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. [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". [28] Ministers who would not have considered changing their music programs just a few years before became more open to new ideas. "Dedication: Thomas Dorsey Dedication Day". [e] His grief prompted him to write one of his most famous and enduring compositions, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord". From then on, Dorsey vowed to do the Lord's work. Anthony Heilbut writes that "the few days following his death, 'Precious Lord' seemed the truest song in America, the last poignant cry of nonviolence before a night of storm that shows no sign of ending". The Dorsey family relocated from rural Villa Rica, GA to Atlanta in 1908. 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. I have just come out of a tough sometimes violent marriage and on one of my down days heard this on the radio and it just struck a chord with me I guessso much so that I had to find out more about it. Documentary about the American gospel music scene, focusing on two of the movement's pioneering forces, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith. Multiple Celebrations Honor The Father Of Gospel Music, Professor ", So, in this recently restored film -- by Milestone Films with support from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Academy Film Archive, and the Criterion Collection --. As beautifully affecting and uplifting as nearly any narrative tale could be, but with a depressing undercurrent as harrowing as those final minutes of THE IRISHMAN. Cecil Williams and Thomas A. Dorsey, born a generation apart, both seeking to bring the reality of the streets into the church. IMDb Choir members were encouraged to be physically active while singing, rocking and swaying with the music. Dorsey returned to Chicago in 1921, and his uncle encouraged him to attend the National Baptist Convention. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of serviceapply. Mobilesite. Their collaboration would continue over the years as his fame spread, Martin often accompanying him on his tours around the country. Thomas A. Dorsey, Barrett Sisters, Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, O'Neal Twins, Nierenberg, George T., Zella Jackson Price, Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023. Ma Rainey's Pianist Thomas Dorsey "Say Amen, Somebody" (1982) - YouTube 0:00 / 1:30 Ma Rainey's Pianist Thomas Dorsey "Say Amen, Somebody" (1982) 3,888 views Feb 1, 2021 Thomas A.. Documentaries really don't get much better than this. Thomas A. Dorsey was one of the gospel pioneers profiled in George Nierenberg's Say Amen, Somebody. 2015 NHD Thomas A Dorsey Documentary - by Adero Brooks Easter Flowers for Composer and Musician Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father He left school early and was soon hanging around theaters and dance halls. He was part of the Great Migration north. Dorsey and Martin established a publishing company called Dorsey House of Music, the first black-owned gospel publishing house in the U.S.[18][19] His sheet music sold so well, according to Heilbut, it supplanted the first book of compiled songs for black churches, W. M. Nix's Gospel Pearls, and the family Bible in black households. It's like a family business, and watching the different generations striving for significance was quite fascinating. After a spiritual awakening, Dorsey began concentrating on writing and arranging religious music. ABOUT THE EPISODE. (Poe, Janita, "Thomas A Dorsey, Gospel Pioneer". "And ladies and gentlemen, believe it or not, I started singing right then and there: 'Precious Lord, take my hand,' " Dorsey continues, launching into song at the end of his story. The biggest hinderance to the next thing God wants to do is the last thing God did. 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. Dorsey was a popular blues pianist and arranger he was best known as Ma Rainey's band leader, until he took the blues and adapted it to sacred music. This freed the choir members' hands to clap, and he knew anyway that most of the chorus singers in the early 1930s were unable to read music. Villa Rica's rural location allowed Dorsey to hear slave spirituals, and "moaning" a style of singing marked by elongated notes and embellishments widespread among Southern black people alongside the Protestant hymns his father favored. The outcome of this is unknown other than the clinic stating they would no longer serve black patients. 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. ", Pop craftsman Paul Simon talks about writing the now gospel standard Bridge Over Troubled Water. The whole phrase like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down, the words and the melody, all of that came [snaps fingers] like that., Hear more about "Take My Hand, Precious Lord". He studied informally with musicians at the theater and local dance bands, always playing blues. 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. He gained fame accompanying blues belter Ma Rainey on tour and, billed as "Georgia Tom", joined with guitarist Tampa Red in a successful recording career. ABOUT THE EPISODE, "Inheritors of the Faith" follows those who seek spiritual fulfillment outside of Christianity. 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. Dorsey's background convinced him that the same experiences that had engendered secular blues should also inform church music. In time, they discover that the true wounds lie within themselves. Dorsey also recorded under the names George Ramsey, Memphis Jim, Memphis Mose, Railroad Bill, Smokehouse Charley, Texas Tommy, and others. While attending a church service with his sister-in-law, Dorsey claimed the minister who prayed over him pulled a live serpent from his throat, prompting his immediate recovery. Dorsey, who was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. 