Rundless, Watson, Hunt to be Remembered on Gospel Memories March 4

Hello, everyone -- this is your monthly reminder that Gospel Memories hits the airwaves live this Sunday, March 4 from 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. Central Time US on Chicago's 88.7 WLUW.

You can listen live wherever you are at www.wluw.org.

Request line is 773/508-WLUW

Highlights of the March 4 Broadcast:

-- In Loving Memory: musical tributes throughout the broadcast to three gospel artists who went home to be with the Lord during the month of February. They are:

Ernestine Rundless (above left), founder of Detroit's Meditation Singers. Della Reese and James Cleveland once worked with Mrs. Rundless' dynamic female group. Laura Lee Rundless went on to stardom as a solo artist.

Bro. Joseph Watson, youngest member of the current Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.

Howard "Slim" Hunt of the Supreme Angels (above right).

-- A birthday salute to Chicago's own Rev. Stanley Keeble (Fellowship MB Church, Voices of Triumph)

-- Bro. Jason Rosenberg will stop by the studio at 6:30 a.m. to share some gospel rarities from his amazing collection!

-- This month's "Lord's Prayer" comes to us from the Five Trumpets.

Preacher Feature:
Rev. Lee P. James of Los Angeles, California: "Lord Have Mercy" - a prayer (early 1960s)

-- Other artists you'll hear include:
James Cleveland and Billy Preston: a 1960s keyboard duet
Brother Joe May accompanied by rockabilly guitar (1958)
Morris Chapman and Novella Williams
Staple Singers (United Records, 1953)
Robert Anderson
Metropolitan Spiritual Church Choir - Kansas City
Dolores Washington
Pilgrim Wonders
Gospel Tones
Fairfield Four
Violinaires - 7 min. live version of "Old Time Religion" (1968)
Harold Bailey Singers
(The Saved) Little Richard
Jessy Dixon and the Omega B.C. Choir
Golden Echoes
Mary Johnson Davis Singers
...and many more!

So tune in and turn on to the great sounds of "Gospel Memories," music straight from the Old Landmark...because there's nothing like the sound of a warbling Hammond Organ in the morning!

TBGB Reviews...Judah Generation

Bishop Joseph W. Walker III Presents
Judah Generation
Light Records 2006

Junior (or youth) gospel choirs have been around since the early 1930s, when Theodore Frye organized the very first junior gospel chorus at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Chicago’s south side. As if Professor Frye didn’t provide the group with enough star power, an attractive twenty-something named Roberta Martin served as the chorus’s accompanist. With such a royal birth, Ebenezer’s choir was destined for greatness. And so it was: out of this aggregation of young people came the charter members of the Roberta Martin Singers.

Notwithstanding this example, most junior gospel choirs toiled in relative obscurity. Yes, they sang for God and their respective church congregations, and it was good, but they were relegated to the first rung of the gospel music ladder all the same. This changed in the early 1960s as America became a youth-oriented country. Groups such as the Helen Robinson Youth Chorus demonstrated that youth choirs had more than the cute factor going for them. They were not just singing Sunday Schools or gospel music training camps but could sell records, tour nationally, and wow crowds at churches and auditoriums across the land and country.

Today it’s a whole different story. There are plenty of superb young gospel choirs working up and down the gospel highway, and Judah Generation is one. Its CD, presented by Bishop Joseph W. Walker III of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Whites Creek, Tennessee, not only offers up energetic urban choir sounds, but features gospel lights Benita Washington and Lisa McClendon (gospel's answer to the suave Norah Jones) as special guest artists. In fact, Washington’s lead-trading with Judah Generation member Adrian “A.J.” Wells on “The Blood Medley” adds just the right amount of excitement to a true tambourine-slapping, pulse-quickening, traditional outing. It’s the project’s best track hands-down, and would have given the aforementioned Professor Frye soul satisfaction were he around to hear it.

