Celebrating 75 Years, Chicago’s Wooten Choral Ensemble Has Come a Mighty Long Way

By Robert M. Marovich

Confined for more than a year to a Chicago sanitarium, Robert Wooten rued his fate. The Morgan Park High School student had demonstrated an aptitude for music at a young age. He even formed a gospel group called the Morgan Park Crusaders. Life was definitely looking up for him. Then he contracted tuberculosis. Now his only connection with music was when choral groups performed for the patients. Some days he wondered if he’d make it out of the sanitarium alive.

A young Robert Wooten

Right then and there, Wooten made a pact with God. “He vowed,” Wooten’s daughter Carol Wooten Hester said, “that if God lifted him from his sick bed, he would serve him with his gift until the day he died.”

Wooten recovered, and in July 1949, the nineteen-year-old kept his end of the bargain. Gathering together eight singers from the neighborhood, he organized the Wooten Choral Ensemble. He directed the group until 1998 and remained its visionary emeritus until his death in 2008.

Today, the Wooten Choral Ensemble is considered the oldest continuously-operating community choir in the country. It will celebrate its 75th anniversary this Sunday afternoon at Beth Eden Baptist Church in Morgan Park, where the journey began.

Wooten “was such a force,” remarked Claretta Hobbs, the ensemble’s official narrator starting in 1974 and a member of the second alto section since 1999. “He was firm, he was gifted, and he knew what he was doing. He demanded perfection. Out of sixty people, he could pick out the one voice who was singing the wrong note!”

In the Beginning
It wasn’t difficult for Wooten to recruit the ensemble’s earliest choristers. There were plenty of talented youth at Beth Eden. Wooten also invited members from the Greater Harvest Baptist Church young adult choir, which he directed, and from the a cappella choir at Parker High School, where he was the music teacher.

From day one, Wooten insisted on several principles that still govern the ensemble. First, their musical programs would be free-of-charge whenever practicable. Second, in exchange for use of Beth Eden for rehearsals, the ensemble would provide music for the church’s worship service every third Sunday. Third, one had to be thirteen years of age or older to join. Finally, the repertory would be musically diverse. “My dad wanted the group to present gospel music, both traditional and contemporary,” recalled Robert “Bobby” Wooten Jr., who has succeeded his father as director of the Wooten Choral Ensemble. “But also spirituals, anthems, and hymns of the church. He believed a good choral group should be able to do all of those things. He never wavered from that.”

Wooten’s insistence on musical excellence and a versatile repertory was reminiscent of an earlier vocal group to emerge from Beth Eden. The Pace Jubilee Singers was formed in the mid-1920s by Charles H. Pace, then Beth Eden’s music director as well as a pioneering music publisher and arranger. It was the first African American sacred vocal group in Chicago to appear regularly on local radio and to record prodigiously for major labels. Its repertory, too, included spirituals and hymns as well as some of the latest sacred compositions by Black hymnists such as the Reverend Charles Albert Tindley. The principal lead vocalist, Hattie Parker, was a gospel singer who ornamented the group’s jubilee-style harmonies with scoops and moans not unlike the blues women performing on State Street’s legendary Stroll. Pace’s accompanist, Josephine Inniss, taught Robert and his children Robert Jr. and Carol to play piano, thus providing a direct link between the Pace and Wooten ensembles. The Pace troupe ceased operations in the 1930s when its founder left Chicago for Pittsburgh.

Welcoming Queen Dinah Back to Church
A high point of the Wooten Choral Ensemble’s early years was an invitation from organist Willie Webb to appear on an August 1951 program honoring Chicago’s Ruth Jones, the former gospel singer who, as Dinah “Queen of the Blues” Washington, was now a national star. Held at the cavernous Tabernacle Baptist Church, the program was hailed as a chance to hear Dinah return to her gospel roots, if for only one night. Wooten was nervous to have his relatively new choir sing on such a major program but, as he explained to me during a 2007 interview, “I figured, you‘re not going to get on that kind of a bill [everyday].”

