Gospel 1937-1941

n 2002 Fremeaux & Associes released a single-disc introduction to one of the 20th century's most admired gospel groups, the Golden Gate Quartet. Its 18 tracks, constituting a little less than one-eighth of the material reissued by Document in its six-volume Golden Gate Quartet series, offer an excellent sampling of this dependably coordinated unit's earlier works. Although the Gates handled a fair amount of secular material during the period in question, this handful of chestnuts is primarily drawn from the devotional repertoire on which their reputation was built and is still being sustained. The final track, "Whoa Babe," is a Larry Clinton tune popularized by vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in the States and by guitarist Django Reinhardt and trumpeter Philippe Brun in Europe. The Gates give it the Mills Brothers treatment and prove once again that, with few exceptions, everything they tried on for size had a way of turning into gold. ~ arwulf arwulf|