Can't Stand Still

According to Michael K. Johnson, Taylor Gordon (1893–1971) is “one of the most fascinating figures” of the Harlem Renaissance (p. 13). However, Gordon has remained virtually unknown until recently. Johnson's Can't Stand Still describes Gordon as a gregarious, talented singer who enjoyed success and popularity until manifestations of paranoia and odd behavior resulted in his admittance to a psychiatric institution and eventual obscurity. Johnson chronicles Gordon's early life in Montana, employment as a traveling assistant to the circus mogul John Ringling, his music career, and his psychosis. Gordon left Ringling's employment in 1916 to develop his singing and eventually studied with Rosamond Johnson who was directing the Colored Music School Settlement of New York. The two began collaborating and held their first spiritual concert in 1925. A major contribution of this study is the assertion that the duo distinguished themselves from other performers such as Lawrence Brown, Paul Robeson, and Roland Hayes. In the absence of any recordings, the author depends on newspaper accounts that reported Gordon's “flexibility” “from baritone to a falsetto in alto ... combined with Johnson's bass and baritone,” giving the effect of a larger “group performance” (p. 83). Gordon held audiences “spellbound” because, unlike other spiritual singers, he was “more expressionistic and impressionistic” (pp. 89, 91

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