Light Records has historically been associated with the smoother, contemporary sound of gospel, but not anymore: Judah Generation’s CD offers up hefty handfuls of hip hop and plenty of urban swagger. And when on "Dance Dance Dance" someone shouts, “We’re about to send up a crunk praise for the Lord!” you know it’s a whole new era! Amen!

Three of Four Stars

More Information on Howard "Slim" Hunt Homegoing

From a Malaco press release, sent by D.A. Johnson:

GOSPEL QUARTET LEGEND 'SLIM' OF SUPREME ANGELS PASSES AWAY

Jackson, MS. February 25, 2007 - Sunday, February 25, 2007, gospel music lost one of its own, Howard Hunt, aka 'Slim' of Slim and the Supreme Angels. Elder Hunt was the Pastor at the Deliverance Temple Church of God in Christ in Dillon, SC and an active member of the legendary gospel quartet group, Slim and the Supreme Angels. He passed away following a serious illness.

As a member of one of Malaco Records top gospel quartet groups,
Hunt will be sorely missed. "It is sad to lose another legend of gospel
music," states D.A. Johnson, Director of Malaco Records' Gospel Division.
"The roots of gospel music are embedded in the quartet sound and Slim has
been a large part of that history. His new album, The Judgement, releases
next week and is part of our Yes! Quartet campaign. Though he will be missed
on the 2007 tour, his music will stand to honor him in his passing."

Born in 1935 to sharecroppers, Hunt learned early that to own
two pairs of shoes meant the year was a good one. His family worked hard to
make ends meet and by the time Hunt was seventeen, he knew that the meager
life of a farmer was not what he wanted for his future. At seventeen, Hunt
left his hometown of Walnut Grove, MS and moved on to New Orleans to work on a sightseeing boat called The Steamer President. He later worked at a plumbing company and in a candy factory. There was, however, one constant in all of his journeys and jobs through life: music.

At the tender age of four, Hunt began his singing career, as many gospel artists do, in church. With a song in his heart, he made his way north to Milwaukee and through several jobs, wondering what the Lord had for him, not realizing that he would be called to minister full-time through gospel music and later as a preacher.

It was in Milwaukee that Hunt first began singing with The Supreme Angels, a group that he would stay with throughout his fifty-four year singing career; as members came and went, he held fast. The quartet sound of the Supreme Angels was embraced by fans and the group had several hit records, including "Shame On You," which went gold in 1974, "Lord Bring Me Down," and "Death & The Beautiful Lady."

The Judgement features the hits "Shame On You" and "Death & The Beautiful Lady" (Howard Hunt, composer) as well as many other originals never before released.

Slim & The Supreme Angels live by the motto: Take Jesus for your
partner and all your journeys will be safe. Pastor Hunt said that he would
never retire and that as long as he was living, he would proclaim the
gospel. Fortunately, his proclamations will live on forever through the
excellent legacy he has left behind in the gospel quartet music of Slim &
The Supreme Angels.

To attend the funeral or to send flowers and condolences, please
follow the instructions below:

Wake/Viewing
Thursday, March 1, 2007 2p - 7p
Love Temple United Holy Church Headquarters
201 N. Oak Forest Rd.
Goldsboro, NC

Funeral
Friday, March 2, 2007 11a
Greater NC Jurisdictional Headquarters
1609 Wendell Rd
Wendell, NC

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the McIntyre Funeral Home, c/o Rev. McIntyre, 900 S. George St, Goldsboro, NC 27530, phone: (919) 731-7174.

Please send cards and flowers to the funeral home. Faxed condolences should be sent to (919) 731-4338.

To order flowers from the florist on-site, call (919) 731-7646 and ask for
Tina or Justin.

Chicago Gospel at Oscar Ceremonies

If you were among those who applauded Chicago's Jennifer Hudson after her Oscar-winning, show-stopping performance of "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" in the musical Dreamgirls, you were applauding a 100 percent gospel performance with secular lyrics.

