Listeners with savvy ears know you can hear a lot of “gospel” in jazz and rock and roll.

But what do we mean when we say “gospel music”?

Unlike other forms of roots music whose origins come from the distant mists of time, we know when and where the music we call gospel started.

Meet the highly underrated Thomas A. Dorsey.

Born in Georgia and settled as an adult in Chicago, he broke the cultural logjam between “church” and “honky-tonk” music and helped light a creative fire, we’re all still warming ourselves on today.

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube

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