Refreshed

MAHALIA JACKSON
Recorded Live In Europe During Her Latest Concert Tour (Columbia/Legacy)
In Concert Easter Sunday, 1967 (Columbia/Legacy)
Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting with Mahalia Jackson (Columbia/Legacy)
Imagine this: you're seated in a fine European concert hall. The curtain opens for a gospel recital, a voice and piano affair featuring none other than Mariah Carey. It sounds like something quite far removed from Heaven, does it not? See, Mariah has the pipes, she really does, to attempt what Mahalia Jackson did on Recorded Live in Europe During Her Latest Concert Tour. Problem is, like many gifted singers today, Carey lacks subtlety, choosing to bludgeon the listener with trills and vibrato and all manner of vocal chicanery. As amazing as her voice is, she could not pull this off.

Jackson, though, took to the stage, as she toured all those years ago, under those very circumstances, wowing audiences from Sweden to Israel with effective use of her amazing voice. And considering the limitations of the mix on the CD (the recordings are from 1961 and 1962), it might as well be an a cappella performance; longtime accompanist Mildred Falls' piano is relegated to accenting, instead of truly supporting, Jackson.

Recorded Live, In Concert Easter Sunday 1967 and Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting are Columbia/Legacy's celebration of what would have been Jackson's 90th birthday on October 26 (she died in 1972). As fascinating as Recorded Live in Europe is, valid arguments could be made for each of the other CDs as being the best introduction to Jackson's work, which spanned some 20 years. Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting is a new compilation of studio and live tracks. Jackson's shimmering alto brought such spirit to songs such as "Down By the Riverside" that only when no applause follows the ending does the listener know for sure it wasn't a concert recording. The CD is half previously unreleased material. Why a gem such as "I Don't Know About Tomorrow" wasn't previously released is anyone's guess, but this compilation, and any listener with a heart, is all the richer for it.

The Easter Sunday CD, though, captures Jackson in her fullest glory, complete with backing band this time. Recorded at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Jackson was making a triumphant rebound from the health problems that eventually claimed her life. She was all business from the first notes of "In My Home Over There." Jackson reclaimed the stage as her own, eschewing the notion of using the opener as an upbeat warm-up, and instead going immediately into slow-burn. It's stunning. "Were You There?" is perhaps the centerpiece, an emotional voice and piano meditation. This is not casual listening.

All things considered, the Easter Sunday CD is perhaps the best example of Jackson's work, because it captures her prodigious vocal prowess in a live context, complete with rapt audience. Get thee some Mahalia and be healed, my friends. Brian Briscoe

For fans of: the Fairfield Four, Otis Redding or any (or all) of the Lou Ann Barton/Angela Strehli/Marcia Ball triumvirate