"Gospel Memories" - great gospel radio at a new time!

Hello, gospel music fans -- "Gospel Memories" will broadcast live this Sunday, October 2 but from 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. This will remain the show's new time!

Different time, same station: 88.7 WLUW Chicago or via live webcast at www.wluw.org.

Highlights of the October 2 Broadcast:

-- "Gospel Music Across this Land and Country" -- put on your traveling shoes and join us as we walk the gospel highway through more than 30 states, where we'll hear gospel performers representing each of the states;

-- Gospel Classics from the Acrobat, Pewburner, and Spirit Feel labels -- all labels that have reissued a treasure-trove of gospel music on CD;

-- A live, in-studio performance by the Evening Light Brothers, an a cappella gospel quartet from the Church of God at 46th and Drexel in Chicago.

Preacher Feature: Rev. (Thomas L.?) Barrett presents the message, "Pray for the Nation," with background vocals by the Walton Brothers (1963). Incidentally, I believe that legendary gospel announcer Frank Walton from the Pacific Northwest is related to the Walton Brothers;

From the Vault: Great Day of New Orleans Singers (1929); Thomas A. Dorsey (1932); Silver Leaf Quartet of Norfolk (1928); Golden Gate Quartet (1936).

...and many, many more quartets, soloists, choirs, singing evangelists, and gospel ensembles.

So tune in and turn on to "Gospel Memories" -- it's like a collection of more than 10,000 gospel recordings set on shuffle!

Special thanks to Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times for mentioning Gospel Memories in his column last Friday. We appreciate you!

Bob Marovich
Host
"Gospel Memories" -- vintage gospel, spiritual and jubilee recordings
First Sundays, 3:00 to 7:30 a.m.
WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago
Live webcast: www.wluw.org
www.gospelmemories.com

TBGB Pick of the Week: September 18, 2005

“Not Forgotten”
Israel & New Breed
From the forthcoming CD Alive in South Africa (available in stores October 25) Integrity Gospel

After performing at an artists’ showcase during last year’s Gospel Music Workshop of America in Kansas City, Israel & New Breed hopped a plane to South Africa for a series of concerts and a live recording. The recording took place in Cape Town on August 20, and “Not Forgotten” is the first single from this new project, Alive in South Africa, due out October 25 from Integrity Gospel.

The polyrhythmic “Not Forgotten,” with its simple lyrics (“I am not forgotten/God knows my name”) is memorable for a recurrent Middle Eastern-sounding instrumental riff that serves as the track’s hook. The song has a pulsating urgency in its arrangement and its message, a particularly cogent message for a nation ravaged by AIDS and the repercussions of decades of social and economic degradation by a ruling class that forgot (or ignored) the Golden Rule.

Given that South Africa has a thriving gospel music community known for its beautiful and spontaneous harmonies, one can only hope that other tracks on the live CD will include collaborations with one or more of these breath-taking choral ensembles.

"Gospel Memories" Radio Show Airs One Hour Later, Starting October 2

Starting October 2, "Gospel Memories" will air one hour later than usual, from 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. on 88.7 WLUW Chicago. The live webcast is at www.wluw.org.

For more information on "Gospel Memories," go to www.wluw.org or www.gospelmemories.com.

Albertina Walker to get NEA Fellowship Award

From The Belle Report (9/16/05):

Baltimore, MD – In just a few days The National Endowment of The Arts Fellowship Award will be awarded to the Albertina Walker, also known as the “Queen of Gospel.” This honor is the highest honor given by the United States government to any artist. This award will be presented to Walker during three days of events with a banquet, awards ceremony and a concert in Maryland. National officials will present her with a medal of honor along $20,000 for her contributions to gospel music and the music art form. Ms. Walker is the only African American female selected this year, and the only gospel artist as well.

