After three weeks of standing ovations and overwhelming positive feedback from audiences, JCS Entertainment's Mahalia: A Gospel Musical hosts its final weekend in Port-of-Spain at the Central Bank Auditorium tonight until May 31.
This is not the first time that T&T has interconnected with the amazing life and career of Mahalia Jackson. Producer JCS Entertainment provides us with the top three Mahalia Jackson/Trinidad moments.
3. Mahalia accompanied by Fitzroy Coleman
Like Mahalia Jackson, guitarist Fitzroy Coleman was a natural talent. Coleman's style incorporated the invention of unique chord constructions and progressions applied to popular music of the day.
Having taught himself to play the guitar, Coleman was considered to be among the top jazz guitarists of the day across Britain, Europe and the United States. He played regularly on the BBC and at one point also accompanied gospel queen of the world, Mahalia Jackson.
Coleman and Jackson's performance is featured in the 1964 video, Mahalia Jackson Sings BBC, Jazz on the Screen: a Jazz and Blues Filmography by David Meeker, housed in the US Library of Congress.
The concert was recorded in London in May 1964 featured Mahalia Jackson on vocals; accompanied by Mildred Falls on piano; Trinidad's own Fitzroy Coleman on guitar, Edward C Robinson on organ; Rupert Nurse on acoustic double bass.
Coleman was awarded the Humming Bird Medal Silver (for Culture) in 1999.
2. Mahalia and T&T hairstylist icon Clem Lue Yat
While Mahalia Jackson might be the queen of gospel, Trinidad's own Clem Lue Yat is the vintage king of hair. Lue Yat started hairstyling when he was just 13. In the 1970's, the queen of gospel and the king of hair finally met.
"I had just moved to my Queen's Park East location and that was when this picture with Mahalia Jackson was taken outside my salon.
"Mahalia came to perform and one of my clients asked me to work with her," said Lue Yat in an interview with JCS Entertainment at the Gala performance of the musical on May 15.
"When I met her, she had a wig on her head that did not suit her. When she came to my salon and saw all these amazing hairstyles, she said, 'Oh my gosh, I would love to have one of these hairstyles!' and I was saying to her, you need a Fall–one of those bigger hair pieces. When I styled her hair, she was so amazed at the type of hairstyle and she was so elegant with her hair pulled back."
"I did her hair a couple times for a few concerts, she was here for about a week, performing at Queen's Hall, that was the only thing we had in those days," he laughed.
Lue Yat recalled not only grooming Jackson's hair, but spending time with her at the Hilton Hotel while she was dressing and preparing for the upcoming concerts.
He found meeting and chatting with Mahalia a wonderful experience. Clem Lue Yat has achieved fifty years of dedicated service in the hairdressing industry from 1963-2013.
1. Protest interrupts
Mahalia's T&T concert
When the gospel queen herself visited Trinidad in the 1970s, she also performed at the Grand Stand at the Queens Park Savannah.
In his 2005 press article "Majestic Mahalia" Freddie Kissoon recalled the April 1970 disturbance outside the Grand Stand during one of Jackson's performances, at the height of the Black Power movement.
"The concert had started and Mahalia was in full flight when we heard the sound of distant drums and the shout of slogans becoming louder and louder.
"Someone was saying something on the microphone and hundreds were answering with thunderous voices 'Power!' and clenched fists punching the air with ferocity."
A recount of Mahalia Jackson's visit to the Caribbean is also documented in Laurraine Goreau's book, Just Mahalia, Baby: The Mahalia Jackson Story in which part of the Trinidad trip is described as follows: "...In Trinidad, a troubled island, she was the guest of Prime Minister Eric Williams–resting after her concert when a black power mob gathered and in all the shouts could be heard her name too.
"It was frightening, she couldn't understand how she figured in; but when she was asked to go outside and speak to the crowd, she did."
Kissoon's 2005 recollection of events outlined the purpose of the interruption.
"When the members asked if they could see Mrs Jackson we said her manager would not allow it.
"They wanted her to sing We Shall Overcome.
"Mrs Jackson listened attentively as we relayed their apology and request. Shortly after, escorted by her bodyguards, she made her appearance to spontaneous applause from the audience in the stand and the demonstrators in the trucks on the race course.
"She put up her hands and the crowds became silent and she said: 'Brothers and sisters, I have been asked to sing a song that I have sung so many times during the civil rights...'We Shall Overcome.'" Loud applause again.
"Mahalia overwhelmed us with a flood tide of emotion. She sang not only from her heart but from the depths of her very being. Her rendition was par excellence–a truly unforgettable soul-stirring performance."
MORE INFO
Mahalia: A Gospel Musical, May 28 to 31, Central Bank Auditorium. Special thanks to Media Partners SKY 99.5 FM and supporting sponsor The Maritime Financial Group. For more information visit 'Feature Production' page on the Web site: jcsentertains.com or contact JCS Entertainment: 461-4033 or email at jcsentertains.tt@gmail.com.