Gospel/Jazz

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Two special gospel songs which always attracted me and were featured in the movie, "Sister Act II: Back In The Habit," were: "Joyful, Joyful" (Based on L.V. Beethoven's "Ode To Joy") and Edwin R. Hawkins' "Oh Happy Day." Both pieces represented key moments in the movie, especially when Whoopie discovers that her timid young soloist (Ryan Toby) can actually belt-out this tune during a choral performance of the "St. Francis" choir, much to her surprise and that of the audience. Both pieces have been performed since then by many church choirs, including the Upper Room Ministries in Deer Park, NY, who regularly performs "Joyful, Joyful" as part of their Christmas Cantata. At the time I saw them perform this, I was doing some arrangements for another show of theirs, "If I Should Die Before I Awake" and I went to see their Christmas Cantata at the invitation of a friend of mine. I vividly remembered the pianist's opening solo (Terrance Dove) who did an excellent job with this piece. At the same time, I was collaborating on several CDs for The Church of the Intercessor in Malverne, NY and a suggested this piece as a possible "future repertoire" for their chorus, but I was also quite busy with another gospel favorite of mine, "God of All of Me" as sung by Sandi Patty on a rare CD collection, "My Utmost For His Highest". That, too, is such a great song and I still play along with that recording to keep in good practice. I spent a good two weeks sequencing that song for the Intercessor Chorus and gave it a touch of Emerson, Lake and Palmer at the climax of the song, with a David Foster-like ending which was inspired by another piece we did from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. The Intercessor's choirmaster, "Father Joe" asked me to come perform with the choir for some time thereafter and it was a fun experience for me. Just recently, I heard Ramsey Lewis's version of Oh Happy Day and decided to do a "Piano Duel" or "duet" with him and turn it into a two-piano or four-handed piece. Since I like to play in the lower registers and my piano pans to the left as you play lower on the keyboard, you will get the sense of me playing on the left channel, to Ramsey's solo lines towards the right. As with my duet with Karen Gallinger, this recording was made "on the fly" in one take, but it sounds quite live with the audience applause and choral accompaniment. Again, strong emphasis is given to the piano tracks even though their was no actual multi-tracking done. It is simply a live "over-dub" and playful "battle of the pianos duel." The piece features performance by keyboardists Kevin Randolph (synths) and William Kilgore (organ), and the J. W. James Memorial A.M.E. Combined Choirs. Ramsey plays the Steinway Concert Piano, and I play the Technics PR-305 Digital Ensemble, Grand Piano.

(This version has been edited for Soundclick.)

This song is presented as an instrumental version, but here are the lyrics as it was performed in the movie, Sister Act 2:

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
Washed my sins away (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When my Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away

La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

He taught me how (oh, He taught me how)
To wash (to wash, to wash)
Fight and pray (to fight and pray)
Fight and pray
And he taught me how to live rejoicing yes, He did (and live rejoicing)
Oh yeah, every, every day (every, every day)
Every day!
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day, yeah (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When my Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed [hits high note] (when Jesus washed)
My sins away (oh happy day)
I'm talking about that happy day (oh happy day)
He taught me how (oh yeah, how)
To wash (to wash)
Fight and pray (sing it, sing it, c'mon and sing it)
Fight and pray
And to live, yeah, yeah, c'mon everybody (and live rejoicing every, every day)
Sing it like you mean it, oh....
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
I'm talking about the happy days (oh happy day)
C'mon and talk about the happy days (oh happy day)
Oh, oh, oh happy days (oh happy day)
Ooh talking about happy day (oh happy day)
Oh yeah, I know I'm talking about happy days (oh happy day)
Oh yeah, sing it, sing it, sing it, yeah, yeah (oh happy day)
Oh, oh, oh
Oh happy day!