TBGB Pick of the Week: November 27, 2006

“Sunnyside Up”
Yvonne Burgess
From the CD Sunnyside Up
Melodies Christian Recording 2006
http://www.melodiesrecording.com/

Yvonne Burgess certainly knows how to turn a lyric. Her CD Sunnyside Up is chock full of everyday lessons, each delivered in five minutes or less. On the title track, she even uses the humble egg as a life metaphor: “Ask me how would I like my life, sunnyside up/If it can’t be over easy, then sunnyside up.”

Sure it’s corny, but the song’s hip groove, Yvonne‘s smoky alto (think Gladys Knight), and the instantly memorable chorus combine to convince you that Yvonne believes it, and that you should, too.

TBGB Reviews....Kelly Price

This Is Who I Am
Kelly Price
Zomba Gospel 2006
http://www.kellyprice.com/

The gorgeous platinum selling RnB composer and songstress who introduced the blockbuster RnB smash “Friend of Mine” in 1998 is really a PK (preacher’s kid) at heart. Kelly Price grew up in the Church of God in Christ and celebrates her holiness roots on her debut gospel project, This is Who I Am.

Possibly in an effort to ensure that the uninitiated wouldn’t shun Price for hopping from pop to gospel, the executive producers, including Vicki Mack and Claude Lataillade and Max Siegel, threw the book at the project. They provided it with big, bold production values and a live, stadium gospel sound, complete with ground-numbing bass and percussion. They also invited a stage full of gospel household names – specifically Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Joe Ligon – to perform with Price on one track each.

Kelly more than holds her own on this project, however, which integrates seamlessly her exquisite, well-disciplined vocal style into holy text and melody. “This Is Who I Am” is the radio-friendly track, though the explosive duet with Bell Armstrong on “Nobody But Jesus” ought to get the radio play, as it is an absolute earth-scorcher and the project’s finest moment.

Price is joined by McClurkin and shouts with Vickie Winans intensity on “God is Faithful." “Heaven’s Best” incorporates an acknowledged snippet of Rev. Al Green’s 1970s hit “Love and Happiness,” and “God Is Not Dead” features Price out-singing quartet great Joe Ligon, who doesn’t quite seem himself on the track, his voice raw with fatigue.

This Is Who I Am is a marvelous project. It will undoubtedly capture the attention of the gospel awards cognoscenti as well as encourage legions of young people to shuffle this CD in with their well-worn copies of Tonex and Kirk Franklin.

Detroit Obscure Gospel Groups

Love Detroit gospel? Want to share your enthusiasm for Motor City gospel and learn from a dedicated community of fans? Love label shots such as the one shown here? Then this site is for you:

http://www.sixtiesdetroit.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=61

Register (it's free) and share your knowledge and photos from your own collection of Detroit rarities, or just lurk and learn.

Either way, you'll come out with an even greater appreciation for the role of Detroit artists and entrepreneurs in the dissemination of gospel music in the post-war era.

TBGB Reviews...."Trouble" by Willie Cleveland

CD Single Review:

“Trouble”
Willie Cleveland
2006
(662) 455-9653

Greenwood, Mississippi’s Willie Cleveland, who incidentally bears a striking resemblance to a certain square-jawed gospel music legend whose surname he shares, waxes retro on “Trouble.” The single is an alchemy of 80s arrangement and 70s beat that will please southern radio listeners and leave gospel funk collectors thinking they’ve stumbled on long-forgotten vinyl.

TBGB Reviews....Rev. Stefanie R. Minatee & Jubilation

CD Review:
The Launch Out Project
Rev. Stefanie R. Minatee & Jubilation
2006
http://www.justjubilation.com/

New Jersey’s Rev. Stefanie R. Minatee has been ministering through music professionally for more than 20 years. Her accomplishments shine through on her latest release, The Launch Out Project, with the critically-acclaimed choir Jubilation.

Jubilation is a culturally-mixed choir of volunteers and professional singers that was organized in 1998 under the auspices of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Since then, Jubilation has performed live, on television, and even sang for the funeral of the great band leader and vibraphone genius Lionel Hampton.

