rst to introduce black entertainers and ethnic music on the white airwaves of Chicago. He played the recording of ?I?m Goin to Tell God All About It? on his 78 record. He asked Mahalia Jackson to come on his show for an interview and she agreed. Her airtime introduced her to the world beyond her church community. Mahalia?s call and response, give and take, and her body, hand and foot movements were mesmerizing. Her radio appearances brought a new beat, a musical stirring to white ears that they had never heard before. She surprised her audience with a celebratory life force and a segregated healing sound that had sustained black people in their anguish and acted as a separator from the mainstream of American life. The sounds that Mahalia could create so magnificently helped white embrace gospel for the first time, as they had already accepted jazz and blues. (1) In 1946 Mahalia met the acquaintance of Bess Berman, a woman of New York in the recording business. Bess fell in love with Mahalia?s gospel voice and signed her for a recording contract. She promised Mahalia $10,000 a year but her music was not being accepted as well as they had hoped. Bess allowed Mahalia one more chance to revive the interest of the listeners. Mahalia was determined that she could add her own unique swinging style to a song by Reverend Brewster, called ?Move On Up a Little Higher?, a song that had not moved far out of the black church circle. Her idea proved to be extremely...
