Joy, Celebration and Comfort

Connie and Dwight Fitch married in life and to gospel music

BY GERALDINE WYCKOFF

Connie and Dwight Fitch, a married couple in life as well as in gospel music, met each other when they were teenagers while she was attending St. Mary’s High School and he was a student at St. Augustine.

“We’ve been together since then,” says Connie with some delight. Dwight then adds that they began performing with each other in a rhythm and blues band called the Exiles.

Their initial, formal entrance into New Orleans’ rich gospel community came in 1971 when the priest at St. Raymond Catholic Church asked them to start a gospel choir. Connie explains that the church always had a choir though not really a “gospel” choir. “We brought it—hand-clapping music.” Meanwhile they also worked under their own names for private events such as weddings and funerals.

At this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the two noted musicians and gospel community activists perform as Connie & Dwight Fitch with the St. Raymond and St. Leo the Great Gospel Choir as they have since after Hurricane Katrina. As Connie puts it, “It was marriage between two churches—they merged.”

At the Fest, the blended members of the male and female, mixed-aged choir will total approximately 45 enthusiastic vocalists. “We try to do a little bit of everything—traditional and contemporary. When we are ministering to a wide audience, we want everybody to be touched.”

The ensemble will, as usual, bring in their own band for its appearance in the Gospel Tent. “I like to use horn players because some of the gospel arrangements that we do require horns—at least a sax and trumpet,” says Dwight who will man the piano in the group that will also include a guitar, bass and drums.

Connie and Dwight, who have been married for 53 years, do all of their own arrangements on classic material as well as tunes from popular contemporary gospel artists. Some they might choose from include Bebe & CeCe Winans, Hezekiah Walker, the Mississippi Mass Choir and the Chicago Mass Choir. They also arrange classics such as “Amazing Grace,” as well as write the arrangements for their original songs, many of which fill the Fitch’s two recordings.

Behind the scenes at Jazz Fest, the two act as consultants and backstage managers. Long before the gates at the Fair Grounds open, the couple poured over submissions by hopeful artists and went out to listen to them. “We kind of scout,” says Connie adding that they provide recommendations while Jazz Fest does the actual booking. comes together.”

On Sundays, Dwight and Connie can be found at the St. Raymond and St. Leo the Great Church on Paris Avenue. At 8 a.m., Dwight leads the senior choir, the Ambassadors for Christ, in a program of traditional Catholic hymns. For the 10 a.m. mass, Connie directs a choir in more contemporary gospel music.

For 26 years, Dwight has directed and played piano for the Xavier Gospel Choir, and he also directs the Shades of Praise that will be at the Fest again this year. The two founded the non-profit Fitchfield Foundation whose mission is to bring further music education in the community, support musicians and to aid the indigent who might need assistance.

A burst of energy and joyfulness takes place as Rosalee Washington, the Tambourine Lady, weaves her magic on the rhythmic instrument as she dances at the side of the Gospel Tent stage.

“Every time we hit the stage, we invite Lady Tambourine to join us,” says Connie offering that one of their responsibilities as consultants is to find out who wants the always invigorating and smiling tambourine player to take part in their performance.

Naturally, Connie and Dwight truly relish performing in the Gospel Tent as have the many gospel artists who’ve raised their voices in praise at Jazz Fest since its beginnings in Congo Square. An amen to the late great Sherman Washington, the leader of the mighty Zion Harmonizers, for making gospel an important element at the Fest by convincing other gospel artists to participate.

“I think that one of the most rewarding things is the way the music is received by the people,” Dwight says of being on stage at the Gospel Tent. “When they sing along, that’s when you know that you are reaching them—they’re participating. Even to see the hands go up and to see movement among the whole crowd, how exciting is that? After I see that, I know that the word has gone forth.”

Connie enjoys the preparations for their festival appearances: the rehearsals and learning new music, polishing up material and subsequently having the band come in. Then there are meetings to decide—details like choosing the color of their always-coordinated apparel. “We have robes but it’s way too hot to wear choir robes,” she truthfully exclaims. “It’s exciting to see everything that we worked on when it

Usually at separate times, Connie and Dwight do “sneak away” to hear artists performing at the other tents and stages. They mention Stevie Wonder, Allen Toussaint—whom Connie and her sister once worked for as background singers—Connie’s nephew, Davell Crawford, and Elton John. “To be able to get a chance to see some of the artists that Jazz Fest brings to the grounds is phenomenal, it’s phenomenal,” Connie exclaims.

When considering acts to perform in the Gospel Tent, the duo tries to make sure that both small ensembles and choirs that offer a diversity of styles are represented. A handful of artists they suggest folks should check out include old faves like the Zion Harmonizers, the Bester Singers, Leo Jackson and the Jackson Travelers (with the leader often carrying a suitcase), the Archdiocese of New Orleans Mass Choir and Tyronne Foster and the Arc Singers. “He’s a dynamic director,” Connie exclaims. “In the Gospel Tent, the high school choirs be burnin’—they are hot. “Those children can really sing.”

Finally, Connie simply says, “Music can do whatever you need it to do—bring joy, bring celebration, bring comfort. It does all of that.”

Saturday April 29 at 3 p.m. Alison Miner Stage

Saturday April 29 at 5:30 p.m. Gentilly Stage