To date she has recorded more than 60 albums, with five gold records and 10 Grammy nominations among them. In 1995, she received a Grammy for the Best Traditional Gospel Album. Always active in her church and community, she founded the Albertina Walker Scholarship Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts in 1998, which offers financial assistance to college students who aspire to serve the gospel community.

CD Review: The Remix - Dr. Charles G. Hayes and the Warriors

The Remix
Dr. Charles G. Hayes and the Warriors
ICEE Inspirational CD ICEE-7296
2005

No choir comes close to the Warriors of Chicago’s Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer for excellence in traditional gospel performance.

For more than forty years, the Warriors – under the direction of Dr. Charles G. Hayes and originally known as the choir of the Universal Kingdom of Christ – has stayed true to the dynamic, down-home sound of the gospel choir as designed by its architect, Thomas Andrew Dorsey. As such, the Warriors occupy the same rarified air as the famed Echoes of Eden of the St. Paul Baptist Church of Los Angeles and Thurston Frazier’s Voices of Victory.

But today, as Dr. Hayes eloquently acknowledges at the beginning of The Remix, even traditional choirs need to change with the times, though he adds, “I never thought this day would come.” But Hayes and his choir, as evidenced on The Remix, are more than prepared for its coming.

While the term “remix” is often used to identify a musically altered version of an original recording – perhaps the original master is given a new beat, provided with layered instrumentation or undergoes some other type of synthesis – this is not what The Remix, produced by Dr. Charles T. White of ICEE Records, is about. Rather, The Remix contains brand new recordings of Warriors’ classics, modernized in arrangement and production, to appeal to a newer and wider audience.

So, for example, the runaway hit of this project, “Jesus Can Work it Out,” is indeed the song made famous by the Warriors and Rev. Maceo Woods’ Christian Tabernacle before that, but it is a brand new recording, complete with a few new lyrics to keep things fresh and up-to-date.

Also, The Remix is not a Warriors’ “Greatest Hits” CD, though I suggest that such a project is long overdue. Some of the choir’s classics are here, but others, notably “Every Time I Feel the Spirit” and “Every Day is a Day of Thanksgiving,” are not present.

I won’t go into detail on “Jesus Can Work it Out” since I already have spoken highly of it elsewhere on TBGB. Suffice it to say, gospel music historians will look back on the remix of “Jesus” as a textbook example of how the right song, the right hook, the right production, the right promotion, and the leadership of the urban radio network made this a hit, even before gospel radio latched onto it. Does this signify a move back to traditional gospel? Probably not, but it has certainly helped old-church songs gain some new followers, and afforded plenty of newfound respect for the longevity of the gospel music catalog.

The Remix offers more than the usual share of choir workouts, notably “He Laid His Hands on Me,” “He Can Do Anything,” “Jesus is Mine,” and “All in His Hands.” There is even a hidden track, an alternate version of “Jesus Can Work it Out,” on which Dianne Williams extends an already exhaustive list of ways Jesus can…er…work it out.

The only track that doesn’t work on The Remix is “Your Worthy.” Besides the title’s syntax problems, the arrangement is given too extreme of a makeover, resulting in a choir that momentarily loses its distinctiveness to sound like the many thousands of leader-and-ensemble aggregations populating gospel music today. But this is a small price to pay to hear the Warriors knock the cowhide off another gospel music ball.

Finally – but less importantly – I suspect The Remix will go down in history as being the first CD to include photos taken at Chicago’s new Millenium Park. One cannot help but notice that the photo of Dr. Hayes – looking as proudly old-school as ever – with the shiny, new Pritzker Pavilion in the background, is the visual equivalent of the audio within the jewel case.

CD Review: I Can't Thank Him Enough -- Bishop Larry B. Aiken & The Vision of Praise Celebration Choir

I Can't Thank Him Enough
Bishop Larry B. Aiken & The Vision of Praise Celebration Choir
New Vision Records (2005)
1-866-363-7939, extension 102

While not all private press gospel recordings warrant attention, this one does.

