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The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church
Most observers believe that gospel music has been sung in African-American churches since their organization in the late 1800s. Yet nothing could be further from the truth, as Michael W. Harris's history of gospel blues reveals. Tracing the rise of gospel blues as seen through the career of its founding figure, Thomas Andrew Dorsey, Harris tells the story of the most prominent person in the advent of gospel blues.
Also known as "Georgia Tom," Dorsey had considerable success in the 1920s as a pianist, composer, and arranger for prominent blues singes including Ma Rainey. In the 1930s he became involved in Chicago's African-American, old-line Protestant churches, where his background in the blues greatly influenced his composing and singing. Following much controversy during the 1930s and the eventual overwhelming response that Dorsey's new form of music received, the gospel blues became a major force in African-American churches and religion. His more than 400 gospel songs and recent Grammy Award indicate that he is still today the most prolific composer/publisher in the movement. Delving into the life of the central figure of gospel blues, Harris illuminates not only the evolution of this popular musical form, but also the thought and social forces that forged the culture in which this music was shaped.
Also known as "Georgia Tom," Dorsey had considerable success in the 1920s as a pianist, composer, and arranger for prominent blues singes including Ma Rainey. In the 1930s he became involved in Chicago's African-American, old-line Protestant churches, where his background in the blues greatly influenced his composing and singing. Following much controversy during the 1930s and the eventual overwhelming response that Dorsey's new form of music received, the gospel blues became a major force in African-American churches and religion. His more than 400 gospel songs and recent Grammy Award indicate that he is still today the most prolific composer/publisher in the movement. Delving into the life of the central figure of gospel blues, Harris illuminates not only the evolution of this popular musical form, but also the thought and social forces that forged the culture in which this music was shaped.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 1992
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November 29, 2021
While Harris did a stupendous amount of research into his subject that must be met with respect by the reader, the final product is an endlessly repetitious drag that will only interest college level music theory students studying how Dorsey came up with some diminished chords that got him thrown out of churches and whatnot. As a biography of Dorsey this book doesn't even attempt that or even a comprehensive study of his compositions. It focuses intensely on his early years and development into a gospel blues composer and stops just as soon as he meets Sallie Martin and Mahalia Jackson and the popularity of the form picks up. It seems like the whole purpose of this book was to zero in on what exactly made Dorsey write music the way he did early on, and unfortunately that is just too narrow a topic for me to be happy to read 300 pages of when there's other points of interest surrounding Dorsey's life and art.
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