The Quartet With The Five J’s

The King’s Heralds
(1971-1977)
John Ramsey, first tenor
Jerry Patton, second tenor
Jack Veazey, baritone
Jim McClintock, bass

The King’s Heralds
(1977-1983)
John Ramsey, first tenor
Jerry Patton, second tenor
Jack Veazey, baritone
Jim Ayars, bass

Since I was a little boy I always liked very much to sing. In Brazil, the country where I was born, people just sing away to themselves. They do not ask themselves whether they can sing or not, I mean whether they have the talent to sing. Nobody shushes them either. And so I sang a lot too.

My mother took me and my three brothers to a protestant church. So I was raised listening to Christian music. Today I am an adult person and my musical taste got a lot broader. I also distanced myself from dogmatic thinking. Nevertheless I think that it’s healthy to believe in something that is greater than us. Religions are only a concern when they are radical and their followers become fanatic. We do not know for sure whether something beyond this life exists. Even so I still find it better to believe that there is a purpose for our lives, that we do not exist just by chance. Specially in the times in which we live now, where everything seems to be ruled by money only and due to a lot of stress people have no time to be quiet, look inside themselves and reflect about what is really important, I think faith and hope can bring comfort and peace to the restless mind.

Of course everyone has to search and find his own way. And respect for other beliefs is the most crucial thing on this important journey.

Even though I am not a typical Christian any more, from the kind that, with the Bible under his arm, goes every weekend to the church, Christian music still is the music that best helps me get in some kind of connection with spiritual spheres, when I need it.

It’s not important which religion a person belongs to, or whether someone even believes in God or not, to listen to religious music. When people who profess all kinds of religions or atheists listen to a Bach’s cantata none of them make a face and say “Christian music, oh no!!!”. Right? Well, one could say he does not like Bach but he would never despise his music for being Christian. So why should it be different with Christian music that came after Bach? What is really important is what the music (and the lyrics, if it has some) is trying to tell me, whether and how it moves me inside, and not so much from wich corner it comes from.

In my adolescence I listened to a lot of Christian male quartets, the style I liked most. I even sang in some. My favourite gospel male quartet is The King’s Heralds. This group exists since 1927, which means that it is the oldest continuous gospel quartet. Many things in life have their best time, a time where everything seemed to have been perfect, a peak in quality that cannot be repeated. The all times best national football team of Brazil, for example, was in the period when the great Pelé played in it, in the 1960s. It was a perfect team, in which every player was as good as a player can be. Even though the Brazilian national team can still be very strong, it was never again able to bring up such amazing players like those of Pelé’s time. The same happened to The King’s Heralds. For me their best time was from 1971 to 1983. All five singers of that period (the bass voice changed in 1977) had a very well educated voice. They could easily have become opera singers, if they wanted. Modern gospel music groups do not have this high quality voices any more. And since I studied opera singing myself voice quality is important to me when I listen to vocal music. All these five singers of The King’s Heralds were amazing soloists, yet still they harmonized perfectly when singing together. It’s difficult to find a vocal group where everyone is a good soloist.

If I am in need of listening to spiritual music I want it to somehow touch my soul. In my opinion not every kind of religious music achieves this. And this is what I like about these two formations of The King’s Heralds as well. The songs they sing really sound like church music and I feel that God (or whatever you call the divinity in which you believe, if you believe in one) speaks to me through them. I hear in the pureness of their voices that they really believe what they are singing. Most of the gospel music produced today sounds artificial. Sometime ago I was just curious and watched on YouTube videos of gospel music groups. The large majority of them, for me, does not have a true spiritual character. It’s entertainment, it’s show. That’s OK, but then it would make no difference if one would listen to radio music instead.

Amongst my favourite songs of The King’s Heralds I compiled 10 for you to listen to and read their lyrics. Please pay a visit to their website (see the link on the right panel) and support them, buying their CDs.

Enjoy!

Go to Page 2 – Audio and Lyrics (1971-1977)