description Bless This House Overview
A Columbia Records album by Mahalia Jackson featuring her powerful contralto voice on a collection of hymns and spirituals from her prolific 1950s recording period.
insights Ranking position
Bless This House ranks #14 of 213 in the Gospel Album ranking, behind Mountain High... Valley Low, ahead of The Nu Nation Project.
help Bless This House FAQ
What kind of songs are on Mahalia Jackson's Bless This House?
The album centers on Christian hymns and spiritual material performed in Jackson's gospel style. Its title song, "Bless This House," is a devotional standard rather than a secular pop number.
Which record label released Bless This House?
Bless This House was released by Columbia Records during Mahalia Jackson's major-label period. Jackson had joined Columbia in the 1950s after building her reputation through earlier gospel recordings.
What makes Mahalia Jackson's singing on this album distinctive?
Jackson sings with a powerful contralto voice, pronounced vibrato, and phrasing rooted in Black church performance. She typically avoided secular material, making the sacred focus of Bless This House representative of her career.
Is Bless This House connected to Mahalia Jackson's famous Newport performance?
It belongs to the same broad Columbia era in which Jackson reached audiences beyond the gospel circuit. Her performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival was documented separately in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day.
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