Tall Angel At The Bar

“Tall Angel At The Bar” is a spiritual arrangement for voice and piano by Eva Jessye. The song is the fourteenth arrangement included in Jessye’s book My Spirituals (1927). In the song’s preface, Jessye explains that she associates it with Aunt Charlotte Elias—one third of the “Amen” triumvirate of the Baptist Church, along with “Sisters” Fanny Watts and Lizzie Buckner. The three women were known to shout during stirring sermons. Jessye writes, “As the sermon would draw to a close, some one would start up the rhythmic shout, ‘Tall Angel At The Bar’ and unable to control herself any longer, Aunt Charlotte would shout and preach, stopping at intervals to exclaim, ‘Got tole Charlotte to shout steady.’” Jessye also writes that “Tall Angel At The Bar” is “irresistible” due to its swing and monotonous recurrence of phrases, and says that the rhythm’s pronounced accents make it adapted for shouting.