This privately-pressed CD by New Vision Ministries of the Memorial Missionary Baptist Church of Kansas City is reminiscent of classic live church recordings from the past, Abraham Swanson's Bibleway COGIC on King and Columbia's Abyssinian Baptist Church recording with Alex Bradford being two that come immediately to mind.

The voices are not perfect and the production has its limitations, but on the other hand, the sound is original, honest, and energizing. What it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in effervescence.

Most importantly, I Can't Thank Him Enough presents the Missionary Baptist worship experience -- an experience that occurs with regularity every week in many thousands of churches throughout the land -- with a genuineness that cannot be produced in a studio. This CD is about having church, period.

In particular, "Build Me a House" and "I Want to Go Where Jesus Is" have that early, electrifying Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer sound. Need I say more?

TBGB Pick of the Week: September 11, 2005

"Prayer Hater"
Shontae
from the Danbla CD I'm Determined
Danbla Records

North Carolina's Shontae Henry Hill is a young singer with an aggressive but melodic voice. Her debut CD, I'm Determined, includes an energetic track called "Prayer Hater" with lyrics that are a breath of fresh air in an industry suffocating from too many milquetoast "He-is-worthy-to-be-praised" lyrics.

Written by Denver Wright (who also produced, arranged, and mixed the track), "Prayer Hater" paraphrases an unforgettable line from Kenneth Morris' 1944 "Yes, God is Real": "There are some things I may not know/There are some places I cannot go".

Whereas Morris wrote the line in part as a social commentary about Jim Crow laws, Shontae uses it to repudiate her former worldly lifestyle and to confirm her newfound relationship with the Savior: "There are some places I can't go now/There are some things I cannot do.../Different pleasures I have found now/There are new things I adore."

The main point of the song is to encourage individuals who make fun of, look down upon, or simply disregard the saved to reconsider their position on the power of prayer.

In addition to its smart lyrics, "Prayer Hater" has a catchy tune and arrangement that showcase Shontae at her best. The CD includes a remix version that is even better than the original.

Cheers for Dorothy Norwood: Soul Train Awardee

From Malaco Music Group:

Dorothy Norwood Wins Soul Train Lady Of Soul Award

The Malaco Music Group would like to congratulate Ms. Dorothy Norwood for
her 10th Annual Soul Train Lady Of Soul Award win in the category of BEST
GOSPEL ALBUM for “Stand On The Word.”

Thanks to all of the Gospel, Urban, and Independent radio programmers,
Retailers, Print, Television & Internet Media for their support in making
this possible.

God Bless!!!

D.A. Johnson
Gospel Division

Violin Victorious! Jazz and gospel fusion by Kersten Stevens

The sophomore debut by jazz violinist Kersten Stevens, currently completing her higher education studies at Yale University with a dual degree in music and African-American studies, is called Walks of Faith.

On this new project, Kersten uses the voice of contemporary jazz -- and specifically her supple violin technique -- to sing gospel standards such as "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and "Walk with me, Lord." Kersten makes her violin sound like a gospel singer, complete with moans, trills, and melismatic runs.

Check out snippets of tracks from this and Kersten's debut CD at her website.

TBGB Pick of the Week: September 4, 2005

"Yes I Will"
Bingo Kenoly
NGMR Records 2005
Distributed by Taseis Media Group

The son of singer Ron Kenoly and a member of the Kenoly Brothers, the 28 year-old Bingo Kenoly is giving it a try as a solo artist with his debut CD, My Pleasure.

While the title track, with its crisp beats, hip-hop infusion, and less-than-three-minutes length, is clearly the radio-friendly track, TBGB's preference is the more laid-back "Yes I Will". Reminiscent of 1970s Stevie Wonder, this song, co-written by Kenoly, has a slow, easy groove that suits Kenoly's vocals perfectly and demonstrates his wide variety of musical influences.