Yesterday, Hudson's singing at the 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony once again demonstrated her gospel roots. And Chicago gospel at that, with its unbridled urban fortissimo and melismatic complexity that could pose a challenge for even the most skilled of music transcribers.

Hudson, the former American Idol contestant and America's newest rising star, honed her singing craft as a member of a gospel chorus. Her church home is Progressive Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side.

Chicago -- especially the city's gospel music community -- is so proud of Jennifer Hudson we could just shout!

RIP Howard "Slim" Hunt of the Supreme Angels

Henry Harrison of Down Home Gospel Productions informed me that Howard "Slim" Hunt, leader of the Supreme Angels, passed away Sunday, February 25.

As more information becomes available, TBGB will pass it along.

Meanwhile, a marvelous mini-autobiography of Hunt is available at http://www.malaco.com/Catalog/Gospel/Slim-The-Supreme-Angels/list.php.

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 26, 2007

“Just For Who You Are”
Earnest Pugh
From the release Earnest Pugh Live – A Worshipper’s Perspective
Crystal Rose Records 2006

On the relaxed “Just For Who You Are,” Memphis native Earnest Pugh sings at slow simmer until the recording’s latter moments, when he and the live audience together build the song’s intensity to the boiling point. As such, Pugh’s performance parallels a minister’s strengthening of his sermon from exposition to exhilaration. The energy of the spirit-filled audience, responding to Pugh’s passionate delivery, is enough to sell the song.

Formerly, if only briefly, a member of O’Landa Draper and the Associates, Pugh now serves as Director of Praise at Ebenezer AME Church in Ft. Washington, Maryland.

TBGB Reviews...Stellar Awards Hits 2007

CD Review

Stellar Awards Hits 2007
Various Artists
Light Records 2007

While the WOW Gospel two-CD series has served as gospel’s de facto greatest hits compilation since its inception in 1997, Light Records’ Stellar Awards Hits 2007 is a shorter but equally enjoyable swatch of the past year’s gospel music highlights.

Don’t expect to hear the fruits of those who walked away with Stellar hardware, though: the recordings included are simply representative of artists nominated for awards. Despite this general caveat, three 2007 awardees – Evangelist Shirley Caesar, Bishop G.E. Patterson and the Williams Brothers – are represented on the compilation with one track apiece.

The disc also includes radio favorites such as Israel and New Breed’s infectious “Turn it Around” from the group’s Alive in South Africa CD and a lovely presentation of “He Reigns” by Youthful Praise. Bishop Paul S. Morton’s “A Mighty Good Friend” is given full quartet treatment courtesy of the Christianaires’ Paul Porter and old school revivalist and Stellar winner Keith “Wonderboy” Johnson. For rootsy authenticity, “Just Another Day” from Lisa McClendon’s live set at New Orleans’ House of Blues is spicy and satisfying.

Conspicuously missing from the set are multiple Stellar-winners Myron Butler & Levi, and Donald Lawrence, the latter who sliced through this year’s Stellars like a hot knife through butter on the success of his Finale: Act One. My suspicion is that Light Records needed to produce the compilation long before the final tallies were made, and therefore went with a roster of likely candidates, especially those for whom licensing rights could be secured in time.

Regardless of its omissions, however, Stellar Awards Hits 2007 is a decent little wrap-up of the Year in Gospel, a sacred variant of the Now That's What I Call Music series.

Three of Four Stars

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 20, 2007

“Blessed and Highly Favored”
The Clark Sisters
From the upcoming release Live – One Last Time
EMI Gospel 2007
http://www.theclarksistersreunion.com/

There’s not a young female gospel group out on the highway today that cannot – and does not – acknowledge the Clark Sisters as a source of inspiration. Though the late Mattie Moss Clark’s progeny has pursued successful solo careers, the sisters joined forces one last time for their first live recording since 1993.

