Search - Sister Rosetta Tharpe :: Complete Recorded Works 1 (1938-41)

Sister R.Tharpe Invents Rock'n'Roll; Carn'gie Hall Gasps

Rick Levinson | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 06/25/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's a new 3-CD release from Vanguard Records called 'From Spirituals to Swing'. These were a legendary series of concerts in '38 and '39 at Carnegie Hall, introducing swing jazz hounds and society folk alike to the joys of American pop. John Hammond, Sr., who recorded everyone from Bessie Smith to Bob Dylan, put the programs together. It's got the A list of great American pop artists of the time: Count Basie, Benny Goodman. James P. Johnson, Albert Ammons, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry. Hammond wanted to have blues guitar genius Robert Johnson on the bill, but Johnson had been killed not long before. There's a short track, 'That's All', about a minute in length, in which this guitar intro shocks the audience into nervous laughter. The intro is a rapid-fire riff ending with a twang. The audience gasps, then laughs. Even the hardcore swing hipsters got all shook up. This is from a '38 concert. The fast, tough, sexy, gutbucket guitar riff is rock and roll, about 15 years before Elvis broke rock wide open. And it's played by an African-American woman, Rosetta Tharpe. Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A spirituals performer making her secular debut. So, if someone tells you that an African-American woman of the church invented rock and roll in about 1938, it's no lie. Buy the Sister Rosetta Tharpe audio CDs and find out for yourself."

Her acoustic guitar playing was jazz-oriented

Mr. Dixieland | 10/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an exciting performer and one of the first singers to bring the power of gospel music into the secular world, predating Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin by quite a few years. Unlike those two, Tharpe's main loyalty remained religious music, although her acoustic guitar playing was jazz-oriented, and she spent 1941-43 being featured regularly with Lucky Millinder's Orchestra before returning to work as a solo performer. This Document CD has Tharpe's first 26 recordings. The first 14 numbers are from her unaccompanied solo dates of 1938-41, and despite the similar message of most of the selections, they do hold one's interest due to her exciting delivery. Highlights include her earliest versions of "Rock Me," "That's All," "The Lonesome Road" and "This Train." Next up are eight songs cut with Millinder's big band: five studio numbers (including "Trouble in Mind," "Rock Daniel," "Shout Sister Shout" and "That's All") and three selections taken from the soundtracks of their filmed "Soundies." The CD wraps up with four solo performances from December 1, 1941, including a spirited "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and "Precious Lord Hold My Hand." This CD and Volume 2 (which finds the singer-guitarist finishing her Millinder period and resuming her solo career during 1943-44) are highly recommended and contain most of the finest work of Sister Rosetta Tharpe's career."

YOu may know the singer;let's discover the guitar player !

JEAN-MARIE JUIF | BESANCON France | 03/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not very fond of gospel music.This repertoire,sung by choirs always bored me.Even Mahalia Jackson doesn't interest me very much.But I love sacred songs sung and played by Louis Armstrong,or Fats Waller,or New Orleans Brass Bands;and I go crazy when I listen to these tunes sung by Aretha Franklin (her "gospel" album on Chess,recorded at her father's church when she was 14),or by Blind Willie Johnson,Blind Willie McTell,Reverend Gary Davis,Mississippi John Hurt,Fred McDowell.In fact,I love the blues,down-to-earth way of playing this music.Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973) belongs to this category of extraordinary singers and guitar players.Her very expressive voice reminds of Dinah Washington.And she was a very talented guitar player.Using a dobro,her playing offers reminiscences of Big Bill Broonzy and Bukka White.Sister Rosetta is alone on 21 of the 26 tracks of this CD (tracks 1-17 and 23-26).ON tracks 18-22,she sings with Lucky Millinder and his orchestra,a band which was very popular in NYC at the end of the thirties.Among the musicians,Panama Francis,Bill Doggett,Francis Webster,Eli Robinson,Buster Bailey,George Duvivier.THis first volume of Sister Rosetta Tharpe's complete recorded works offers a good opportunity to discover her incredibly swinging guitar playing,and her very beautiful and moving voice.In the following years,she was to record maybe the greatest masterpieces (with Blind Willie Johnson's tunes) in the gospel idiom,with the support of the immense Sammy Price on piano,and the young Kenny Clarke on drums.I think that the three volumes issuedby this label are equally important and interesting.In this one,there is a special country blues flavor that delights me.Hope you'll feel the same."