Press

sister gertrude morgan (ropeadope)
12/4/2005

Preaching the Gospel

King Britt's new album began in New Orleans in 1970, with one woman and a tambourine.

by Doree Shafrir (Philadelphia Weekly Story)

King Britt has worked with De La Soul and the Roots, Digable Planets, Alma Horton and Grover Washington Jr. He's remixed Yoko Ono and Femi Kuti. He's spun records all over the world. But until now he's never worked with a dead woman.

That woman is Sister Gertrude Morgan-folk artist, poet, preacher, nurse and musician-who recorded a single album of gospel music at New Orleans' Preservation Hall in 1970. Spare and deeply spiritual, the album was done entirely a cappella, with just a tambourine as accompaniment. In 2004 Preservation Hall director Ben Jaffe released it under his Preservation Hall Recordings label to coincide with a traveling exhibit of Morgan's art organized by the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

On Tuesday Ropeadope releases King Britt's remixes of Sister Gertrude's album. King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan was two years in the making, the product of a series of fortuitous meetings and fruitful collaborations.

"Two or three years ago I was at Jazz Fest in New Orleans," Ropeadope founder Andy Hurwitz says on the phone from Brooklyn. "I was introduced to Ben and listened to the album. He asked me if I thought it'd be cool to have Ropeadope artists remix the record. I told him that instead of having lots of artists remix it, I'd rather see one person do the whole project."

Hurwitz asked Britt if he'd be interested in remixing Sister Gertrude's music. "I said I wasn't familiar with Sister Gertrude Morgan," Britt says. "Then I Googled her, and I was blown away. I felt like she was someone I should know-and more people should know her. I never accept a project unless I really like it, but I knew this would be incredible."

On her album Morgan sings of the Lord and redemption, but also of struggles for equality and the nature of power. Her spirituality is filtered through a strong political viewpoint, reflective of the turbulent late '60s and the struggles of the civil rights movement.

Britt's remixes, which he did with his longtime collaborator Tim Motzer, bring a contemporary element to the music without overwhelming it. There's the dark vibe of the "Power" remix, which channels the gothic New Orleans of Anne Rice, but there's also the exuberant opening track "Let's Make a Record," whose upbeat, electronic-influenced stylings make it almost danceable.

"Let's Make a Record" is the only track Motzer did without Britt's input. "I had just seen PJ Harvey," Motzer says. "Her guitar player made a big impression on me that night. He was overdriving his amplifiers. There's a tip of the hat to Led Zeppelin as well."

The rest of the tracks were done collaboratively, Britt says. "I sent the original tracks to my friend Jeff [Chestik]," he explains. "He put each song into Pro Tools, put it in time and figured out the beat, so I could take each track and put it into my computer and start working. It saved me about a month of work."

For a song like "Power," the first one they worked on, Britt says he was influenced by '80s band Talk Talk's 1988 album Spirit of Eden. "Talk Talk was starting to go left field at that point," he says. "They were using organ, slide guitar. The vocals were haunting. I thought these were the elements for Sister Gertrude."

Influenced by Talk Talk's use of harmonica, Britt called G. Love, who agreed to perform on the album as well. "He came in with a margarita and a harmonica, and an old mike from the '50s. When he laid the harmonica down, Tim started the track. He gave me the files and I took them home and worked on them," Britt says.

The rest of the album, Britt says, was done similarly. "Each track always starts with a beat, because I'm a DJ. I put the vocal in with a metronome. I put different rhythms in, then chords and the organ. Then I'd give it to Tim to put in the guitar, then the bass."

The experience of doing the Sister Gertrude album has inspired Britt to look beyond his typical sources for music to remix. "My friend Steph went to Brazil and found an a cappella group from the '60s-I'm trying to get the rights to it," he says. "Technology allows us to do whatever. It brings awareness to cultures in a different way."

Percussion on the album was done with a drum machine, and most of the bass lines were programmed-only the guitar and harmonica are live. But Britt has put together a band to perform the album live. The Sister Gertrude Morgan Experience, as he's calling it, performed in a rehearsal at the Painted Bride in August, then debuted a few days later at the Flow Festival in Helsinki. The official Stateside debut will be at the Bride Oct. 8. The live show is accompanied by a video projection put together by VJ Illuminati. Rapid-fire imagery of Sister Gertrude and her art flash across the screen, followed by shots of people protesting the war in Iraq as the song "Power" is played.

The Oct. 8 show will also include a screening of the 15-minute documentary Searching for Sister Gertrude Morgan, which Britt did with MBN Studios' Ben Barnett. "King suggested I come to New Orleans as he went down there to let these people hear [the album] for the first time. I started hanging out and started filming. That was it," Barnett says. The pair visited Sister Gertrude's grave and her old neighborhood, recreating the mysterious life Sister Gertrude lived.

All of the project's elements-the album, the live show and the documentary-pay tribute to a woman whose message, Motzer says, is ever more applicable.

"I think Sister Gertrude speaks something that people need to hear in these times we're living in," says Motzer. "Iraq, tsunamis, all the stuff that's been happening. It gives people solace, gives people strength and hope that the whole planet isn't going down the dumps. There's a real joy and power in her voice."




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