As I continue to highlight Gospel blues musicians I want to give a better profile of Thomas Dorsey. Who at the end of his life was better known as "the father of gospel music", after earlier being a leading blues pianist, called Georgia Tom.
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was born on July 1, in 1899, in Villa Rica, Georgia, and he passed away on January 23, 1993, in Chicago. According to wikipedia;
As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. His conception also deviates from what had been, to that time, standard hymnal practice by referring explicitly to the self, and the self's relation to faith and God, rather than the individual subsumed into the group via belief.
Dorsey was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. His best known composition, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, and "Peace in the Valley", which was a hit for Red Foley in 1951 and has been performed by dozens of other artists, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his album Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (1973), by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry.
4 comments:
Not being religious at all, my interest for Gospel music is purely academic. But I love the pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey.
Alex
aaa copywriter, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
I'm probably not religious in the same way that must religious people call themselves "religious."
I'm the kind of person who would stop by the juke joint on my way from church. My wife and daughter are going to church this morning, I'm listening to Gospel music and some blues.
In the town I grew up in Louisiana, the people who were singing in the juke joints were the same people who were singing in the chior on Sunday, so to me Thomas Dorsey aka Georgia Tom is just like many of the people that I grew up around. And I can not really seperate blues music from Gospel music.
And I think if you really want to understand the blues, it helps to understand the roots of the music. Which is grounded in the church, and Gospel music.
Hey Fitz, please don't misunderstand me. Although I'm a non believer myself, I do respect other people's beliefs. And also, I was born and raised in Italy, a place that, after 2,000 year of Catholic Church's domination has developed a slight indifference to religion. So no Gospel music around here, but beautifully sung but boring Gregorian choirs.
Blues, and notably the British Blues form the early '60s has been some sort of deliverance for many of us around here. But going to the clubs where they (we) played that kind of music was antithetic to going to church, so we simply abolished religion, helped by our political dichotomy, you either was a Christian Democrat, or a Commie. I was neither, bur religion since then got out of my life, and I'm still satisfied with it.
So I don't mind Gospel at all, but I still prefer the profane version. And I do study (only on books, unfortunately, here across the pond) the roots of the blues. And the more I liten to it, the more it makes me wonder how come my skin is so white, and how come a half Jewish boy from an Opera loving family fell for the "Devil's Music". But I know I'm not the only one...
And talking about the roots, have you ever checked Juneberry78.com? It's probably the greatest existing source of freely available early American "Race" music of the kinds we all love. It certainly is worth a try. I took me a month and more over a year ago, but I downloaded their whole catalaog. ;)
Ale
My friend Alex, first let me say, thanks so much for all your comments here at SML. I really enjoy reading what my readers and fellow blues bloggers think.
I like how everbody brings their own story to this great art form.
I think that my own path to the blues is really about where I'm from and the history of my people and the part of the U.S. that I grew up in.
I am trying to share my perspective as a kid who walked around the same streets that Leadbelly walked around on. That path led me up into and through some churches where gospel music was being played.
I'm going to let your comments stand and I hope others will read and comment on what you have written here. I think your perspective is valuable and I welcome your future comments.
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