Several components combine to make The Launch Out Project a superb effort. First and foremost is the major-label quality of the musicianship, particularly the mournful jazz trombone solo by Wycliffe Gordon on “I’m Determined to Walk with Jesus.” Donald Vails’ moody composition is dedicated to survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and is arranged with the kind of spiritualesque world-weariness appropriate to the tragedy it memorializes.

Another outstanding component is the variety of compositions and composers represented, ranging from the aforementioned Vails to Mattie Moss Clark’s “I Thank You Lord” – given a modern day swagger – to James Cleveland’s “In My Father’s House” to Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” on which Jubilation seamlessly interpolates “I Want to Be Ready” with a power reminiscent of Wings over Jordan. Milton Brunson’s “I’ll Trade a Lifetime” becomes a prophetic piece as its lead vocalist, Cyndi Hines, has since passed away.

The magnum opus of the project, however, is “Lead Me to the Rock.” This track is led by Nancey Jackson-Johnson who traverses the emotional spectrum from weepy to earth-shattering strength, then back to weepy in the track’s extended reprise. I didn’t know this much emotional energy could be expended in a single song. This track and its reprise are alone worth the price of the CD.

Rev. Minatee also proves herself a more than capable producer, as the overall production is top shelf. Jubilation demonstrates that New Jersey continues to be a wellspring of great gospel music, following in the footprints of Rev. Lawrence Roberts’ Angelic Choir, the Banks Brothers, Greater Harvest Baptist Church Choir, and the inimitable Gospel Clefs.

CD Review - The Caravans: Paved the Way

Paved the Way
The Caravans
Malaco 2006
http://www.thecaravans.net/

A reunion CD from the Caravans was inevitable. Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews and Delores Washington have been sighted singing together on several occasions in the past couple of years, delighting audiences and wrecking churches, just as they did for five decades.

Recorded in Chicago at West Point Baptist Church, Walker’s home church, Paved the Way brings the Caravans’ reunion right to your living room. The project will please traditional fans as well as newcomers to the Caravans’ sound, though anyone who loves gospel music and is unfamiliar with the Caravans ain’t been paying attention.

No Caravans reunion CD would be complete without Inez Andrews demonstrating that she still has the vocal power to deliver “Mary Don’t You Weep.” Stepping in the role of Shirley Caesar, Evelyn Turrentine-Agee earns her stripes as the Fifth Caravan by performing an electrifying version of James Herndon’s “No Coward Soldier,” a song the group first recorded for Vee Jay Records in 1962.

The radio-friendly track right now is “Remember Me,” a James Cleveland composition led by Norwood. King James worked extensively with the quartet in the mid-1950s, so it is fitting that one of his songs be on the production.

The most interesting moment of the CD happens at the beginning, when Norwood recounts to the congregants at West Point what it was like to travel the Gospel Highway back in the day.

“As we stand here today, we don’t look like what we’ve been through,” Norwood relates (she’s right – the ladies sound and look great!). “We traveled through the South, through segregation, through Jim Crow, through Ku Klux Klan country, pavin’ the way…we slept in the colored hotels and rooming houses…but look at us today, we can go in the five-star Marriotts and Hiltons.”

You go, girls! This is the Caravans story, and they have a great story to tell. Listen up!

Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio on YouTube

Watch the late Bob Washington and the Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio perform an eight-minute live version of their classic 1961 hit, "Ride This Train," to a 1960s-era festival crowd. At one point, Washington tosses off his jacket and works an awed crowd, shaking hands, throwing shapes, confounding the camerapeople, and generally raising the temperature as the rest of the Gospelaires chant and provide electric guitar accompaniment.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4XMlexD_RE

Thanks to Kevin Nutt for providing the link. FYI - there are more vintage gospel videos on YouTube. Watch the Gospelaires and follow related links for more classic footage.

