His first gospel song, "If You See my Savior Tell Him That You Saw Me" was published in 1932. [42] He insisted that songs be memorized rather than chorus members reading music or lyrics while performing. INR. This Far by Faith . About the Series | PBS As George T. Nierenberg guides us through its relatively brief history, we come to see that. There, his mother admonished him to stop playing the blues and serve the Lord. He ignored her and returned to Chicago, playing with Ma Rainey. 84.00. As he said in The Rise of Gospel Blues: "If a woman has lost a man, a man has lost a woman, his feeling reacts to the blues; he feels like expressing it. The unsteadiness grew worse, leaving him unable to practice, write or perform. By far the best documentary Ive seen! They pray for their ancestors and seek to heal the country's wounds of slavery through prayer vigils at historical slave sites. Black gospel choirs were asked to perform at several white churches in Chicago. The narrow focus of this doc lets us really dive into the world and upturn the furniture rather that only tread upon the surface of the genre and its leaders. Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2022, Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2022. As the head of the NCGCC, he traveled the "gospel highway": a circuit of churches and similar venues throughout the U.S. where he trained singers and choirs. Easily one of the best music documentaries I have ever seen, this film could have coasted on the charisma and brilliance of its subjects, primarily Willie Mae Ford Smith and Thomas A. Dorsey, seminal figures in the history of Black gospel music. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. After a spiritual awakening, Dorsey began concentrating on writing and arranging religious music. (For more of Thomas A. Dorsey's work, see also "Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey," added to the National Registry in 2002.) Dorsey was the first black person to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Thomas A. Dorsey(Actor), Delois Barrett Campbell(Actor), George T. Nierenberg(Director)& 0moreRated: Unrated Format: DVD 4.5 out of 5 stars129 ratings IMDb7.6/10.0 DVDfrom $18.00 VHS Tapefrom $39.99 Additional DVD options Edition Discs Price New from Used from DVDFebruary 3, 2001 Young Dorsey was also influenced musically by his mother's brother, an itinerant blues musician, and by her brother-in-law, a teacher who favored shaped note singing--also known as "fasola" (fa-so-la), a rambunctious, 19th-century congregational style propagated by songbooks and popular in the rural South in which four distinct shapes (the diamond, for one) correspond to specific notes on the musical scale. [39] Anthony Heilbut further explains that "the gospel of [Charles] Tindley and Dorsey talks directly to the poor. He is described as stately and often detached, one writer attesting that from a distance, "Dorsey is not presented as a happy man. He remained in contact with his friends and fellow blues musicians, saying, "I'm not ashamed of my blues. Documentary performer: "Opus One" - as Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra: Cold Case: 2006: TV Series 1 episode: Anytown, USA: 2005: Documentary performer . ", Combs is curator of photography and film at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which helped fund the restoration of Say Amen, Somebody. These migrants were refugees from poverty and the systemic racism endemic throughout the Jim Crow South. [53][54] Though he never returned to his hometown, efforts to honor Dorsey in Villa Rica, Georgia, began a week after his death. The adjustment for the entire family was difficult, culminating in Thomas being isolated, held back at school, and eventually dropping out after the fourth grade when he was twelve years old. I think about all these blue-collar people who had to deal with Jim Crow, meager salaries, and yet the maid who cleaned up somebody else's house all week long, the porter, the chauffeur, the gardener, the cook, were nobody. The pressures of touring overwhelmed him, and Dorsey considered suicide. Newly restored and re-released. In San Francisco, the Reverend Cecil Williams develops a "come as you are" church. Martin Luther King Jr.. These folks added boogey woogey to the hymns and were heretics. Documentary about the American gospel music scene, focusing on two of the movement's pioneering forces, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith. The tune he wrote, Take My Hand, Precious Lord, came, he says, direct from God. Thomas A. Dorsey documentary rough cut 6,122 views Oct 31, 2010 79 Dislike jpilkonis 42 subscribers Villa Rica, Georgia We reimagined cable. Rainey interacted with her audiences, who were often so enthralled they stood up and shouted back at her while she sang. So spiritual and uplifting! July 25, 2003 Thomas Dorsey combined sacred and secular styles to create a revolution in music. Gospel music did not start with Dorsey. The Lord has too much work for you to let you die.". He spent his afternoons and evenings watching vaudeville performances. Those sisters will forever be in my heart.. 