As America celebrates a day of independence, we take time for a flashback with America’s choir (appropriately dressed in their red, white and blue robes) presenting the GOSPEL version of the Star Spangled Banner. Happy 4th of July!
Posts Tagged ‘Mississippi Mass Choir’
Mississippi Mass Choir At 25: The Celebration Begins
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013America’s Ch
oir, the Mississippi Mass Choir takes their 25th Anniversary Praise Celebration on the road this weekend. On Friday, MMC will join the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP along with Dr. Myrlie Evers Williams and Julian Bond in celebration of the life and work of the late Medgar Evers in Jackson before heading to Houston for the official kick off of the year long celebration. Soulfruit, Willie Taylor and Friends and J Shep and Standard will take part in the Houston celebration and hosting duties will be handled by Marcus D. Wiley.
Mississippi Mass Choir 25th Anniversary Tour Kick Off In Houston
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013
Mississippi Mass Choir announced tour dates leading into their 25th Anniversary Celebration Gala and live recording. Houston’s own Pastor JD Herron and the Courageous Faith Christian Center will kick off the 25th anniversary tour on May 18th at the Holman Street Baptist Church. Additional dates and cities will be announced shortly.
Tommy Couch, Jr. Succeeds Father As President of Malaco Music Group
Friday, April 12th, 2013
Malaco Music Group announced today the election of Thomas J. Couch, Jr. (pictured first on the left) as President and CEO. Couch Jr. succeeds his father, Tommy Couch, Sr. who co founded Malaco Records in the late 60s. Malaco made huge strides into gospel by signing the Jackson Southernaires in 1975 followed by the acquisition of Savoy Records in the 80s and Atlanta International Records in 2005. Today, the Malaco roster includes Luther Barnes, Maurette Brown Clark, Mississippi Mass Choir, Georgia Mass Choir and Jekalyn Carr.
Couch, Sr. had this to say on his son’s election: “Tommy was instrumental and took the lead in several of our acquisitions throughout the years with the most important being the purchase of 50% interest in Select-O-Hits, the premier independent record distributor located in Memphis, TN. In this ever- changing and challenging Music Business, Tommy has the leadership, experience and vision to carry Malaco forward.”
Friday Flashback: Franklin Williams
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
As Mississippi Mass Choir prepares to celebrate 25 years of great music, GOSPELflava pauses to remember the legacy of its beloved founder, the inimitable Frank Williams. A gentle giant, Williams made a name for himself as a lead singer in the famed Jackson Southernaires. The Southernaires would be the first gospel group to join the Malaco Records family. Shortly thereafter, Frank was hired by Malaco as the Director of Gospel Promotions. Forever “Mississippi Proud”, Williams decided to form a mass choir consisting of the state’s finest singers and musicians. MMC’s self titled debut hit #1 five weeks after its release and would ride the charts for 45 consecutive weeks.
Among Frank’s musical contributions with MMC are Your Grace and Mercy, Near the Cross, Thanks You For My Mansion and It Remains to Be Seen.
Stan Jones Tapped to Produce Mississippi Mass Choir
Tuesday, March 19th, 2013America’s Choir, the Mississippi Mass Choir is celebrating the selection of Clarksdale, MS native son Stan Jones as producer for their 25th Anniversary Live Recording project. 
A noted songwriter and award winning producer, Jones’ song credits include Hold On recorded by Yolanda Adams, He Has His Hands on You recorded by Marvin Sapp and All I Need recorded by Brian Courtney Wilson (which spent a record 90 + weeks on the Billboard Gospel Songs Chart) in addition to production credits for The Williams Brothers, The Canton Spirituals and Tim Rogers.
Mississippi Mass Choir 25th Anniversary – Update
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013Rehearsals are underway for a celebration of gigantic proportions as America’s Choir, the Mississippi Mass Choir prep
ares to celebrate their 25th Anniversary with a live recording. This marks the 10th album from the singing aggregation formed by the late Frank Williams in 1988. In addition to new music, MMC prepares a “walk down memory lane” reliving some musical moments from the past featuring some of the choir’s most beloved soloists. GOSPELflava will keep you abreast of special MMC happenings as they evolve.
