Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Tharpe had begun her guitar and singing career as a young child tagging along behind her mother who was a traveling evangelist and gospel singer. Like other musicians who had difficulty reconciling religion with secular music, Tharpe had the same trouble, but blended the twain, not without controversy nevertheless.    Rosetta made her first recordings in 1938 per DAHR toward Decca 2243 (US) and Brunswick 02737 (UK): 'The Lonesome Road' / 'Rock Me'. 'Rock Me' was her first recording on 31 October 1938 along with three others including 'That's All', 'My Man and I' and 'The Lonesome Road'. 'That's All' was issued on Decca 2503 with 'My Man and I' flip side. The same year she released her first recordings Tharpe was hired by Cab Calloway to perform at the Cotton Club [Wikipedia] in Harlem. On 10 January 1939 Tharpe recorded further titles like 'I Looked Down the Line' / 'God Don't Like It' toward Decca 2325, as well as 'Beams of Heaven' and 'Savior Don't Pass Me By'. She issued her first album in 1939 titled 'The Lonesome Road'. One can already hear her seeding rock and roll in her early titles, particularly with boogie woogie pianist, Albert Ammons, below.

''Shout, Sister, Shout'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra

5 Sep 1941 in NYC   Matrix 69707   Decca 18386 / 48057

Trumpet: Nelson Bryant / Archie Johnson / William "Chieftie" Scott

Trombone: Floyd Brady / Edward Morant / George Stevenson

Alto sax: Ted Barnett / George James

Tenor sax: Stafford "Pazzuza" Simon   Baritone sax: Ernest Purce

Piano: Bill Doggett   Guitar: Trevor Bacon

Bass: Abe Bolar   Drums: Dave "Panama" Francis

Composition: Lucky Millinder / Bill Doggett

''Four Or Five Times'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra

Aug 1941 in NYC   Soundie directed by John Primi   Released 6 Dec 1941

Music: Byron Gay   Lyrics: Marco H. Hellman

IMDb

''I Want a Tall Skinny Papa'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra

18 Feb 1942 in NYC   Matrix 70345   Decca 18386

Trumpet: Nelson Bryant / Archie Johnson / Freddy Webster

Trombone: Joe Britton / Edward Morant / George Stevenson

Alto sax: Billy Bowen / George James

Tenor sax: Stafford "Pazzuza" Simon   Baritone sax: Ernest Purce

Piano: Clyde Hart   Guitar: Trevor Bacon

Bass: George Duvivier   Drums: Dave "Panama" Francis

Composition: Lucky Millinder / Stafford Simon

Tharpe began issuing titles which sounded even more like rock and roll in the early forties. Albeit she was religiously sincere and would have preferred to perform strictly gospel music, success upon need of a paycheck found her in a compromised "situation" in which the performance of secular music, or gospel amidst a secular atmosphere, got her ostracized by some of the religious community.

''Nobody Knows, Nobody Cares'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe

11 Sep 1944 in NYC   Matrix 72377   Decca 48024

Composition: Tharpe

''Strange Things Happening Every Day'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w the Sam Price Trio

26 Sep 1944 in NYC   Matrix 72398   Decca 8669 / 48009

#2 on Billboard in R&B

Piano: Price   Bass: Abe Bolar   Drums: Harold West

Composition: Traditional

''Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w the Sam Price Trio

26 Sep 1944 in NYC   Matrix 72398   Decca 8669 / 48009

#6 on Billboard

Piano: Price   Bass: Pops Foster   Drums: Wally Bishop   Vocal: Marie Knight

Composition: Traditional

''Precious Memories'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w the Sam Price Trio

26 Sep 1944 in NYC   Matrix 72398   Decca 8669 / 48009

#13 on Billboard

Piano: Price   Bass: Pops Foster   Drums: Wally Bishop   Vocal: Marie Knight

Composition: John Braselton Fillmore Wright   1925

''Silent Night'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe w the James Roots Quartet

26 Sep 1944 in NYC   Matrix 72398   Decca 8669 / 48009

#6 on Billboard in R&B

Piano: Roots   Guitar: Thomas "Grady" Martin

Bass: Billy Taylor Sr.   Drums: Herbert (Herb) Cowans

Music: Franz Xaver Gruber   Lyrics: Joseph Mohr   Austria 1818

''Never Alone'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe

July 1956   From the album "Gospel Train' on Mercury MG-20201 issued Dec 1956

Composition: Ludie D. Pickett   1897

Discogs

''I'm Gonna Wait Until My Change Come'   Sister Rosetta Tharpe   Television

7 July 1960   First Antibes Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival (Jazz à Juan)

Sims-Wheeler Vintage Jazz Band

Trumpet: Ken Sims   Clarinet: Ian Wheeler

Possibly:

Trombone: Mac Duncan   Bass: Geoff King   Drums: Jimmy Garforth

Composition: Traditional

''Didn't It Rain?' / 'Trouble In Mind'  Sister Rosetta Tharpe   Television

7 May 1964 in Manchester, England   'Blues and Gospel Train' on Granada TV

'Didn't It Rain?': Traditional spiritual about Noah's flood

Pub by Henry Thacker Burleigh 1919

'Trouble In Mind': Richard M. Jones   1924

British Broadcasting Corporation

''Up Above My Head' / 'God Has Been So Good to Me'  Sister Rosetta Tharpe   Television

7 May 1964 in Manchester, England   'Blues and Gospel Train' on Granada TV

Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Choir

'Up Above My Head': Traditional

'God Has Been So Good To Me': Traditional

''Down By the Riverside'  Sister Rosetta Tharpe   Television

25 July 1964   Granada TV

Composition: Traditional spiritual probably prior to the Civil War

Tom Lord traces Tharpe to as late as May 1969 in Philadelphia for titles like 'I Shall Not Be Moved' and 'That's All' (last track of that session). A stroke in 1970 put an end to Tharpe's performing career, after which she had to have a leg amputated due to diabetes. She died in Philadelphia on October 9, 1973. In 1998 Frémeaux & Associés began issuing what would become seven volumes of 'Complete Sister Rosetta Tharpe' covering the years 1938 to 1961 [Discogs] although Lord has her final tracks in 1969 included in that. The seventh volume includes tracks documented with Dizzy Gillespie in January 1960.