Nierenberg's documentary catches these performers in their homes and at two events: the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses and a tribute to Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith that Nierenberg helped put together. He retired from Pilgrim Baptist Church and the NCGCC soon after, though he continued to participate and perform when he was able. Mobilesite. 1982 Yoruba originated in West Africa and pre-dates Christianity. [36] He is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago. by George Allen. For myself. Thomas Dorsey wrote nearly one thousand gospel songs in his lifetime. When Muhammad's son, Warith Deen, assumes leadership after his father's death, he transforms the organization to follow the practice of orthodox Islam (Louis X. Farrakhan resurrected the ideology of the old Nation of Islam in 1978). : "The Secularization of Black Gospel Music" by Heilbut, Anthony in, This page was last edited on 19 April 2023, at 17:18. It is a film that has seemingly won the full trust of it's subjects, and thus said subjects barely acknowledge the camera. Harris even linked the blues soloist to the preacher, as each embodies the yearning of a people and manifests that yearning principally through improvisation. A beat is a beat whatever it is. But Dorsey's conversion was fleeting; he was soon playing with the Whispering Syncopators, making a salary commensurate with professional theater musicians. Apparently, this is a common phrase for a preacher to employ when looking to foster agreement. Prominent hymnal publishers began including his compositions in the late 1930s, ensuring his music would be sung in white churches. The episode follows Thomas Dorsey, also known as the "father of gospel," as he came to Chicago during the great migration and brought the city his gospel blues. Letterboxd Limited. Please consider upgrading to a Pro accountfor less than a couple bucks a month, youll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages (example), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads! He recalled visiting Damascus, Syria, where he was approached in a bathroom by a man who recognized his name. The only thing he cared about was saving souls through his music. In 1925, he married Nettie Harper, who Rainey hired as a wardrobe mistress despite her inexperience, so she could join Dorsey on tour. The tune he wrote, Take My Hand, Precious Lord, came, he says, direct from God. And that's how he came to capture his subjects accurately, says Dr. Rhea Combs. He married his sweetheart, Nettie Harper. Loved it. Indeed, in the late 1920s, he would begin work with one of the great gospel soloists of all time, Mahalia Jackson. Film data from TMDb. Thomas A. Dorsey was one of the gospel pioneers profiled in George Nierenberg's Say Amen, Somebody. I don't go and take it just straight; I got to put something in it to get over. In the film, he tells the story of how the death of his wife and their newborn child led him to church music. [23] Faced with rapid changes, old-line church members who preferred formal, more sedate music programs objected, leading to conflicts in and between Chicago's black churches. Turner encouraged his followers to find God from within. Now you're not singing blues; you're singing gospel, good news song, singing about the Creator; but it's the same feeling, a grasping of the heart." Courtesy Milestone Films The cathartic nature of gospel music became integral to the black experience in the Great Migration, when hundreds of thousands of black Southerners moved to Northern cities like Detroit, Washington, D.C., and especially Chicago between 1919 and 1970. And he would sit at the piano and play something and say, 'That's good stuff! TMDb Thomas Andrew Dorsey, (born July 1, 1899, Villa Rica, Ga., U.S.died Jan. 23, 1993, Chicago, Ill.), American songwriter, singer, and pianist whose many up-tempo blues arrangements of gospel music hymns earned him the title of "Father of Gospel Music." Dorsey was the son of a revivalist preacher. hide caption. Thomas A. Dorsey continue to be a giant in gospel music, and after his death his music is still alive and well. It is completely un-invasive, and you get the sense that if the camera wasn't present at all, these people would be acting exactly the same. ABOUT THE EPISODE, Faith sustained black families through the oppression of segregation in the 1940s and 1950s. ", Wade In The Water Ep. "Amen" is a response a congregation offers readily and without hesitation after something agreeable and rousing. Dorsey's mother took work as a domestic servant; his father curtailed his pastoring and worked as a laborer. His "gospel music" met so much resistance from pastors who considered it "devil's music," that he found it easier to play the blues straight. Check out Charles Pike in the extras. A Moment with Thomas Dorsey, from the Movie Say Amen, Somebody - YouTube from The Movie, Say Amen Somebody from The Movie, Say Amen Somebody AboutPressCopyrightContact. Sources. In the film, Mother Smith talks about her husband's resistance to her traveling; Delois Barrett Campbell's husband objects, too. It's a look behind the scenes at a world few (particularly white) viewers get to see unless it appears on a religious TV show if you like in a town with a black population. Thomas A. Dorsey Net Worth His best-known composition, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Soon he began selling concessions there, and aspiring to join the theater band, honed his musical skills on his family's organ and a relative's piano, picking out melodies that he had heard and practicing long hours. The manager of a gospel quartet active in the 1930s stated that songs written by Dorsey and other songwriters copying him spread so far in such a short time that they were called "dorseys". In 1932 however, just as Dorsey co-founded the Gospel Choral Union of Chicago eventually renamed the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC), his wife Nettie died in childbirth, then 24 hours later, their son. People are saying amen because it feels good! of American Music History. [33][50][51], Despite racial segregation in churches and the music industry, Dorsey's music had widespread crossover appeal. 