The Birmingham Community Mass Choir​

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The chronicle of the Birmingham Chapter, GMWA began in 1968 when the late Rev. James Cleveland had a dream of organizing a Birmingham Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc. He sent a representative, Mr. Ed Smith of Detroit, Michigan to Birmingham to get someone to lead the Alabama area for the G.M.W.A. Initially, Mr. Smith went to the WENN
Radio Station and spoke with Rev. Erskine R. Faush, who broadcast a daily morning Gospel program. Rev. Faush recommended Mrs. Mary K. Elsaw, who was serving as the pianist and assistant director of the Daycare for New Pilgrim Baptist Church. Mr. Smith met with Mrs. Elsaw and began to make plans. Mrs. Elsaw called upon several musicians and directors, namely the late Andrew Bernard Sneed, Carlton Reese, Cora Ross Brown, Alphasteen Billups, John Brown, and Eloise Ford Gaffney. She began working to organize the Birmingham Community Choir. The first meeting and
rehearsal were held at New Pilgrim Baptist Church, where they rehearsed for many years. The Chapter was named the Birmingham Community Choir and it has attended each GMWA convention since its inception.

 

The Birmingham Community Mass Choir has sung the praises of God for over 52 years. Birthed on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, this group has featured some of the city’s most storied singers and musicians,
many of whom achieved national acclaim and stellar careers in the gospel music industry. The group’s longevity has afforded it to become one of the oldest musical aggregations in the USA, and the only remaining choral entity formed by the late gospel legend, Rev. James Cleveland, along with local gospel pioneer, Mrs. Mary K. Elsaw.
 

The group exhilarates the gospel music industry, yearly, as a staple and favorite of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc., the nation’s oldest and largest gospel music convention and accredited sacred learning
institution.

 

Locally, the Birmingham Community Mass Choir has
regenerated its vision and parameters to include the development of youth in the perpetuation of the black gospel music art form.  With training and education of future generations of the significant roles of
Birminghamians in the development and expansion of gospel music being our focal point, we approach our objective via performance, music clinics and subsequent events that educate the greater Birmingham populace to the folk culture of black gospel music, its relevance to the progression of its
people and the significant roles it plays in the imaging and nurturing of the black church.
 

For many years we sang for City Stages, and the Birmingham Heritage Festival. We have rendered concerts throughout the metropolitan Birmingham area including Parkway Christian, Cathedral of the Cross, Gardendale Baptist Church, Daystar Church in Oneonta, Adamsville Church of God. Also, we sang in several weddings, one at the Church of the Advent downtown and one at Shades Mountain Baptist in Mountain Brook.