Hi Steve,
Do you remember what outlet it aired on? I wasn't aware of too much
additional material on Dorsey.
--Scott D. Smith
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Smolian" <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Gospel preservation
Saw a piece of a Dorsey interview this past weekend on TV, part of a
"Where
Gospel Came From" type series (6 episodes.)
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Smith" <SDSmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Gospel preservation
> Which reminds me...buried somewhere deep in the Disney archives is one
of
> the last filmed interviews done with Thomas J. Dorsey (the father of
> gospel
> music), which we shot for a documentary called "Chicago on the Good
Foot"
> back in the early eighties. In addition, the film also contained
material
> with Willie Dixon (filmed in his studio), Junior Wells, Big Twist,
Pinetop
> Perkins, Koko Taylor...the list goes on. Would love to get my hands
> back
> on
> that material again.
>
> I'm sure no one at Disney even knows it exists.
>
>
> Scott Smith
>
> Chicago Audio Works, Inc.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Matthew Barton" <mbarton@xxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 7:58 AM
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Gospel preservation
>
>
>> From today's New York Times--a familiar tune.
>>
>> OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
>> Gospel's Got the Blues
>> By ROBERT DARDEN
>>
>> Published: February 15, 2005
>>
>>
>> Waco, Tex.
>>
>> AT the Grammy awards on Sunday, viewers saw the marriage of old-time
> gospel
>> and new: the classic artists Mavis Staples and the Blind Boys of
Alabama
>> performed a medley with a young musician, Kanye West, that included
>> Mr.
>> West's gospel-tinged hip-hop song, "Jesus Walks."
>>
>> Blessed with a rock-solid foundation, contemporary gospel is thriving.
In
>> the past decade, new releases have been selling copies in the
millions -
>> a
>> major milestone in a musical genre that emerged in the 1930's, when
>> the
>> songwriter Thomas Dorsey set the words of Sunday morning to the music
of
>> Saturday night. But the early gospel may soon be lost forever.
>> Although
>> albums by the legendary Mahalia Jackson are easy to find on CD, of the
>> thousands of tracks recorded by less known greats like Clara Ward, the
>> Sensational Nightingales, the Roberta Martin Singers, Sallie Martin,
the
>> Georgia Peach and the Spirit of Memphis, only a few are available.
>>
>> Why is this music so difficult to find, or even hear, today? Although
> small
>> gospel labels still release classics, and reissue labels like Document
>> Records and Collectables have repackaged some Golden Age music, these
>> companies don't have the wide distribution of the major labels and
mostly
>> depend on mail and Internet orders. In fact, catalogs of early gospel
>> labels are mostly owned by the large corporations that dominate the
music
>> industry. For the most part, these companies have released only a few
>> classic albums on compact disc.
>>
>> For an unabashed fan like me, it's a painful situation. I realize that
no
>> corporation is going to put out albums just to please a few
aficionados,
>> but they may not realize that many people want to hear this music.
>> Each
>> time I do a radio interview and play a classic gospel song, the phone
> lines
>> immediately light up. The callers need to discuss what this music has
> meant
>> to them. They invariably ask where they can buy it and most of the
>> time
I
>> have to tell them they can't.
>>
>> Classic gospel can experience the same success that major-label
reissues
> of
>> jazz and blues have enjoyed in the last two decades. It was once
>> difficult
>> to find the jazz masters, but reissues of John Coltrane, Charlie
>> Parker
> and
>> dozens of others have brought labels renewed sales, a new audience and
>> critical acclaim. These reissues came about because of the aggressive
>> lobbying by jazz lovers and the foresight of a few label executives.
The
>> same can happen with early gospel.
>>
>> Music historians should also get involved: major record labels can
>> form
>> alliances with archivists like the Smithsonian, Rounder Records and
>> the
>> Library of Congress. Each day, irreplaceable master tapes deteriorate,
>> get
>> lost, or are simply tossed out.
>>
>> It would be more than a cultural disaster to forever lose this music.
It
>> would be a sin.
>>
>>
>> Robert Darden, an assistant professor of English at Baylor University,
is
>> the author of "People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music."
>>
>
>
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