darden said that many of the old 78s and 45s, which most of the classics are recorded on, are in bad shape with hardly any grooves on them.
       But Darden said that he has digital equipment on campus which can track the groves and capture the sounds, no matter how poorly defined they are on a LPs or 45s.
    Darden neither wants to keep nor profit from his operation.  He said that his project will pay the cost of shipping to and from the owners.
      “Obviously the best place to find these records  is in the black community,” he said. “I am sure there are a lot of people just like me who love this music. I am not attempting to make a dime on what I am doing. All I want to do is preserve one of the most beautiful art forms ever created. They are out there. I am looking and I hope they are people willing to share it with the world.”
      For more information about Dr. Darden’s project call 254-710-7414 or Robertdarden@Baylor.edu

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