Named Bingo at birth, Kenoly was born on January 18, 1977 in Oakland, CA. His African-American father, Ron Kenoly, was an R&B singer under the name of Ron Keith. His Puerto Rican mother, Tavita, was a housewife. Later, his father turned to church music and became a gold-selling praise and worship artist. Before his dad’s success, there were many lean times. “Those times taught us to be strong and not to depend on anybody to get the things we wanted to get in life,” Bingo says.

With his brother, Sam, Bingo cut three, independent, best-selling CDs that fused smooth neo soul rhythms with classic gospel harmonies. Among the Kenoly Brothers' best-loved radio hits are, “Why I Love You (You Are My Joy)”, “Praise Him”, “Because of Who You Are”, and the scintilating “Too Close.”

If other tracks on Bingo's debut are as delicious as those I've heard, I'd say he has a great solo career in his future.

How You Can Help Churches Impacted by the Hurricane and Levee Break

Pastor Jerry Q. Parries of Tehillah Music Group shares with TBGB how you can help New Orleans churches that were victims of Hurricane Katrina and the levee break.

****************************

September 1, 2005

Dear Friends,

I greet you in divine love!

I am Pastor Jerry Q. Parries, President of Tehillah Music Group as well as Pastor of the Christian Family Worship Center. I have lived in New Orleans for the past 8 years under the leadership of Bishop Paul S. Morton. On June 15, 2005 I was sent out by Bishop Morton to start a Ministry in Orlando FL.

On Monday August 29, 2005, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast had widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped.

We need to help the people of God who have had this misfortune. Bishop Paul Morton’s church, Greater Saint Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church, Beacon Light Cathedral and Life Center Cathedral and many other church locations are still under water or are having major flooding problems.

To that end, Pastor Jerry Q. Parries, Max Siegel, Sheilah Belle, Gospel Today Magazine, The Belle Report and Verity Records are initiating efforts for our communities to pull together to help our brothers and sisters in the south. Our hope is to have gospel announcers, artists and churches host, fund raisers or benefit concerts for this relief effort.

All monies will be sent to: The Full Gospel Baptist Church Hurricane Relief Fund at 1301 Alamanace Church Rd. Greenboro NC. 27406. Please write in the check memo “Gospel Relief Fund/TBR”.

Bishop Paul S. Morton has been a blessing to the church community, and now it is time for the church community to help not only Bishop Paul S. Morton, but the people of New Orleans. For additional information call; Pastor Jerry Q. Parries at (504) 382-7598 or Sheilah Belle at (804) 775-6990. Or e-mail us at JerryQII@yahoo.com. The turn around time on these concerts is 30 to 60 days from TODAY!

Hurricane Katrina impact on gospel music community, community's response

The following, from The Belle Report, highlights the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast gospel music and church community, and ways the industry is helping those who need resources.

******************

Now we are getting reports that Bishop Paul Morton’s church, Greater Saint Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church, Beacon Light Cathedral and Life Center Cathedral and many other church locations are all under water or are having major flooding problems.

To that end, Pastor Jerry Q. Parries, Max Siegel, Sheilah Belle, Gospel Today Magazine, The Belle Report and Verity Records are initiating efforts for our communities to pull together to help our brothers and sisters in the south. Our hope is to have gospel announcers, artists and churches host, fund raisers or benefit concerts for this relief effort.


All monies will be sent to The Ministries of Bishop Paul S. Morton to be distributed to the church communities and those in need in these locations. For additional information call; Pastor Jerry Q. Parries at (504) 382-7598 or Sheilah Belle at (804) 775-6990.

Or e-mail us at JerryQii@yahoo.com. The turn around time on these concerts is 30 to 60 days from TODAY!

CONTACT PERSONS for area host cities and concerts include:

Atlanta, GA: Darryl Lassister, DLL Entertainment and Ted Winn from Ted and Sherry. Charles Graham, esq. will provide a venue for the Atlanta, GA location. He’s just waiting on a date.

