Gospel Fest back in 2012 – Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago’s storied Gospel Fest will return to normal size in 2012. See the story below.

Gospel Fest back in 2012 – Chicago Sun-Times

The story notes Pilgrim Baptist Church as the birthplace of gospel music in Chicago. That is a common misconception because Thomas A. Dorsey was the gospel chorus director and music minister at Pilgrim for decades. It was also the first church host of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.  Dorsey and Theodore Frye’s first gospel choir was actually formed at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 45th and Vincennes in January 1932.

Of course, like any music genre, there is no one “ground zero” of development. Gospel music as we know it today was in gestation throughout the 1920s in the city’s Pentecostal, Holiness and Spiritual churches.