Calvin Hughes of Toledo took part in a legendary concert in Philadelphia on Sept. 26.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was singing a 10-minute version of “Amazing Grace” as part of the Festival of Families, and Pope Francis was sitting on the stage. Mr. Hughes was playing gospel-style organ.
“It was so unbelievable,” Mr. Hughes said. “With all of the people, it’s — you can’t describe it because it’s a feeling that you’ve never felt before. It felt like it was a lot of togetherness, and people of one accord.
“It was really, really exhilarating for me; it was like, ‘What an experience.’ After it was all done and faded down, it was like, ahh, I want that same feeling again. You yearned for that closeness.”
He didn’t meet Pope Francis but, he said, from his organ bench “I could look at him and give him a little wave, anyway.”
Robert Smith, pastor of the church where Mr. Hughes is minister of music, New Bethel Baptist in Detroit, which was begun by Franklin’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, and where Aretha Franklin is still a member, said by phone, “How high an honor can you get to play for the queen and the Pope at the same time? Wow. Unimaginable.”
That concert was Mr. Hughes’ first public performance with Franklin. He played with her again Oct. 8 at a sold-out concert with a symphony in Nashville, and is preparing for an annual event at New Bethel, a presentation of gospel musicians brought in by Miss Franklin, “which she does once a year with a revival of music,” Mr. Hughes said. It is scheduled for Nov. 22.
Mr. Hughes has been at New Bethel for three years, commuting from his Toledo home, where previously he had served Mt. Pilgrim Baptist, Warren African Methodist Episcopal, and Mt. Nebo Baptist.
He took the position at New Bethel because “I wanted the legacy of the church to continue,” he said. Pastor Smith “is struggling and trying to keep the church doors open with the good people that are there. They want to keep that history going,” Mr. Hughes said.
Pastor Smith got to know Mr. Hughes through the music revival, when Mr. Hughes was the pianist. Despite reservations about the commute, he hired Mr. Hughes as the music minister. “Surely enough, he has been on time every time,” the pastor said.
“And I tell you, whenever you impress the queen, you’ve really done something,” Pastor Smith added. “She came to do a live show there at the church, and she was just impressed with Calvin and started asking about him.” That led to the papal concert and a new musical relationship.
Mr. Hughes also has music ready for Toledo, with gospel legend Dorothy Norwood.
At 5 p.m. Sunday at the Armory Church, 3319 Nebraska Ave., Mr. Hughes will present a concert featuring Norwood, with New Bethel’s choir and the Toledo Ambassadors, a choir assembled “from all over the city of Toledo.” Norwood “is phenomenal,” Mr. Hughes said. “She’s been on the road for 52 years. ... She has a CD that’s out that’s called An Incredible Journey, and one of the main tunes on the tracks is ‘Oh Jesus.’ It’s good.”
Norwood met Mr. Hughes in June, in Detroit when he played keyboards for a memorial concert for Pastor Franklin and she was a singer. “We bonded, and he just loved my performance,” she said. “He’s been knowing me for years through my music, of course, been a fan. He invited me to come to Toledo this coming Sunday to do a benefit concert, and so I’m excited about it.”
The show, which also will have Pastor Tim Pettaway of Walk the Word Ministry as the worship leader, is a benefit for the Martin Luther King Kitchen for the Poor, begun by the Rev. Harvey Savage.
“I’m always looking forward to being a blessing to the people, the body of Christ,” Ms. Norwood said. “I tell everybody we’re not doing a concert; we’re doing a service. We’re doing a deliverance service. We’re doing a healing service, because there are so many people that are broken, so many people that are depressed, so much going on, killing and everything going on in this world today. Our ministry can be a blessing to people and encourage them to keep on going on regardless of what your circumstantial situation is.”
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“I thought this would be a great idea to let Toledo people and northwest Ohio people, let them know that New Bethel is still alive and they're still on a mission,” Mr. Hughes said. “And then I also wanted the Toledo people to intermingle with the Detroit people, to make this more of a joint effort.”
Mr. Hughes moved to Toledo from Little Rock, Ark., where he had been the youngest faculty member at Arkansas Baptist College, hired into the music department just after he graduated from the school. Mt. Pilgrim’s pastor, the Rev. Raymond Bishop, like Mr. Hughes, was from Arkansas. “He wanted me to come and, basically, just present a different kind of genre of music to the city of Toledo,” Mr. Hughes said. “More of a classical and anthem type way for his church.”
Mr. Hughes also took up the jazz genre for out-of-church music. “I have pretty much the largest jazz following in Toledo,” he said. “I would like to think that, anyway.”
Mr. Hughes met with a reporter at Amazing Grace Christian Center, where a jazz friend, trumpeter and band leader the Rev. Edward “Skip” Turner, is pastor. Pastor Turner and Mr. Hughes have played in groups together.
The musical partner getting most of his attention at present, though, is Aretha Franklin. When Miss Franklin called about Philadelphia, he said, “She was like, ‘I’ve got this invitation to sing for the Pope and everything, and I want you to’ — it didn’t really hit me right then, 'the Pope and everything’ — I was still baffled by the phone call. [I’m thinking,] but I'm on the phone with you,” with Aretha Franklin. That’s almost a papal audience for a gospel musician.
Contact TK Barger @ tkbarger@theblade.com, 419-724-6278 or on Twitter @TK_Barger.
First Published October 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
