Rev. Milton Brunson's Thompson Community Singers

Item: Fifty Blessed Years
Author: Dave Landsel

Fifty Blessed Years

(1998)

Reviewed by Dave Landsel

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Label MyrrhThe Phantom Tollbooth1998

gospel soul

One of the highlights of my life thus far was the window into gospeldom afforded to me via my membership in a fairly well known multi-ethnic gospel choir here in the city of Chicago. That's not meant to impress you, but rather give validity to the statements I'm going to be making in this review. The choir was (and still is) made up of folks of all shapes and stripes, and together we ventured into the vast, other-worldly South and West Sides of the city. (A geographical note: Chicago has three sides--North, South and West. The side you live on is the side you stay on. The only place the three sides converge is downtown. So, in other words, living on the North Side means you're pretty much on the North Side, and you'd probably go to the South Side, oh maybe, say, never?) So, when I joined the choir in 1996, I had the opportunity to experience a great deal of these other parts of the city, that actually opened up my eyes to the diversity of this country. I liked it a great deal.

So, anyway, one of the churches we performed at was a humble brick church in Austin, a less than glamorous West Side neighborhood. This church was the home of the "Tommies," otherwise known as the "Reverend Milton Brunson's Thompson Community Singers." Our director and all around cheerleader kept impressing upon us the importance and significance of this church. All I knew was that the stage was too small and I was pretty much squashed against the wall and couldn't make all the right moves on the more aerobics-intensive numbers. What impressed me most was that this choir that has been around the world, participated in more gala events and awards ceremonies than you can count (and won awards at almost all of them) makes its home in such an underwhelming, no-gloss environment. And that is the special nature of the "Tommies." They live in this crummy neighborhood, have families to support, kids to put through school, then when all's said and done they still have time to go out and sing the socks off of audiences world wide.

The choir was formed in 1948 by the Reverend Milton Brunson, who remained at the helm until his death just last April, just months before their half-century celebration. Now under the direction of Brunson's wife JoeAnn Brunson (who joined in 1960 at the age of 14), the choir has released a record entitled "50 Blessed Years." There is nothing completely mind-blowing about the release, replete with standard tunes and otherwise, however it is a wonderful celebration of history being made. Fifty years is a major accomplishment, and should not be overlooked. Any gospel music lover should invest in their own copy. And what the heck, if you're new to the genre, hey--wouldn't be so bad if you checked it out.

4 tocks