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 . I hope others will take the time to research the real facts and give Thomas A. Dorsey credit for his great Gospel works. The Thomas A. Dorsey Birthplace and Gospel Heritage Festival, now in its 25th year celebrates the Dorsey legacy with 3 days of music in the city that is credited with being the birth home of Coca Cola and the Father of Gospel Music. I realize the color barrier in the early days and say it's a shame folks couldn't understand him better.His music has helped me along in tough times and I appreciate all he has done in the world of gospel music. He died in 1993. In terms of the personalities that occupy the film, their presence is remarkable. He is a truly mesmerizing figure, the stuff of which legends are made. His song "Peace in the Valley", written in 1937 originally for Mahalia Jackson, was recorded by, among others, Red Foley in 1951, and Elvis Presley in 1957, selling more than a million copies each. It left me wanting more. Dorsey and Ebenezer's music director Theodore Frye trained the new chorus to deliver his songs with a gospel blues sound: lively, joyous theatrical performances with embellished and elongated notes accentuated with rhythmic clapping and shouts. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, including "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" and "Peace in the Valley". We feel the purity of expression here and see very little of the commercial trappings we see in so much of organized religion. "It's just a feeling within; you can't help yourself," Smith says in the film, describing the experience of singing gospel. He married his sweetheart, Nettie Harper. 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." There is no sense of social performance outside of what is naturally there. I feel I've thoroughly blessed over the years with an abundance of songs and materialThere is definitely God behind this thing that I do. Including all the embellishments in gospel blues would make the notation prohibitively complicated. Warts and politics. He also toured extensively with Mahalia Jackson in the 1940s, who was by this time the preeminent gospel singer in the world. 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. How old are his children, and where are they living now? As Dorsey related in The Rise of Gospel Blues: "My inner-being was thrilled. Say Amen, Somebody (1982) - IMDb She was asked to sing it twice more; the response was so enthusiastic that Dorsey sold 4,000 print copies of his song. More at Under the name "Georgia Tom". [f], Chapters of the NCGCC opened in St. Louis and Cleveland. Nierenberg centered his film around two pioneering gospel artists, Rev. Director George T. Nierenberg Stars Willie Mae Ford Smith Smith Thomas A. Dorsey Sallie Martin See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist hide caption. Ma Rainey's listeners swayed, rocked, moaned and groaned with her. It is the story of two sourthern migrants, Rev. Dorsey served as the music director at Chicago's Pilgrim Baptist Church for 50 years, introducing musical improvisation and encouraging personal elements of participation such as clapping, stomping, and shouting in churches when these were widely condemned as unrefined and common. Peter Levinson tells Linda Wertheimer about his biography. It may seem out of place for a documentary about gospel music, especially to a more modern audience. [3][a], Religion and music were at the center of the Dorseys' lives, and young Thomas was exposed to a variety of musical styles in his early childhood. 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. A Moment with Thomas Dorsey, from the Movie Say Amen, Somebody Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. Loved it. So spiritual and uplifting! 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. The pressures of touring overwhelmed him, and Dorsey considered suicide. Status is huge in this world. By far the best documentary Ive seen! eval(decodeURIComponent('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%5c%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%4d%69%6b%65%20%57%68%69%74%66%69%65%6c%64%20%26%6c%74%3b%64%75%6c%63%69%6d%65%72%64%75%64%65%40%79%61%68%6f%6f%2e%63%6f%6d%26%67%74%3b%5c%22%3e%4d%69%6b%65%20%57%68%69%74%66%69%65%6c%64%3c%5c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')). [34] After writing to his sister that he was lonely and wanted to be around children, she sent Dorsey's niece Lena McLin to live with him. His career continued to flourish; he would eventually compose over 3,000 songs. Newly restored and re-released. In 1923, he became the pianist and leader of the Wild Cats Jazz Band accompanying Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, a charismatic and bawdy blues shouter who sang about lost love and hard times. He returned to blues, recording "It's Tight Like That" with guitarist Hudson "Tampa Red" Whittaker despite his misgivings over the suggestive lyrics. McLin remembered that her uncle was "soft-spoken, not loud at all, and very well dressed he always had a shirt and a tie and a suit, and he was always elegant, very mannerly, very nice. There was just something special happening when you walked into these churches and much of that power is on display in this. of American Music History. by George Nelson Allen (1852). Pun. Less than a year later, however, Dorsey was back in the secular blues business full-time. Dorsey, one of five children, was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, but soon moved with his family to Atlanta. It tells the stories of Sojourner Truth and Denmark Vesey. Since its debut it has been translated into 50 languages. Thankfully enough folks saw the light. Dorsey soon began composing sacred songs and took a job as director of music at New Hope Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side, where he described the congregation's singing of spirituals "like down home," noting that the congregants also clapped to his music. The tune he wrote, Take My Hand, Precious Lord, came, he says, direct from God. Available as a boxed vhs set or as a DVD for $199.95. Deemed the " father of gospel music, " Thomas Dorsey emerged, during the early 1930s, as the creator of an African American religious music style known as the gospel blues an idiom . Dorsey was the first black person to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In the film, Mother Smith talks about her husband's resistance to her traveling; Delois Barrett Campbell's husband objects, too. 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. Just a genuine soul of a man.
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