Director Don McGlynn, of the New documentary on Gospel music, 'Rejoice and Shout', is known for biographical documentaries Louis Prima: The Wildest and Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog, among many others. When Eamonn Bowles of Magnolia Pictures asked him to make a documentary on Gospel music, just when the director himself was considering a film on the subject, McGlynn got what all directors dream of: financing. As any independent filmmaker can tell you, finding financing is the hardest part of making a movie. With that hurtle covered, McGlynn could concentrate on the biggest challenge of the film, not telling just one story, as much of his past work had done, but telling the multiple stories that make up the history of American Gospel music.
The director also has major technical challenges on such an ambitious project. Eighty-five percent of the footage used in the film was culled from decades of collecting by producer Joe Lauro. As would be expected from a project that spans 200 years, the clips came in a multitude of formats, many in need of restoration. Perhaps the biggest find is the experimental sound-on-film footage of the Utica Quartet that was shot in 1922, five years before The Jazz Singer. Also included in the documentary was an audio performance from the Virginia-based Dinwidde Colored Quartet. This rare 1902 recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company was the first African-American religious record, made almost 20-years before any African-American jazz or blues records. -- > CLICK HERE < -- to Read More.
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