Limited Edition Sister Gertrude Morgan X King Britt Double Vinyl Supporting Preservation Hall Foundation
Vinyl Me, Please and Ace Hotel
present a very special vinyl collaboration limited to 1,500 numbered copies
celebrating the art and legacy of gospel treasure Sister Gertrude Morgan with all the proceeds supporting the Preservation Hall Foundation
For the first time on vinyl, a double LP featuring the historic
1969 Preservation Hall recording of Sister Gertrude Morgan “Let's Make a Record” paired with its 2004 reimagining “King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan”
Sister Gertrude Morgan was an Alabama-born and New Orleans-based painter, poet and street evangelist, whose spirituality inspired a body of work almost mythic in its proportions. In 1969, Preservation Hall recorded Sister Gertrude singing fourteen gospel songs in the Prayer Room of her Ninth Ward home, The Everlasting Gospel Mission, accompanied only by her stomping foot and tambourine. That album, Let's Make a Record, fell into obscurity until 2004, when Philadelphia DJ King Britt and record label Ropeadope Records reissued it with new beats and instrumentation.
Vinyl Me, Please and Ace Hotel, together with the Preservation Hall Foundation and Ropeadope announced the first ever double LP release of Sister Gertrude Morgan’s Let's Make a Record half-speed remastered and mixed for mono at Alchemy Studio in London, UK, and King Britt presents Sister Gertrude Morgan.
Limited to 1,500 foil-stamp numbered copies, the record was released on 180g black vinyl and all sale proceeds will be donated directly back to the Preservation Hall Foundation to further our mission to “Protect, Preserve and Perpetuate the music and culture of New Orleans.”
The record is available exclusively online at Ace Hotel Shop and in-store at the Hall's gift shop, open daily from 12-5 PM CST and during the nightly performances.
This collaboration between Ace Hotel and Vinyl Me, Please is the first record to be released in the Ace Hotel x Vinyl Me, Please Exclusives, a series of collector releases, that will focus on reissues and live recordings from New Orleans artists that celebrate both the history and future of the city.
On May 4, during Six of Saturns, King Britt and the original band – Tim Motzer on guitar, Chuck Treece on drums, Mark Boyce on keyboards and Barry Meehan on bass – came together to celebrate the release of the double record and showcase their reinterpretation of Sister Gertrude Morgan’s Let’s Make a Record, songs of inflated spirit and deep, abiding faith.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Tauriac.
About Preservation Hall Foundation
Launched in 2011, the Preservation Hall Foundation supports music education, academic research, historical archiving and promotional outreach campaigns to create greater awareness and appreciation for Traditional New Orleans Jazz and the communities that support it. The Foundation’s mission is “to protect, preserve, and perpetuate the musical traditions and heritage of New Orleans." www.preshallfoundation.org.
About King Britt
King Britt’s musical curiosity has paved the way for the artist he is now. From composing house tunes for the legendary Strictly Rhythm and Nervous Records, djing for Sector 6 Grammy Award winning comrades Digable Planets, starting the legendary Ovum Recordings with techno wunderkind, Josh Wink, being tapped to underscore Michael Mann’s Miami Vice and various commercials, to curating a full day at MoMA PS1 in New York, the list goes on and on. Presently, he is exploring many afro-sonic musical possibilities with his Hyperdub released, Fhloston Paradigm project, The Phoenix. His aural experiments with friends appear on his imprint, The Buddy System Project. His recent curatorial pursuits have placed him in many academic environments – he is a Pew Fellowship winner – bridging the worlds of club, experimental and Black music. www.kingbritt.com
About Vinyl Me, Please
Vinyl Me, Please is a record club & online vinyl store founded in 2013. www.vinylmeplease.com
About Ropeadope
Ropeadope is a new model record label based in Philadelphia PA, operating as a distributed collaborative network of artists. Notable artists include King Britt, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Nicholas Payton, Eddie Palmieri, and Terrace Martin. In 2004 Ropeadope launched the Renew Orleans campaign, raising over $90,000.00 for New Orleans artists in need after Katrina. Ropeadope is proud to support musicians in the vital city of New Orleans. www.ropeadope.com
About Ace Hotel
Ace Hotel reinvents urban hotels for people who make cities interesting. We crave experience more than hospitality clichés. We are curious about the history and geography of the buildings we inhabit, and let these guide us to someplace fresh and familiar. Ace is the low card and the high card. www.acehotel.com