ONE LP PORTRAITS: MUSICIANS: S - Z: WALT WHITMAN: Walt Whitman: Choral Director

Walt Whitman is the Founder and Director of The Soul Children of Chicago ChoirNikki Giovanni and the New York Community Choir under the direction of Benny Diggs.{quote}There is one project, one particular CD, that sticks out in my mind, that I know I was very inspired by, and that was a project from… it was actually from the New York Community Choir and they did a collaboration with a poet called Nikki Giovanni. And so they would collaborate poetry and music together and it was just a sound, what she was saying, the choir sound, the organ sound and I used to love to listen to that sound. It was something about just the sound of it. They sang older songs – hymns – but that was one of the recordings that I used to like to listen to. Then I think there was an old James Cleveland recording - who was considered the King of Gospel - I used to listen to and so those when you talk about inspiration, going back, that would probably be it.The New York Community Choir and that Nikki Giovanni piece was a very… because it was so different… it was like they weren’t doing… It was like word and song and the choir’s way of doing that in those days, I mean, it wasn’t the norm. So it was more like a poet, you know. But that’s what it was for that and Nikki Giovanni - she’s a very famous black poet. I think she’s still alive. She’s almost like a Maya Angelou but just a little bit more radical. She’s just been more radical, or she was radical then.. It was like the whole Martin Luther King stuff. There was a lot of civil unrest kind of stuff. You know, riots and stuff like that going on. Black Power. Everybody was Black Power. Afros. Dashikis. I think that’s when Amazing Grace came out with Aretha Franklin and she was wearing a dashiki on the Amazing Grace album. It was all during that period of time.Different movements are going on and so we had a lot of different choirs coming up and New York Community Choir, I guess, was like the choir that was kind of paving the way for a lot of the stuff. They were just stirring up stuff. A guy named Benny Diggs – actually he’s still in New York – and he works in fact for the Three Mo’ Tenors - do you know the Three Mo’ Tenors? – he has a collaboration with the guy that was playing the music, Joseph Joubert who is a classical pianist so that’s how I met him. Actually, I met him with New Kids on the Block. That’s how I met Benny. He used to manage New Kids – he was the voice trainer for New Kids on the Block. The whole…is that Josh? What’s the boy? What’s the name of the real famous…? Oh you don’t know. I guess that’s on the pop side. They’re pop!{quote}Walt Whitman: North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 15th May, 2013Nikki Giovanni: Like a ripple on a pond released 1973Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman: Choral Director, Nikki Giovanni: Like a ripple on a pond

 

Walt Whitman is the Founder and Director of The Soul Children of Chicago Choir 

Nikki Giovanni and the New York Community Choir under the direction of Benny Diggs. 

 

"There is one project, one particular CD, that sticks out in my mind, that I know I was very inspired by, and that was a project from… it was actually from the New York Community Choir and they did a collaboration with a poet called Nikki Giovanni. And so they would collaborate poetry and music together and it was just a sound, what she was saying, the choir sound, the organ sound and I used to love to listen to that sound. It was something about just the sound of it. They sang older songs – hymns – but that was one of the recordings that I used to like to listen to.  

Then I think there was an old James Cleveland recording - who was considered the King of Gospel - I used to listen to and so those when you talk about inspiration, going back, that would probably be it. 

The New York Community Choir and that Nikki Giovanni piece was a very… because it was so different… it was like they weren’t doing… It was like word and song and the choir’s way of doing that in those days, I mean, it wasn’t the norm. So it was more like a poet, you know. 

But that’s what it was for that and Nikki Giovanni - she’s a very famous black poet.  

I think she’s still alive. She’s almost like a Maya Angelou but just a little bit more radical. She’s just been more radical, or she was radical then. 

. It was like the whole Martin Luther King stuff. There was a lot of civil unrest kind of stuff. You know, riots and stuff like that going on. Black Power. Everybody was Black Power. Afros. Dashikis. I think that’s when Amazing Grace came out with Aretha Franklin and she was wearing a dashiki on the Amazing Grace album. It was all during that period of time. 

Different movements are going on and so we had a lot of different choirs coming up and New York Community Choir, I guess, was like the choir that was kind of paving the way for a lot of the stuff.  

They were just stirring up stuff. A guy named Benny Diggs – actually he’s still in New York – and he works in fact for the Three Mo’ Tenors - do you know the Three Mo’ Tenors? – he has a collaboration with the guy that was playing the music, Joseph Joubert who is a classical pianist so that’s how I met him. Actually, I met him with New Kids on the Block. That’s how I met Benny.  

He used to manage New Kids – he was the voice trainer for New Kids on the Block. The whole…is that Josh? What’s the boy? What’s the name of the real famous…?  

Oh you don’t know. I guess that’s on the pop side. They’re pop!" 

 

Walt Whitman: North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 15th May, 2013 

 

Nikki Giovanni: Like a ripple on a pond released 1973 

Walt Whitman