Home » Search Center » Results: Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Results for "Sister Rosetta Tharpe"
Results for pages tagged "Sister Rosetta Tharpe"...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Born:
Arkansas native Rosetta Nubin Tharpe was one of gospel music’s first superstars, the first gospel performer to record for a major record label (Decca), and an early crossover from gospel to secular music. Rosetta Nubin was born in Cotton Plant (Woodruff County) on March 20, 1915, to Katie Bell Nubin, an evangelist, singer, and mandolin player for the Church of God in Christ. No mention is found of her father. Nubin began performing at age four, playing guitar and singing “Jesus is on the Main Line.” By age six, Nubin appeared regularly with her mother, performing a mix of gospel and secular music styles that would eventually make her famous. As a youth, she could sing and keep on pitch and hold a melody. Her vocal qualities, however, paled beside her abilities on the guitar"she played individual tones, melodies, and riffs instead of just strumming chords. This talent was all the more remarkable because, at the time, few African-American women played guitar. Nubin’s guitar style was influenced by her mother’s mandolin playing, pianist Arizona Dranes, and composer Florence Price, with whom Rosetta studied in Cotton Plant. She also sang the popular hymns of the day, including the compositions of bluesman turned gospel musician, Thomas A. Dorsey. Indeed, elements of blues are readily apparent in Nubin’s guitar styling. Later, Nubin’s music would be influenced by her work with jazz greats Lucky Milliner and Cab Calloway. Billed as the “singing and guitar-playing miracle,” Nubin was an added attraction at her mother’s church services. Both mother and daughter worked as members of an evangelistic troupe that worked throughout the South before arriving in Chicago in the late 1920s. There they became part of the growing Holiness movement, a late nineteenth-century offshoot of the Pentecostal denomination which, in the 1890s, led to the formation of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and other new religious groups.
Chris Barber Retires After 65 Years As A Top Bandleader And Pioneer Of Blues In Britain
Trombonist/bandleader Chris Barber has announced his permanent retirement from full-time music after leading his internationally popular band since 1954. His original small group initially played in jazz clubs but by the late 50s became an attraction in large concert halls throughout the UK and Europe. Chris Barber’s Jazz Band first toured the USA in 1959 after ...
Twilight World - Celebrating Marian McPartland, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Joni 75
by Mary Foster Conklin
The penultimate week of Women's History Month broadcast includes new releases from guitarist Mimi Fox, trombonists Naomi Moon Siegel and Natalie Cressman, pianist Lara Downes, the group Five Play led by drummer Sherrie Maricle and vocalists Sivan Arbel and Patrice Jegou, as well as a first listen to the live recording of Joni Mitchell''s 75th year ...
Lizz Wright: Grace
by James Nadal
In reaffirming the adage that you can go home again, Lizz Wright did just that. The songs on Grace reflect a homecoming to the singer's southern heritage--a personal rite of passage to glean inspiration and redefine her musical origins. She revisits her rural Georgia upbringing and Atlanta gospel roots, and finds comfort at her current home ...
Vanessa Collier: Meeting My Shadow
by James Nadal
During the golden age of rhythm and blues, the saxophonist, who often doubled on vocals, was the leader of the band, and the star of the show. Fast forward, and we find Vanessa Collier who is all of the above, and also a genuine quadruple threat. With an honored degree from Berklee, and having spent several ...
Live From Birmingham: Benjamin Booker, Grey Wolf & Blondie
by Martin Longley
Benjamin Booker O2 Academy September 6, 2014 Usually, audience demographics are spread closely in line with the age of a performer, but such things were not predictable at Stateside bluesman Benjamin Booker's gig. Although born in Virginia, this 25-year-old singer/guitarist now dwells deep down in New Orleans, adopting many ...
Alexis P. Suter Band at Gwynedd Mercy University
by Wade Luquet
Alexis P. Suter Band Women in the Blues Gwynedd Mercy University Gwynedd Valley, PA February 7, 2014 A frozen night in Pennsylvania was made immensely warmer when the Alexis P. Suter Band took the stage at Gwynedd Mercy University in suburban Philadelphia. The bass-voiced blues diva electrified the crowd ...
Whiz Kid Of Swing John Hammond This Week On Riverwalk Jazz
This week on Riverwalk Jazz, The Jim Cullum Jazz Band with guests Dick Hyman, Topsy Chapman, Harry Allen and others, explore the towering legacy of John Hammond, the man called “the most influential talent scout and music producer in history.” The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and ...
Maria Muldaur, Marcia Ball, Tracy Nelson and Del Ray at the Musical Instrument Museum
by Patricia Myers
Maria Muldaur, Marcia Ball, Tracy Nelson and Del Ray Musical Instrument Museum “Saluting the Pioneers of Women Who Rock" Phoenix, Arizona October 16, 2013 Four women musicians performed a joyous tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie, black pioneers in gospel and early blues styles that became the roots ...
Beyond The Blues
by Skip Heller
Back when I was a kid—I was born in 1965—the first comprehensive push for children's education about American Black History was on. Elementary school libraries suddenly included books about Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and George Washington Carver, and there were even a few books about jazz and blues for young readers.I wish I could ...
Giveaway
Days remaining: 1
