Rock Roots 4:
Gospel, Tin Pan Alley,
and the “Latin tinge”
Gospel
• Combination of blues + spirituals +
European hymns
• Emerges as separate genre (category of
music) c. 1930
• First songs in genre by Thomas A. Dorsey,
aka Georgia Tom (“It’s Tight Like That)
Gospel Quartets
• Gospel songs often performed by small
ensembles
• Quartets developed unique sound
– a capella (unaccompanied) singing
– one person sings melody
– others accompany by
• imitating instruments
• vocalizing with ooohs, shoo-bops, or other sounds
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet Golden Gate Gospel Train
• backing vocalists imitate train - “vocal
percussion”
• swinging, eight-beat feel
• riff-based accompaniment
• highly syncopated
• call and response between lead and backing
vocals
Soul Stirrers, Jesus I’ll Never
Forget
• More pop music influence
• Rhythmic freedom of vocal line
– Flourishes = melismas = more than one
note per syllable of text
– Signature of gospel style
• Instrumental accompaniment - voice and
piano
• Clear blues influence
Mahalia Jackson
• Vocal style clearly influenced by blues
• Blue notes, pentatonic (five-note) scale, and
Western harmonies
• Accompanying instruments
– electric keyboard
– Hammond organ - typical “gospel sound”
• Ex. Move On Up A Little Higher
Folk Music
• Old-time, mountain music doesn’t catch on
commercially in same way
• Re-emerges as folk music
• Begins early 1930s
Rise of folk music due to:
• Public works project in Depression
• John Lomax and son Alan record AfricanAmercian folk songs in south
• Union building activities, labor rallies in
NYC provide audience
Woody Guthrie
• Combined country music, old-time music,
pop songs, cowboy songs into new musical
style
• Topical lyrics in pop music framework
• Plain singing style
Tin Pan Alley
• New York center of music publishing
business (near 28th St.) beginning c. 1880s
• Professional songwriters employed in
“factories” to turn out songs
Tin Pan Alley
• Initially songs in the mold of Stephen Foster
hits (Old Folks at Home, Camptown Races)
• Incorporated whatever styles rose to
popularity - vaudeville, Broadway reviews,
jazz, ragtime, blues, etc.
Popular Song to 1950
• gently flowing, “conversational” melodies
• melody + accompaniment
• lightly syncopated, jazz/blues inflected
singing or playing
• conversational lyrics
• influence of dance rhythms
The “Latin Tinge”
• Jazz, later rock, contain hints of Latin
American music
• Themselves fusions of European music,
African music, native musics of Central and
South American countries
• Main types: rumba and mambo
Rumba
• Dance popularized in 1930s
• Introduced by Cuban bandleader Don
Azpiazú
• Injected into American musical mix
– Afro-Cuban percussion: conga drums, bongos,
maracas, claves
– Clave rhythm
Clave rhythm
• Pattern of accents that are contrary to beat
• Analogous to backbeat in African-American
influenced music
1 +2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
C
C
C
C C
• Ex. El Manisero