“Walk around, walk around, walk around, walk around,” the background singers chant, their a cappella harmonies chugging fire like a train bound for glory. Then the clouds open and a high tenor floats out of the sky. “I want,” it says, before swooping up into a falsetto yodel that seems to reach beyond heaven itself: […]
Tag: Thomas A. Dorsey
Posted inMusic
Chicago celebrates a century of Black gospel
Chicago has earned bragging rights as the birthplace of Black gospel music. It was here that gospel was first composed, sung, played, published, promoted, recorded, broadcast, and formalized—the last via a national convention with regional chapters. Migrants to Chicago from the south in particular found comfort in it, because it articulated their shared experiences as […]
Posted inMusic
Thirty-five moments that brought Chicago music to the world
The Year of Chicago Music has had less music in it than anybody anticipated, but we still have plenty to celebrate.
Posted inArts & Culture
See the Bronzeville church that is the real birthplace of gospel
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, one of more than 350 Open House Chicago sites this weekend, is significant musically and architecturally.
Posted inArts & Culture
Mahalia Jackson: Moving Thru the Light sticks to the Black Ensemble Theatre formula
The music’s fabulous, but the story’s thin.
Posted inMusic
The Secret History of Chicago Music: Georgia Tom Dorsey
He his biggest hit as raunchy bluesman Georgia Tom Dorsey, but today he’s known as “the father of gospel music.”