It is argued that Gospel Jazz can be traced as far back as Jazz itself. The argument follows the line that the histories of jazz and gospel share their roots in the field songs and hollers of African slaves. Yet it was not until the 1930s when innovators Thomas Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson merged jazz and blues with gospel music that the style really took off. They were initially met with fierce opposition, but eventually it was accepted as a legitimate method of combining ministry with music; Thomas Dorsey even earned the title "The Father of Gospel Music". By the 1970s Andre Crouch was merging R&B with Gospel and thus developing the genre further.
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