Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343. USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Interview with Bishop John F. Morris. Bishop Morris is a national gospel recording artist, born May 18, 1948. He was raised in Huntington, West Virginia, a small college town. After his father's death, his grandmother Elder Katherine Jackson started a new church called Christ's Temple A.O.H. (Apostomic Overcoming Holy Church of God) in the west end of the town. She was the main influence on his coming to Christ. In this tiny church of about fifteen members, Morris played the drums for the music worship team. He recalls his extraordinary skills with music back to the early age of 6 years, when he arranged "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and distributed harmonizing parts among his classmates at school. He had no formal music training, but he knew he had a gift for music he learned everything by ear, and taught each part to members of a group to sing. When he was 18 years old, once he graduated high school, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he expanded his worship musical repertoire in the city, and joined the Grace Temple A.O.H. He names Jimmy Smith, Chubby Checkers, Mary Wells and the Vendellas, and James Cleveland as significant influences on him. According to Morris, one of the most progressive songs in gospel was "Oh Happy Day" coming from New York. James Cleveland, a mentor, and Andrea Crouch, who reached beyond the African American gospel audience into the Caucasian market, were among the most influential artists in gospel music. Bishop Morris cut his first record "Glory in the Story" with Jim Saunders (?) in Los Angeles. His instrument of choice is the Hammond Organ, for the way it moves the instrument has the capability to imitate human vibrato, and therefore The "Gospel Life," according to Morris, has more to do with what one is saying, than how it sounds. It is about the inspiration to life, the message of good news. His four most popular songs are "I've Been Changed," "God Reversed the Curse" (1997), "Just for Me," and "I Feel a Shout Comin' On." His personal song of testimony is "Have Your Way."
Type
moving image
Format
1 video file (90 min.) : digital, mp4 file Contemporary Gospel streaming video
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