Wooten recalled the evening vividly: “They were trying to get somebody to get hold of the house, and we ran up there and did a number titled ‘I Heard the Voice.’ That just tore the house up.” The choir then dutifully filed off the platform and returned to their seats but the spirit remained on the altar. “Mahalia Jackson was up there trying to pick [the song back] up, and my cousin Louise Overall Weaver was on the organ. Somebody said to me, ‘Go on back,’ but I said, ‘No, no, let well enough alone,’ because my legs were just shaking!”

When the ensemble made its first record two years later, the coupling included “I Heard the Voice.” Chance Records, a Chicago label owned by Art Sheridan, released the single (that same year, 1953, also saw Chance issue the first recordings by the Spaniels and bluesman Jimmy Reed). Whatever airplay “I Heard the Voice” received in Chicago was likely due to Wooten’s new piano instructor, who also happened to be a disc jockey on WGES. “After a [piano] lesson, he’d say, ‘Bob, did you hear? I played your record last night.’”

Altar Stairs of Song
The Wooten Choral Ensemble sang steadily during the 1950s, fellowshipping frequently with another local community choir, the Thompson Community Singers (founded by the Reverend Milton Brunson in 1948), but it didn’t record again until 1963. This time, the group produced an album that included new recordings of their two Chance sides as well as hymns and spiritual favorites of Beth Eden’s then-pastor, the Reverend Richard Keller. Wooten and a friend shopped the ensemble’s tape to various companies, ultimately cementing a deal with Vee-Jay Records, a Black-owned label located on Chicago’s Record Row (that same year, Vee-Jay introduced the Beatles to America).

In the end, the album, Altar Stairs of Song, wasn’t a high-volume seller, but that didn’t bother Wooten. “That was not my goal, really it wasn’t,” he said in 2007. “[It was] to have a group of people who enjoy singing, and a lot of them came into the church as a result of their involvement.”

A Community Choir Like No Other
Unlike other community choirs, which tend mostly to perform for programs and special events, the Wooten Choral Ensemble still honors its founder’s commitment to provide music for Beth Eden’s Sunday worship service. From the first, it provided music for the 11 a.m. service each third Sunday. “We’ve done that consistently for the past seventy-five years, said Bobby. “There’s no other community choir I know of that can say that.” Today, ensemble members also combine with Beth Eden’s Sanctuary Choir for first Sunday services. This responsibility, in fact, may be the key to its longevity.

The Wooten Choral Ensemble also provided positive and constructive outlets for postwar “latchkey” children whose working parents weren’t home when they returned from school. “We did a lot of things besides singing,” Carol said. “We attended plays together, we went bowling and skating, we went to Riverview, we had picnics. It was like an extension of our family.”

Claretta Hobbs

Over the years, the ensemble added community service to its extracurricular activities. It sang at hospitals, nursing homes, and penal institutions. It raised money to supply the art department at nearby Shoop Elementary School with paint and other materials. It even provided scholarships for young people studying music. For Claretta, it “was wonderful to have something to belong to, having somewhere worthwhile to go, something worthwhile to do.”

“We’ve had more than 1,100 members in the ensemble, up to three generations,” Carol added. “Couples have met in the ensemble and married, and we have a lot of siblings in the choir.”

Carol Wooten Hester

In addition to Beth Eden and other local churches, the Wooten Choral Ensemble has sung at such venues as Arie Crown Theater, Ravinia, Orchestra Hall, and the DuSable Museum of African-American History. It toured the county, its members often filling every available seat on the plane. An especially memorable stop was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. was pastor. “Daddy King, he was just awestruck,” Carol said, “because he did not expect the level of musicianship and discipline from a group with young people in it.” King was so impressed, in fact, that he paid a visit to Beth Eden when he came to Chicago.

