Jerry Lawson & James Power - The Man in Room 1009 (Rev. Claude Jeter) HD

Recorded LIVE @ The Hotel Wales in New York City - 31 May 2009 - by Filmmaker Keith Lewis in HD

NOTE: Interview with Jerry Lawson & James Power follows the performance.

THE MAN IN ROOM 1009 is available now on iTunes, Amazon, and many other MP3/CD download retail sites.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/powerlawson

ABOUT THE SONG:

The Reverend Claude Jeter, lead vocalist of The Swan Silvertones, was one of the true pioneers and geniuses of contemporary singing and harmony. While he sang strictly within the genre of Gospel, he helped create the template for the quartet style emulated across both gospel and popular music. His style is still heard today in so many artists that most are likely unaware of his enormous influence on contemporary singing.

In early 2008 I began my search for Reverend Jeter who, from everything I had read, was still alive - somewhere. In August 2008, I was able to locate him at The Daughters of Jacob Hospital in the Bronx, NY. Unfortunately, by the time I finally located him he was no longer able to communicate. I returned again on his 94th birthday on October 26th, this time bringing along some of the Swans music so that his caretakers (who were unaware of his past) might at least know what an enormously talented and profoundly influential artist he was. It was while leaving his room for the last time, Room 1009, that I began thinking about his enormous contribution to the arts and how, in his final days, he was a largely forgotten man. A man without visitors. A man alone. Just the man in Room 1009. From that, came the song.

As for Jerry Lawson's involvement, that's a miracle in itself. I had become friends with his wife Julie in 2007 after the release of his phenomenal album Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town. She then introduced me to the man himself - Jerry Lawson! Lead vocalist of the legendary Persuasions for nearly 40 years. As with the Swan Silvertones, Jerry's music with the Persuasions formed the bedrock for much of what I listened to in my early years. In April 2008 I found myself between jobs (as is my wont) so I grabbed my guitar and hopped a plane to Arizona to meet Jerry. We spent an amazing weekend together playing music and talking. Being just brazen enough, I asked Jerry if he would be interested adding vocals to one or two songs when I began work on my next album. True to Jerry's enormous generosity, he said he would love to! While I was deeply honored to have such an opportunity, I knew I had to present him with a song worthy of his enormous talents. As fate would have it, my meeting the Reverend Jeter at about this same time gave me impetus for a song, and believe me when I say that NO ONE could have brought to life 'The Man in Room 1009' the way Jerry did! Jerry explained it this way, "Jim, you gave birth to the baby and I delivered it. I slapped it on it's ass!"

One of the orginal goals for this song was to be able to play it for Reverend Jeter before he passed away. Unfortunately, that did not happen. But as Jerry said, "Reverend Jeter was with us in spirit during the recording of this song", which the results, I feel, bare out.

- James Power

http://www.jamespower.net
http://www.jerrylawsontalkofthetown.com
http://www.jerrylawson.biz
http://www.myspace.com/jerrylawsonmusic
http://www.myspace.com/jimmypower

Special thanks to filmmaker Keith Lewis who made this video happen!

Keith Lewis
http://www.aboutvcg.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• yt:crop=16:9
• yt:quality=high Jerry
• Lawson
• Claude Jeter
• James Power
• Swan Silvertones
• Interview
• Persuasions
• Soul
• R&B
• Gospel
• acappella
• new york city
• Hotel Wales

[joelthome]

Jerry Lawson, My dear friend . What an extraordinary offering. Your voice fills the world with Love. Congratulations on these moving videos and the glory of ALL these Voices. Thank you and All my Love to you and Juli Everyone must hear and see tthese recordings and videos. Love, Joel

[Mananine54]

Jerry Lawson... has an absolutely amazing beautiful voice.. So Soulful.

[carleighbhis1]

Wow, Mr Jeter truly was a legend ad most deserving of his award!

[JesseBelvinIsKing]

"Thank You Julie....and Jerry"...for sharing this w/ me. As always..., "You BLESSED Me In Song Jerry"!!! ALLLways your fan & friend...,Jesse Belvin Jr.

[CHOICEJCBB]

Working with and getting to know both Jim Power and Jerry Lawson has been our pleasure in the recent past. We are all the more inspired and better off for it. This piece is clearly the outcome of fusing strong talent and passion together. They recognized the need to raise up the name of Claude Jeter to its rightful place, though posthumous, its now been done. So sad and unjust Jeter lived his last years a forgotten man.

Thanks Jerry and Jim.

E-Z from CHOICE

Jersey City's Bad Boys of Acappella

[herbbruce]

Great video and nice touch to have the interview to follow.

[seanaltman]

Great song, great sentiment, great live performance. Jerry is a national treasure.

[asdamusic]

Super clip!!

[mikelmh]

Great stuff - it's a pleasure to hear such joyful sounds.