Sold Date: November 14, 2021
Start Date: April 14, 2021
Final Price: £16.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 13332
Buyer Feedback: 0

TWO GREAT GOSPEL SIDES FROM SISTER ROSETTA THARPE AND MARIE KNIGHT ON A UK BRUNSWICK 78

DIDN'T IT RAIN

b/w   TWO LITTLE FISHES AND FIVE LOAVES OF BREAD 

Born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she began performing at age four, billed as "Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing and guitar playing miracle", accompanying her mother, Church of God in Christ (COGIC) evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, who played mandolin and preached at tent revivals throughout the South. Exposed to both blues and jazz both in the South and after her family moved to Chicago in the late 1920s, she played blues and jazz in private, while performing gospel music in public settings. Her unique style reflected those secular influences: she bent notes the way that jazz artists did and picked guitar like Memphis Minnie.

Rosetta also crossed over to secular music in other ways. After marrying COGIC preacher Thomas Thorpe (from which "Tharpe" is a misspelling) in 1934 and moving to New York City, she recorded four sides with Decca Records backed by "Lucky" Millinder's jazz orchestra. Her records caused an immediate furor: many churchgoers were shocked by the mixture of sacred and secular music, but secular audiences loved them. Appearances in John Hammond's 1938 extravaganza "From Spirituals To Swing", at the Cotton Club and Café Society and with Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman made her even more popular. Songs like "This Train" and "Rock Me", which combined gospel themes with bouncy up-tempo arrangements, became smash hits among audiences with little previous exposure to gospel music.

AFTER THARPE started her solo career in 1938, her popularity soared, even through the height of World War II. In '46, she joined her voice with Knight, originally a sanctified shouter from Newark, N.J. Later billed as "Madame Marie Knight," Knight's lower-registered contralto was the perfect vocal foil to Tharpe's higher voice. Together, they sang such memorable songs as "Up Above My Head," "Precious Memories" and "Didn't It Rain," which Knight reprised on the tribute album with the same down-home spirit as her late singing partner's. 

ABOUT THIS RECORD:- 

SISTER ROSETTA THARPE AND MARIE KNIGHT with the Sam Price Trio 

UK  BRUNSWICK 04851  10" 78RPM shellac

A SIDE:-   DIDN'T IT RAIN   

B SIDE:-   TWO LITTLE FISHES AND FIVE

Condition = V+    SCRATCHES SCUFFS AND MARKS BUT PLAYS GREAT

(LABELS MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM STOCK PHOTOS)

IF YOU THINK YOU DON'T LIKE GOSPEL MUSIC - THIS'LL CHANGE YOUR MIND!

A CHANCE TO PICK UP A COPY OF THIS GREAT GOSPEL 78

POSTAGE STUFF

10" 78 RPM RECORDS NEED CAREFULLY PACKING, AND I CLAIM TO HAVE THE BEST PACKAGING IN THE WORLD FOR DISPATCHING THEM!

 THE GREG'S GREAT'S SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A SPECIALLY DESIGNED INNER BOX MADE OUT OF 1" THICK POLYSTYRENE, WHICH THEN GOES INSIDE A CORRUGATED OUTER CARDBOARD CARTON. THE BOXES CAN TAKE UP TO 21 RECORDS,

USUALLY FOR MAILING OVERSEAS, I RECOMMEND NO MORE THAN 7 IN A BOX, OTHERWISE IT GOES OVER THE AIRMAIL SMALL PACKET MAXIMUM WEIGHT OF 2Kgs WHICH CAUSES A LARGE HIKE IN POSTAL RATES.