Leading gospel singers such as Jessy Dixon, Albertina Walker, and the Barrett Sisters have appeared on the ensemble’s anniversaries. And, as the group evolved, so did its repertory. “We did a lot of Broadway and popular tunes,” said Bobby. “We did the Harlem Nutcracker for years. We supplied voices for Three Mo’ Tenors. We did some of The Lion King.” Carol’s participation in the madrigal group while a student at Bradley University so impressed her father that he asked her to put together a madrigal dinner for Beth Eden. “We did a madrigal show for twelve years,” Carol said. “My mom made the food. It became a two-night event.”

Carol, who became assistant director of the ensemble in 1985 and remains in the role today, added: “We sang at Chicago’s Gospel Fest, on TV’s Jubilee Showcase and Singsation. But one thing my dad refused to do was compete. He had a different type of ministry. We weren’t trying to compete with anyone.”

The ensemble has released several albums over the years, and the songs for which it is best known include the spiritual “In Bright Mansions Above,” the hymn “Beams of Heaven,” and Wooten’s arrangement of “Close to Thee.” As a Hampton Institute undergrad, Bobby taught the hymn initially to the school’s concert choir. “Roland Carter would close out the choir’s concerts with that piece,” Bobby said, noting that Hampton continues to close its concerts with the song. “A lot of other HBCUs started singing ‘Close to Thee’ as part of their repertory, as well.”

Among the more prominent Wooten Choral Ensemble alumni is the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who was also assistant pastor at Beth Eden before assuming the pastorate of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Opera singers Alfreda Burke and Gregg Baker, gospel historian and educator L. Stanley Davis, and Greater Harvest’s current pastor, the Reverend Eric Thomas, were members. Bass player Ethan Farmer accompanied the ensemble and went on to work with Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle, and Babyface, among others. Oscar Seaton Jr., a drummer for artists from Lionel Richie to Boz Scaggs, also worked with the ensemble.

Notwithstanding such talent, Bobby said, “I don’t know that my dad ever aspired to earn major awards like Doves, Grammys, or Stellars. He was happy doing the service he was doing. The fact that some people came to Christ through the ministry and others were touched by the ministry—that was important to him.”

Changes in Leadership
After Beth Eden’s pastor, the Reverend James Meeks, left to form Salem Baptist Church, the Reverend Dr. Craig M. Jenkins was called to the pastorate. Jenkins, originally from Albany, New York, has been at Beth Eden since January 1986. “I received the call to pastor the day the Bears won the Super Bowl,” Jenkins recalled.

Robert “Bobby” Wooten Jr.

“Prior to coming to Chicago,” he added, “my prayer was, ‘Lord, I’m asking you to allow me to pastor full-time and not to have to worry about music.’ My prayer was answered!”

Jenkins didn’t have to worry about the music even when Wooten’s health began to give out in 1997 and it was evident he would have to pass the baton. Bobby seemed like the ideal successor. He had joined the choir in 1970, but there was one problem: he and his family were no longer living in Chicago.

Robert Wooten Sr.

“My career has been in entertainment,” Bobby said. “I’ve been on Broadway, I’ve toured with artists, and I have done records and films. I happened to be working with a lot of people I admired. I was enjoying that. When my dad got sick, and I got that call, I felt helpless because I was in New Jersey and my family was young at the time. But he needed help, so I moved my family back to Chicago in 1997.” Bobby worked alongside his father until Wooten formally stepped down as director in 1998.

“Although I welcomed his input and counsel, my dad did not allow his shadow to inhibit me from leading the choir,” Bobby said. “From the selection of material through the teaching and performance criteria, my father encouraged me to step up and lead the choir that he had founded. He trusted that I would uphold the standard with which the choir had become known for over the years.”

“It is true that music is evolving and the ensemble’s repertoire includes some of the newer gospel songs,” Pastor Jenkins reflected, “but it still comes back that people need to know the spirituals, the anthems, the hymns. We need to know the contemporary and the traditional. The spirituals and anthems tell the history of our people. The Wooten Chorale Ensemble gives you the whole spectrum.”

For more information on the 75th Anniversary Program, visit https://wce1949.com/

To view Beth Eden Sunday worship services, visit its YouTube page: (109) beth eden baptist church chicago and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/bethedenbaptistchurch.org/