Malaco Music Group Happenings
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
There a lot of noise being made over at Malaco Records. The Mississippi based music company re-signed The Fantastic Violinaires and recorded its new group, The Little Angels in their newly designed state of the art recording studio in January. Many will recall that the old studio was damaged as a result of a destructive tornado in the spring of 2011. Malaco announced a joint venture with Arkansas based Lunjeal Music Group for the CD release of 15 year old Evangelist Jekalyn Carr. The CD is scheduled for a spring release. Malaco favorites The Mississippi Mass Choir was in the studio with Veronica Pertrucci (of Angelo and Veronica fame) making preparations to celebrate their 25th year anniversary and live recording and radio is getting its first listen at Only You Can Deliver, the anticipated Malaco release from Chicago’s Kevin Vasser. 
On Tour with the Mississippi Mass Choir – Tour Recap
Monday, December 17th, 2012Today, we play catch up with our special correspondent, MMC Social Media and Communications Guru Daniel James as he gives us today’s installment.
Hello GOSPELflava family!!! Its been a while since we had a chance to play catch up. Let’s do that now. Going back to Gernika. After a 2 hour drive, we arrived in the small town of Gernika. Checking into the hotel the skies opened up and the rain began to pour. Our hotel accommodations were
somewhat primitive, however we made the best of them and prepared for the services. We opened with God Will Take Care of You, from there we went to Put Your Trust in Jesus and finally ended with Oh Happy Day. After the concert, we came back to the hotel and enjoyed a wonderful meal. We sang for the owner and staff as a special encore. The owner was so impressed that they invited us back for a free breakfast.
After breakfast, we gathered our things and prepared for the 6 hour journey to Madrid. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to the Gomez theater for sound check. After prayer, we took to the stage. The thunderous applause of a capacity audience of over 1300 greeted us as 
we came to the stage. Larry Johnson ushered in the presence of the Lord and took us to church with When the Saints Go Marching In. The evening ended with an encore of Oh Happy Day (a must when you come overseas). Dinner that evening was at the famous Hard Rock Cage and preparation for our trip to San Sebastian.
Night after night, the audience has greeted us enthusiastically with their great appreciation for gospel music.
Special thanks to Ben Cone and Harvey Williams who have provided us with pics. Be sure to check out the GOSPELflava facebook page and the MMC and GOSPELflava twitter pages for additional posts. Thanks and God bless until our next recap.
On the Road with Mississippi Mass Choir – Concert Night
Thursday, December 13th, 2012We are on tour with America’s Choir, the Mississippi Mass Choir and have completed a concert performance. Our roving reporter MMC’s very own Daniel James picks up with today’s update.
There was beautiful music in the air today as the Mississippi Mass Choir kicked off the Christmas Season at the famed Baluarte Congress Center and Au
ditorium of Navarre. Let’s start there. The Baluarte Center was built in 2003 and resembles a fortress. The outside of this L shaped building is accented with gray granite slabs. Baluarte is located in shopping district located in the heart of Pamplona. The main auditorium has a seating capacity of well over 1,500 and it was filled to capacity with gospel music lovers eager to hear and experience the joy of the music.
We were paired with the famed Pamplona Musical Society Choir, one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious choirs. The theme of the evening was a Concert in Black and White. The PMS ladies were adorned in beautiful white concert gowns and the men were in black tuxedos. Of course, MMC added a splash of color with our red, white and blue robes. We arrived extra early for some down time before the performance. Each of the choir members were milling about doing their preparation ritual. Time gave way to curtain call and we put on our robes and prayed and waited for our announcement to the stage.
We entered the stage to a thunderous applause and the night of music began. The auditorium was filled with the rapturous sounds of God Will Take Care of You and Put Your Trust in Jesus. The gospel songs were interspersed with the songs of Christmas. After the initial set, we were joined onstage with the Pamplona Musical Society Choir.
Once again, the theater filled with the glorious sounds of There’s None Like Him with Lillian Lilly on lead and Alisa McDonald leading Oh Lord We Praise You. We closed the concert with Edwin Hawkins’ Oh Happy Day leaving the audience on their feet.
Backstage, we greeted the members of PMS, they sang to us and made a special presentation to our own Jerry Smith of miniature dolls dressed in 
each of our uniforms. It was an unforgettable evening and we were grateful again for the opportunity and sharing the joy of having made new acquaintances. We capped off the evening with a snack back at the hotel and prepared for our next stop in the town of Guernica.
A special thanks to Ben Cone for appearing in most of the pics.