CD Review: Bishop Yvette Flunder & the Fellowship Mass Choir

CD Review:
We Won’t Be Silent Anymore
Bishop Yvette Flunder & the Fellowship Mass Choir
Committed Records 2006
http://www.radicallyinclusive.com/

Bishop Yvette Flunder teamed up with five Bay Area churches’ worth of strong voices for her first recording, We Won’t Be Silent Anymore. And if the mass choir by itself wasn’t enough to raise the church roof, Bishop Flunder called upon gospel stars such as Gene Viale and Charlene Moore to ensure a truly remarkable performance. The result is a superb gospel album that offers up traditional, contemporary, and praise and worship choral styles in fairly equal measure.

Throughout the project, the choir stretches out gospel songs like sweet taffy for five-six-seven minutes, with flourishes at the coda. Clearly the group is comfortable singing together and thoroughly rehearsed.

The opening and closing tracks – “I Will Give You Rest” and “He’ll Make it Alright” respectively – are the most radio-savvy on the CD, though the “Traditional Medley” held my attention the most. In particular, Fellowship Mass really delivers on “Surely God is Able.” Considering the song’s tremendous popularity at the hands of the Ward Singers, one would think it would get covered more often than it does. Hearing it again was a treat. The choir gives the normally dirge-like “He’ll Understand and Say Well Done” a more boisterous feel, infusing the lyric with Heavenly hope instead of earthly fatigue.

“Speak the Name” is sinuous and hypnotic, and “Silent Anymore” waves a dignified fist at the political machine, seeking a peaceful resolution to global differences and misunderstandings.

The only caution is to programmers: despite what the liner notes suggest, the “Praise Medley” and “Traditional Medley” are not two enormous tracks but actually consist of three songs each, with track breaks between them. This throws off the track numbers as they are listed on the CD cover, but overall this is a better solution, as each song can stand on its own, and the Praise Medley’s hushed praise and worship format went on a little too long (“A Shield About Me” would work more effectively as the closing song). But this is picayune: Bishop Flunder’s debut CD is a good one, and will get plenty of spins from mass choir enthusiasts in particular.

Gospel Memories Broadcast for Sunday, November 5, 2006

Hello, gospel mavens -- the next broadcast of "Gospel Memories" will be Sunday, November 5 from 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. Central Time on Chicago's 88.7 WLUW (live webcast on www.wluw.org).

Highlights of the November 5 Broadcast:

-- They sang gospel before they sang RnB: in the 1980s, K-Ci and JoJo were members of Little Cedric and the Hailey Singers; and in the 1970s Glenn Jones was a member of the Modulations, singing duets with James Cleveland. Hear it for yourself!

-- The Caravans have reunited and have a CD to prove it! We'll hear samples of their new project, Paved the Way, and some of their 1950s classics for States and Gospel (Savoy) Records. By the way, the ladies look and sound GREAT!

-- At 6:30 a.m., Elder Mack C. Mason will stop by the studio to tell us about his new book, Make Room for the Holy Ghost. Many gospel artists are featured in the book and we'll play some of their music.

-- Music In Memoriam: Willie Mae Newberry Garth – Original Gospel Harmonettes, and Paul Arnold – Gospelaires of Dayton, OH

We'll celebrate these two pioneers' homegoing by featuring gospel tracks on which they sang lead, or had a key role.

Preacher Feature: Rev. Benny C. Campbell (November 1938 - years before his amazing Apollo sessions)

Plenty of other gospel, spirituals, and jubilees by national and regional artists, such as:

Sensational Nightingales
Clara Ward
Four Internes
Gospel Soulettes of Philadelphia
Jimmy Jones and Roscoe Robinson...on a duet!
Jackson Gospel Singers
National Independents (Ricare)
Leroy Dulles
Rev. Ruben Willingham
Sallie Martin Singers
Gospel Emeralds
Dewey Young and the Flying Clouds
Ford Gospel Stars
Alex Bradford
Sons of Harmony
...and many more!

So tune in and turn on to the great sounds of gospel, spirituals and jubilees on "Gospel Memories"....because we're having a Holy Ghost party and your name is on the VIP list!

Live studio phone: 773/508-WLUW

Bob Marovich, Host
"Gospel Memories" -- Vintage Gospel, Spiritual, and Jubilee Recordings
First Sundays, 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. Central Time US
WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago
Live webcast at www.wluw.org
www.gospelmemories.com