[Dixielandjazz] Sister Rosetta

[Harry Callaghan]

Rosetta has been making a real pain in the ass of herself...........she's
always trying to sell me her language course on CD.............OH NO, that
must be Rosetta Stone
HC
On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Steve Voce <stevevoce at virginmedia.com>wrote:

> The BBC 4 television channel is presenting a one hour documentary on Sister
> Rosetta Tharpe at 9 pm
> this Friday.
> This is a quote from a liner that I wrote for a recent Calligraph CD
> featuring Marie Knight and
> Humphrey Lyttelton.
> The attached photograph (if it works) was taken in April 1957 and has from
> l to r Ottilie Paterson,
> me and Sister Rosetta.
> Steve Voce.
>
>
>
> Although himself of secular
> persuasion Humph was particularly fond of what we used to call Black Gospel
> music. One of the first examples of the genre that we heard in Britain was
> on a
> Melodisc 78 by a devout lady called Sister Ernestine B Washington who
> recorded
> four songs with Bunk Johnson's band in 1946. Whilst Sister Ernestine's
> voice
> sounded like one of those machines used for slicing open pavements, she had
> an
> inspired swing that would have rocked the Statue of Liberty. Humph was very
> moved by the singer, and shaped one of her songs, Does Jesus Care?, into an
> instrumental for the band.
>
>  This became a feature
> for the leader's trumpet and for the delicate clarinet of Wally Fawkes. The
> band recorded it at one of the Parlophone sessions in 1950, a time when
> less
> liberal attitudes prevailed.
>
>  "What was it
> called?" asked the producer after the take was done. "Does Jesus Care?"
> said
> Humph.
>
>  "Good God!" cried
> the producer. "You can't have a title like that for a jazz record!"
>
>   After much arguing
> Humph agreed to rename the piece DJC Blues.
>
>  He was amused by the
> irony of the title that eventually appeared on the label -- "DJC Blues
> (Does
> Jesus Care?)".
>
>   Following on after
> Sister Ernestine, Brunswick began releasing tracks by the duo of Sister
> Rosetta
> Tharpe and Marie Knight. Described as "sanctified shouters" they were
> probably
> the most effective gospel partnership and certainly the closest to hot
> jazz.
> Full of fire, hard swing and conviction, their records became big sellers
> across the world.
>
>   Both were on the
> face of it devout gospel singers, but I was never completely sure about
> Sister Rosetta.
>
>  Established on the
> gospel scene in the Thirties she caused controversy and rage amongst her
> followers in the church when she sang and recorded jazz with Lucky
> Millinder,
> Cab Calloway and the swing bands. When she came over here during the
> Fifties
> she sang only gospel at Liverpool's cellar club The Cavern.
>
>   "You might wonder
> what a woman of God like me is doing in a place like this," she told the
> audience. "Well, Our Lord went down into the highways and bye-ways and if
> it
> was good enough for him it's good enough for me."
>
>  Afterwards I went
> back with her to her hotel room where she gave me a glass of brandy. As I
> left
> she gave me a hearty kiss on the cheek and said "Don't take any wooden
> nickels,
> darling!"   Her husband, who she referred
> to as Lazy Daddy, was unique amongst visiting Americans in having a
> complete
> grasp of the English licensing laws within half an hour of disembarking
> from
> the boat.
>
>  So Sister Rosetta
> was rather more worldly than your average spreader of The Word.
>
>
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Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
      - Vergil: The Aeneid Book II