Cogic Style ??...I grew up my early years in the Grand Ole….I literally grew up listening to 8 tracks of Elbertina Clark playing at conventions and the like. However, locally, the musicians played traditional,most didn’t even chord with two hands(early to mid 80’s) and pretty much if you knew a few choir songs, a good shout, and a congregational song for testimony service(play one you can play them all)….you were in there…In my experience there were two things that affected my playing style :
1. A young man at 15 years of age and his family began to attend a church in our district…., and he did things on a Hammond that none of us had ever conceived or dreamt(truly a prodigy). He was completely out of the box, and caused me to look at what was pretty standard music, never the same again. No need to bring up his name, as over the years he has been a contentious topic on this board (I do not know him well, but as a kid he was always nice to me). But in my experience, to this day, I’ve not seen another person with my own two eyes, do what I’ve seen this gentleman do with an organ…and no I’m not biased because he is not even my favorite organist, but in regards to me and my contemporaries he greatly affected what it was to be a COGIC organist, and he has a TREMEDNOUS gift, and had had significant impact as an inovative gospel musician
2. Saints in praise…many forget that it was a COGIC church that introduced the concept of praise teams, and worshipful music into many black Pentecostal churches. I’m not being critical, just offering some history, context and my experience….but while I was still rocking “I’m a soooollllldier …in the army of the Lord “…. Judy McAllister and Patrick Henderson was introducing “ We bring the sacrifice of Praise into…& I exalllllt Thhheeee……and Whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord.”……Now our white brothers had been doing this music since the 70’s with the Charismatic movement, but West Angeles (a cogic church) was one of the first to introduce it on a national level to black churches, but for many years what Bishop Blake was doing, was rejected by many main stream cogic churches
**anyway this caused a shift in my playing styles..as we moved from singing about us, and our struggles, into singing to God. Also, we left COGIC in 1989 and Ive played in all sorts of churches, but invariably no matter what part of the country I’m in, if I’m checking out a board in Guitar Center, someone will invariably listen to me and say “are you COGIC”..LOL…the answer is NO, but it is where I started and developed roots.
