Thomas A. Dorsey
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Thomas Andrew Dorsey was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them go
Thomas Dorsey during his "Georgia Tom" blues period, late 1920s
Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, 1964, where Dorsey was music director for 50 years
Ma Rainey
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Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was an American blues singer and influential early-blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of souther
Thomas A. Dorsey
…Chicago and became a proficient composer and arranger of jazz and vaudeville just as blues was becoming popular. He gained fame accompanying blues belter Ma Rainey on tour and, billed as "Georgia Tom", joined with guitarist Tampa Red in a successful recording career. After a spiritual awakening, Dorsey began…
Rainey in 1917
Rainey and the band