Now to follow up and continue where I left off from my initial post.I will attempt to give a look at how 20th/21rst century black gospel developed:

From the 17th century to 19th century the vast majority of sacred music in the United States was a cappella--both among whites and blacks.While there was some diversity of style in this a cappella religious music, much of the singing shared a raw folk quality and often used the pentatonic five note scale (which was common to both the African and British heritage that came to the States).Sometimes the music was modal or in a minor key.

But one of the exceptions to the rule, came with the 19th Century arrival of the "gospel song" or "gospel hymn".The music began as a urban white hymn style in the nothern States, which had composed melodies, was typically played on musical instruments and was always diatonic and in a major key.This was the type of hymn music that the popular Fanny J. Crosby wrote with such songs as "Blessed Assurance" and "To God Be The Glory", and so often played on piano and organ.It took some of it's inspiration from the earlier camp meeting/revival song tradition (that a cappella mingling of African and British derived folk that originated in racialy mixed services).But it also drew heavily from 19th century secular music sources--especialy "parlour music" and sentimental songs, as well as marching tunes.These particular secular influences gave the music a more polished or "correct" European quality that suggest a link to the "central old European zone" (eg. southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, northern Italy, etc).European hymn melodies and church songs of a similar quality like those of Martin Luther (German) or "Silent Night" (melody written by an Austrian) would easily mix into the repertoire of churches who did gospel hymns.

Around the turn of the 2Oth century, black Americans began to take the white gospel hymn and blend it with sounds derived from the black spiritual (a typically a cappella music that often had a blues or bluesy quality built into it).This created what is known as the "black gospel hymn", which is said to have originated with Charles A. Tindley.(Tindley published his first song collection in 1901 and composed the popular "Stand By Me" in 1905).Tindley originated or helped to pioneer this first style of black gospel (in the more modern use of the term) and this was long before Thomas A. Dorsey was given the title of "father of gospel".

A second wave of black gospel came as the early black gospel hymn form began to mix with such popular sounds as ragtime, jazz, blues, and boogie woogie, or with the Pentecostal/Holiness survivals of "slave sounds"--the shouts and screams of the highly African ring shout, the rhythmic preaching or the old religious bluesy chanting.(These kind of sounds would also continue in some other black churches).

Thomas A. Dorsey was of course one of the very important and influential figures in this second wave of black gospel.He created the style he is know for by drawing on the black gospel hymn of Charles A. Tindley (whom he always acknowleged his dept to) and mixing it up with his background in blues/jazz and sounds from black spirituals (already an ingredient of Tindley's sound).By the time he wrote his first sacred song of the "blues gospel" variety it was 1928.Around this same period and before there were others who were coming up with a similar fushion as Doresy.One of those was Mahalia Jackson who is said to have come to her fully formed style by her mid teens (in the late 1920's), a style that mixed the black gospel she heard in church (both of her Baptist upbringing and that of the Sanctified church) with the blues/jazz of singers like Ma Rainee and Bessie Smith.Later in the 30's she would begin her recording career, a repertoire that would include both gospel songs of Dorsey, black spirituals and the Austrian born melody of Silent Night.Occassionaly the od song of hers would have some barbershop/quartet type harmoies in the background.

Another important and influential figure (though much less known) is a woman by the name of Arizona Dranes.She helped to shape the likes of future gospel singers like Clara Ward and Sister Rosetta Tharpe).Coming from a Pentecostal denomination called the Church Of God In Christ, she began performing her brand of gospel in the 20's and recorded from 1926 to 1928.As a singer and pianist her style drew very heavily on ragtime or a kind of boogie woogie/ragtime fushion, which was mixed up with a lively type of gospel.A kind of gospel sound that has echos of the old white gospel hymns--but done in a shouting voice and occassionaly screaming.Not only can boogie woogie be detected in atleast some of her tracks (a type of blues related music), but the blues can be heard in the singing at times.An example of a blusy singing track is "Bye and bye Were Going To See the King".She was recording bluesy gospel before Dorsey.And some of her songs were recorded with choir or other singers (including some quartet/barbershop type harmonies on atleast one track).

Continued tommorro with what I call "the third stream of black gospel": The black gospel quartet.It's getting to late.