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. Thomas Dorsey. 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. Thomas Andrew Dorsey, singer, composer, born Villa Rica Georgia 1 July 1899, died Chicago 23 January 1993. . Nierenberg, a 28-year-old Jewish man, knew almost nothing about gospel before he started Say Amen, Somebody; he spent a year in black churches in New York, Chicago and St. Louis, listening to the music, getting to know the performers and earning their trust before he began filming. I love this DVD it is full of history and over the top singing. Through their work, Dorsey & Williams create new expressions of faith. Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He studied informally with musicians at the theater and local dance bands, always playing blues. Obliging, Dorsey began, but the multinational group took over: "And they knew it in Damascus, too. "When I saw the film after it was restored, it felt like a new film completely," he says. The reporter found a collector so consumed by the need to. His emphasis on a black nationalist philosophy alienated him from the mainstream, but led to a greater role for the black church in African-American culture. Played for parties and bordellos in Atlanta; became music director of New Hope Baptist Church, Chicago; performed with the Whispering Syncopators, early 1920s; as "Georgia Tom," debuted, with Ma Rainey, at Grand Theater, Chicago, 1924; composed "It's Tight Like That," 1928, and "Precious Lord," 1931; became music director of Pilgrim Baptist Church, Chicago, 1932; with blues singer Sallie Martin, formed National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, 1932; became minister, 1960s; featured in BBC documentary, 1976; with gospel singer Willie Mae Ford Smith, featured in documentary Say Amen Somebody, 1984. 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. Thomas A. Dorsey was one of the gospel pioneers profiled in George Nierenberg's Say Amen, Somebody.The documentary was originally released in 1982, and has been remastered and re-released. Even with a family he remained active in music, attending multiple engagements each year. Director: George T. Nierenberg | Stars: Willie May Ford Smith, Thomas A. Dorsey, Sallie Martin, Delois Barrett Campbell. Men groaned who had given their week's pay to a woman who betrayed her promises. As Dorsey is remembered as the father of gospel music, other honorifics came from his choirs: Sallie Martin, considered the mother of gospel (although Willie Mae Ford Smith, also a Dorsey associate, has also been called this), Mahalia Jackson, the queen of gospel, and James Cleveland, often named the king of gospel. Was so happy to see it available on DVD at a price I could afford. In Chicago, Thomas Dorsey, a pianist with blues singer Ma Rainey, invents gospel music. And Dorsey's own Pilgrim Baptist Church choir performed at the 1933 World's Fair. Composer, arranger, pianist. At their debut, Frye strutted up and down the aisles and sang back and forth with the chorus, and at one point Dorsey jumped up from the piano stool in excitement and stood as he played. Chicago ' s Blues Syncopator. I first encountered it as an LP from the documentary and have enjoyed it ever since. Dorsey found appeal in the freedom and potential that came with improvising within established hymns, allowing singers and musicians to infuse more emotion particularly joy and elation into their performances to move congregations. He infused joy and optimism in his written music as he directed his choirs to do perform with uplifting fervor as they sang. For the big band trombonist and bandleader, see, Thomas Dorsey during his "Georgia Tom" blues period, late 1920s, Accounts of how many children the Dorseys had depend on the source. He is a truly mesmerizing figure, the stuff of which legends are made. They pray for their ancestors and seek to heal the country's wounds of slavery through prayer vigils at historical slave sites. Due to the spontaneous nature of the events Dorsey worked, he became proficient at improvising, and along the way, learned to read musical notation. Dorsey died of Alzheimer's disease on January 23, 1993. "Dedication: Thomas Dorsey Dedication Day". Furthermore, when Thomas' father traveled to preach at other churches, Thomas and his mother attended a church that practiced shape note singing; their harmonizing in particular making a deep impression on him. Mr. Dorsey's work reached a wider audience in 1983 through the documentary film, "Say Amen, Somebody," and in 1992, he was honored with the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences National . [36] In Living Blues, Jim O'Neal compares Dorsey in gospel to W. C. Handy, who was the first and most influential blues composer, "with the notable difference that Dorsey developed his tradition from within, rather than 'discovering' it from an outsider's vantage point". The documentary shows the joy of gospel music in an age of cynicism. He was known as the whispering piano player, called to perform at after-hours parties where the pianist had to play quietly enough to avoid drawing police attention. Reflection There is no word more precious than peace, nor a more joyous state of being for a Christian, than to know God's peace. "You have the Barrett Sisters; you have the O'Neal Twins. It is perhaps Dorsey's greatest achievement that he was able to overcome this opposition and thus preserve important aspects of black musical expression as it had existed in both the spiritual and secular realms. She appeared in the 1961 film The Ladies Man, 1938 film You Can't Take It with You and toured with Bob Hope during and after World War II. 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. Six years later, he teamed with Mahalia Jackson, and the team ushered in what was known as the Golden Age of Gospel Music. Dorsey himself became known as the father of gospel music. Aside from the lyrics, he saw no real distinction between blues and church music, and viewed songs as a supplement to spoken word preaching. "[2], Aside from his prodigious songwriting, Dorsey's influence in the gospel blues movement brought about change both for individuals in the black community and communities as a whole.