The People’s Choir Of Operation Push - The People's Choir Of Operation Push (Remastered) (2020) [Hi-Res]

Stax’s proximity to the Civil Rights Movement and struggle for black American liberation was well established prior to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mere city blocks away from the label’s headquarters. It deepened thereafter, as Stax label head Al Bell forged an ongoing partnership with King confidante Rev. Jesse Jackson. Around the same time that Jackson spun off his own Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) from the Southern Christian Leadership Council’s Operation Breadbasket, he’d also ascended as a household name, thanks to the success of a recording of his signature litany, “I Am Somebody.” A recording of the speech, made famous by Jackson at rallies and meetings in Chicago, had gained notoriety nationwide with the help of its own Stax Records LP.

Devised as a genre-mixing band of musicians, heralded by Operation PUSH executive vice president Thomas N. Todd as the “master weavers” of the organization’s musical message, the People’s Choir of Operation PUSH was conducted by saxophonist, songwriter and producer Gene Barge. In addition to musical guidance, the group was led spiritually by Rev. Marvin Yancy during a recording session at Universal Recording Studio in Chicago.

Yancy sings lead on the traditional “I’m a Child of the King” with an effortless falsetto, threading himself into the “weavers’” fabric, adding color to their complicated “patchwork quilt.”