“How They Got Over: Gospel Quartets and the Road to Rock & Roll” – Not a lot of rock but plenty of roll [MOVIE REVIEW]
Robert Clem, director, producer, editor, and photographer in his feature documentary directorial debut has set a high bar for himself. Purporting to show how black gospel quartets of the 30s, 40s, and 50s ushered in the birth of rock and roll, it does no such thing. Lacking an instructive narrative, he makes no viable case for that presumption even though most of us know that it is true just by knowing the gospel histories of Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley, to name a few. He just didn’t connect the dots in a cohesive manner. Now that some of the criticism is out of the way, let’s give thanks that we have a chance to enjoy all the fabulous, and they are absolutely fabulous, historic film clips of the pioneers of commercial gospel music. Following the birth of the so-called gospel quartet, Clem traces a path from its spiritual origin in the African American church to its eventual commercial and secular success. Interviews with still living musicians who participated in this artform and clips of their groups performing is worthy of foot-stomping and hand-clapping. As explained by Ira Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the major groups…
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