Baton Rouge, LA: Monica Butler; Southern University is offering their Dome to host a fund raising effort to assist Bishop Paul Morton. Many of those who live in New Orleans have been coming to Baton Rouge for dryer ground. “We are now in need of artists”. Interested participants should e-mail Monica Butler at, thebutlergroup@yahoo.com

Gospel Music Channel: Charles Humbard - (GMC) is currently working on a major fund raising initiative involving the gospel music community.

Los Angeles, CA: Pastor Susie Jones (310)-283-0410

New York City: Bishop Sam Williams

Orlando, FL: Pastor Jerry Q Parries, Tehillah Music Group, Christian Family Worship Center, (504) 382-7598

Richmond, VA: Sheilah Belle, The Belle Report (804) 775-6990 (Interested performers, volunteers should contact The Belle by e-mail at thebelle@hotmail.com

Texas: Dr. Ed Montgomery. On behalf of Abundant Life Cathedral Church Dr. Ed Montgomery will head up the relief efforts in the state of Texas. With their network of churches in the Texas area (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christie, etc.) we will be able to facilitate the time and efforts to making this successful. Dr. Ed Montgomery is passionate about helping these people rebuild their lives. Assisting Dr. Ed Montgomery will be Ernest Walker.

To join this list, contact The Belle ASAP at thebelle@hotmail.com.

Gospel Memories - Highlights of the September 4, 2005 Broadcast

Hello, connossieurs of gospel music!

The next broadcast of "Gospel Memories" will be this Sunday morning,
September 4, from 2:00 to 6:30 a.m. Central Time US on Chicago's 88.7
WLUW or via live webcast at www.wluw.org.

Highlights of the September 4 Broadcast:

-- Gospel from the 50 states...or at least as many states from
which we have vintage gospel recordings! While black gospel music
originated in Chicago and spread quickly to other major cities
throughout the U.S., it wasn't long before most states had their own
roster of gospel choirs, quartets, soloists, ensembles, and the like.
Today, every state and most countries have some form of gospel music.
We will feature "back in the day" recordings from as many as 30 states,
maybe more!

-- Classics from the Pewburner Catalog: rare, out-of-print, and
generally hard-to-find gospel recordings offered on CD by the Pewburner
label out of California;

-- Gospel music collector and friend of "Gospel Memories" Jason
Rosenberg will stop by at 5:00 a.m. Central Time to talk about and
play some rare-as-hen's-teeth recordings from his vast and wonderful
archive;

-- A musical salute to Ms. Cora Martin-Moore, who passed away in July.
Cora was the adopted daughter of Sallie Martin, stone singer in her own
right, devoted chorister with the Echoes of Eden of St. Paul B.C. of
Los Angeles, and tireless worker for the GMWA. We'll play some of her
music, courtesy of Anthony Heilbut.

-- Preacher Feature: this month's message comes to us from Pastor P.W.
Jones: "Prayer for World Peace." Timeless wisdom.

-- From the Vault: Blind Willie Johnson and others.

-- Plus the usual line-up of gospel artists, including:
Windy City Four
Gospel Supremes of Cleveland
Southern Jubilees
Luckett Brothers
Austin Layne
Original Gospel Harmonettes
Caravans
Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
Jesse Martin Singers

...and more!

NEXT MONTH: To remember the horrific disaster befallen our friends in
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and other points, we will
feature gospel music from these states....meanwhile, our thoughts and
prayers are with those who lost homes, loved ones, and are trying to
make a way from a bad situation. Be encouraged.


Bob Marovich, Host
"Gospel Memories" -- Vintage Gospel, Spiritual, and Jubilee Recordings
First Sundays, 2:00 to 6:30 a.m. Central Time US
WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago
Live webcast at www.wluw.org
www.gospelmemories.com
Request line: 773/508-WLUW