This supernatural experience coupled with the death of a neighbor inspired Dorsey to write his first gospel blues song entitled “If You See My Savior, Tell Him That You Saw Me.” He was on his way to recovery.įrom 1928-1931, Dorsey tried to sell his gospel music to local churches only to discover they would not embrace the sacred music he infused with blues and jazz syncopations. 96) Then the pastor pulled a serpent from Dorsey’s throat.
During this second “God interruption,” he was in so much despair that he considered suicide.Īs a remedy, his sister-in-law invited him to her church and the pastor there told him, “Dorsey, the Lord has too much work for you to do to let you die.” (Harris, p. The conflict between Dorsey’s secular and spiritual strivings would not rest, causing him so much anguish and despair that he could no longer perform his duties in either realm. However, once he recuperated, he returned to the music that paid-the music of jazz and the blues. The doctors called it a nervous breakdown Dorsey called it a “God interruption.” His mother traveled to Chicago to nurse him back to health.ĭuring this time, his mother advised him to select the divine music over the devil’s. He could not practice, compose or perform. He had reached a point in his life when he could not produce the lyrics or the music he so easily created in the past. Thomas Dorsey Playing The Piano Musical Interruption Working around the clock, Dorsey had been swallowed up by the blues, both literally and figuratively. During the day he worked other jobs and continued to use any spare time he had to study music. Dorsey’s skills were in high demand at night. Dorsey was in Chicago in 1920 at the time when blues music was peaking. As a result, like Jonah, he, too, would be swallowed up. God had been calling Dorsey to the world of sacred music, and much like Jonah, Dorsey would resist the call. His talents also led him to a position as arranger for the Chicago Music Publishing, Inc and Vocalion Records. His mother often advised him to stop playing secular music and “serve the Lord.” He ignored her pleas and at twenty- one years old found himself playing for Ma Rainey, a noted blues performer. His childhood Christian teachings conflicted with his striving in secular world where he made a living for himself playing at rent parties and composing blues songs. Thomas’s love for music would take him outside the church to the jazz and blues halls of Chicago. There he learned to master piano playing. To further his musical career, Thomas Dorsey would eventually leave Atlanta and move to Chicago, an epicenter of jazz and blues. By age of eight, he learned to play the organ from his mother, but he learned the syncopations of blues and jazz when he visited the night clubs of Atlanta, where musicians taught him their techniques for playing the piano. In the gritty rooms of performance halls, Thomas received some of his most valued lessons.
The respect his father received from the congregants was not lost on Thomas. As all good preachers of his time, his father had a flair for the dramatic in his preaching, the use of “call and response” where the preacher makes a statement and the congregants respond. Watching his father preach was another lesson for a growing Thomas. People all around made much of Thomas because he was the preacher’s son. As the child of a preacher Thomas attended elementary school where he would learn academics and observe the benefits associated with being the child of a preacher. Dorsey attained his education from the classrooms of Villa Roca and Atlanta in Georgia. Together they would produce what would later become known as the father of gospel music. Backgroundĭorsey’s father was an itinerant preacher and his mother was the church organist. Dorsey, revolutionized sacred church music and ushered in a new genre: gospel. God did use Thomas Dorsey and by obeying the voice of God and utilizing his gifts, Thomas A. Thomas Dorsey was a man who found himself conflicted between the work of man and the work of God. Dorsey who was born in Villa Roca, Georgia on July 1, 1899, there would be no Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin, Whitney Houston or Kirk Franklin.
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