'Say Amen, Somebody,' George Nierenberg's Gospel Documentary Is Re Thomas A. Dorsey was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, the first of three children to Thomas Madison Dorsey, a minister and farmer, and Etta Plant Spencer. What really struck me about the musical sequences was not just the incredible vocals and instrumentation from talents operating at the peak of their ability, but the. Copyright 2003 The Faith Project, Inc. All rights reserved. of American Music History. Well known within the African-American community, Dorsey nonetheless remained relatively obscure outside of it--though people were singing his songs all over the world--until he became the subject of a BBC documentary in 1976. It was not long before he penned his first gospel blues, "If You See My Savior, Tell Him That You Saw Me," which was inspired by the death of a friend. There was a great deal of early resistance to Dorsey's work, partly because it was rooted in the rural southern African-American culture from which the old-line urban churches sought to distance themselves in favor of assimilation. He convalesced back home in Atlanta. You got to always have something: a little trick, a little embellishment or something. It's like a family business, and watching the different generations striving for significance was quite fascinating. Status is huge in this world. I havent seen it yet but Im sure I will enjoy it because the Barrett Sisters are featured in it and they are my favorite. Poe, Janita, "Thomas A Dorsey, Gospel Pioneer", National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey, Living legends of Chicago gospel honor tradition, carry on family legacies, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Spirit of Dorsey's Songs Fills His Funeral Service, Living Legends of Chicago Gospel Honor Tradition, Carry on Family Legacies, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee List, Frequently Asked Questions: National Recording Registry, Complete National Recording Registry Listing: National Recording Registry, "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray AgainThomas Dorsey (1934)", "Peace in the Valley"Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys (1951), "Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey", "'It's Tight Like That' by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom", "'Future Blues' Willie Brown (Paramount 1930)", Biography by the Chicago Historical Society, "The Father of the Chicago Gospel Singing Movement", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_A._Dorsey&oldid=1150701726, Governor's Award for the Arts in Chicago, given 1985, "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again" (1934), added in 2007 recorded by Dorsey, written by John Whitfield Vaughan in 1922, "Peace In The Valley" by Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys (1951), added in 2006, Ferris, William, and Hart, Mary L., eds. [41] Horace Boyer attributes this popularity to "simple but beautiful melodies", unimposing harmonies, and room for improvisation within the music. He visited a faith healer, Bishop H.H. There was just something special happening when you walked into these churches and much of that power is on display in this. Thomas A. Dorsey was one of the gospel pioneers profiled in George Nierenberg's Say Amen, Somebody. And he would sit at the piano and play something and say, 'That's good stuff! Made by fans in Aotearoa New Zealand. There the family struggled economically. Ive been trying to get this DVD for a while Thanks, Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022. People are responding to these singers because it feels good! But Dorsey's conversion was fleeting; he was soon playing with the Whispering Syncopators, making a salary commensurate with professional theater musicians. In The Rise of Gospel Blues Harris noted, "Other than slave spirituals, the white Protestant hymns and shaped note music, Dorsey describes a type of 'moaning' as the only other style of religious song he recalls." To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. Harris even linked the blues soloist to the preacher, as each embodies the yearning of a people and manifests that yearning principally through improvisation. When asked about the inspiration for his ideas, Dozier replied: "I can't take credit for this stuffI'm only human and these things are the makings of God. From God, for God and His People: "Peace in the Valley" After the death of a close friend, Dorsey was inspired to write his first religious song with a blues influence, "If You See My Savior, Tell Him That You Saw Me".[10][c]. Born in rural Georgia, Dorsey grew up in a religious family but gained most of his musical experience playing blues at barrelhouses and parties in Atlanta. "You have this kind of new tradition of people singing and re-invigorating gospel music in a different sort of way," she says. There is joy, but there is also bittersweetness, gospel's popularity having waned by this film's release in 1982 since its broader cachet in the late forties and early fifties.
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