GOLDEN GATE QUARTET

« Parmi les premiers lieux d’expression de la parole noire : les églises noires où à l’occasion ou par el biais de sermons, il était possible de parler, dans une relative liberté et à mots plus ou moins couverts, de sujets « délicats » ou carrément prohibés par le pouvoir blanc. Parallèlement, dans la société laïque étatsunienne, a longtemps existé une tradition de quatuors vocaux masculins formés chez les barbiers par leurs clients : les barbershop quartets. Ce n’est pas autrement que naquit en 1930, chez un coiffeur d’une petite ville de Virginie, le groupe qui allait devenir le Golden Gate Quartet. Si le répertoire du désormais célèbre quatuor se compose en majeur partie de spirituals chantés et harmonisés classiquement, le traitement de certains thèmes, plus narratif que cantabile, à la fois porte les traces des échanges du prédicateur avec ses ouailles, censées écouter-approuver un récit exemplaire, et préfigure, à force de virtuosité et d’une manière percussive de la voix soliste, les interventions de chanteurs-diseurs de bebop et, presque, les prouesses de quelques rappeurs. De cette parole rythmée, scandée, témoigne assez bien une version enregistrée en 1937, dans un hôtel de Charlotte (Caroline du Nord), du vieux negro-spiritual Preacher And The Bear. » PC – JAZZ MAGAZINE

"Sans doute la naissance de ce qui fut la perfection de la mise en place vocale !" Jean-Christophe Averty - France Inter.

« Jubilee singing reached its peak with the Golden Gate Quartet – and spilled over into the secular arena. The influence of this aggregation on the later "quartet" quartets is inestimable. Yet they never went in for shouting and screaming but relied on the pure intensity of their complex harmonies and sincere delivery to get their message across. But there was more to it than that, even if you were not interested in the religious aspect of their music you could still enjoy it for its pure entertainment value – maybe they considered this approach a sort of subliminal evangelical advertising ! There is something cosy about the Gates, their intimate sound and kindly humour proclaim them to be "folks" while their hip conversion into a "human orchestra", imitating all the instruments vocally, coupled with their ability to deliver a mannered love song like "What’s New" with the same total conviction that they showed on "Or Father" endeared them to a while audience primed by The Mills Brothers. The Spirits of Rhythm and The Ink Spots. On this selection you can also hear them to barbershop and the drunk’s anthem "Sweet Adeline" and Stephen Foster’s "Cold Cold Ground", draw the long bow on "10.000 Years", poke gentle fun at their co-religionists with "The Preacher And The Bear" and make an unexpected success of an unlikely coupling with the mighly Leadbelly. Their speciality, however, was the Bible story told in a clipped, precise manner over a subdued but propulsive backing that would erupt to take over the song on the choruses. During the period from 1937 through the war years they chumed out a string of recordings that ranged from the purely spiritual such as the stunning "Golden Gate Gospel Train", with its driving rhythm and special effects, to "Timber" a panegyric for lumberjacks ! This wide appeal led to a tendency on the part of collectors to dismiss the Gates with scant attention other than a polite acknowledgement of their place in gospel history. This apathetic attitude is dispelled immediately you put this disc into the player. (…) Sound is a great and the well-illustrated French notes are given a neat precis in English by Don Waterhouse. I love every aspect of the Gates’ music so this little item couldn’t fail for me – if you don’t know already why not see if it suits you too ? » Keith BRIGGS – BLUES & RHYTHM