An early single from the project, due in stores April 10, is “Blessed and Highly Favored.” It’s a relaxed tempo outing that features the Clark Sisters’ tight harmonies and delightfully sassy vocal delivery. Produced by one of gospel’s brightest lights, Donald Lawrence, “Blessed and Highly Favored” is sure to climb the gospel charts. And if the live project lives up to its promotion, it will be in line for a Stellar nomination.

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 12, 2007

“Traditional Praise and Worship”
Rev. Oscar Hayes & Abundant Life Fellowship
From Seasoned & Settled
(Private Press) 2006
(313) 867-9112

“Y’all don’t mind havin’ a little Missionary Baptist church for a minute?”

Thus inquires Detroit’s Rev. Oscar Hayes, rhetorically of course, as he and his Abundant Life Fellowship launch into a nearly eight-minute medley of traditional sacred literature during one of its live performances. Songs such as “On the Battlefield,” “Have a Little Talk with Jesus,” and “Down by the Riverside” are accompanied by an infectious backbeat and a happily warbling Hammond organ.

The singing group, including fellow Detroiter Darius “Scatman” Twyman (of Destiny), plays the role of responsive congregation with obvious joy. This devotional track is the finest moment on Seasoned & Settled by a country mile, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys COGIC Bishop G.E. Patterson’s volumes of old time singing.

Brother Joe Watson of Mississippi Blind Boys Passes Away

From Mrs. Henry Thomas-Harrison of Down Home Gospel Productions in Chicago:

Brother Joe Watson of The Blind Boys of Mississippi passed away Monday, February 5th, 2007 at 7:55 p.m. at Yale Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.

Brother Joe Watson joined the Blind Boys of Mississippi in 1975. He was 64 years old, the youngest in the group. His funeral will be Friday, February 16th in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

Funeral services at:

New Life Baptist Church
1281 Biscayne Drive
Kannapolis, NC
Rev. Terry Moody officiating

Another soldier gone home. RIP Joe Watson.

Caravans Honored with Soul Train, Grammy Nominations

From a Malaco Records Press Release:

Jackson, MS. February 9, 2007 - On February 6, 2007, Soul Train announced nominees for their 21st annual prestigious music awards among whom is found The Caravans, for their 2006 release Paved The Way, in the category of Best Gospel Album.

The event takes place on March 17th at the Pasadena Civic Center in Pasadena, California and will then be broadcast through syndicated networks between March 17th and March 24th. Check local listings for dates and times.

Paved The Way is also in the running for a Grammy Award; winners will be announced at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 11th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Building an impressive chart record, Paved The Way hit #7 on Billboard’s music charts as well as Nielsen SoundScan charts upon release and is currently at #19 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums charts, for its 22nd week on. “Remember Me,” the current radio single is at #11 and has also been on the charts for twenty-two weeks. The song reached #11 in its first weeks out.

The album also includes classic hits such as “Mary Don’t You Weep,” which The Caravans recently performed on B.E.T’s Celebration of Gospel event and at the 22nd annual Stellar Awards ceremony in January.

Ernestine Rundless of the Meditation Singers Passes Away in Detroit

TBGB is saddened to report that Sister Ernestine Rundless, leader of The Meditation Singers, passed away on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 after a lengthy illness.

Born May 4, 1914, Ernestine was one of the mightiest singers on the gospel highway. Her Meditation Singers once included Della Reese as a member and worked with James Cleveland for a time. Sister Ernestine's impact on gospel music is incalculable.

Condolences may be sent to her daughter, Laura Lee, care of:
Swanson’s Funeral Home
806 E. Grand Boulevard
Detroit, MI
(1-313-923-1122)

Viewing - Friday Feb. 16th
Swanson’s Funeral Home
806 E. Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI

Memorial Musical - Friday Feb. 16th 7:00pm
New Liberty Baptist Church
2964 Meldrum (near Charlevois Street & Mt. Elliott)
Detroit, MI

Funeral Services
Saturday - Feb 17, 2007 10:00am
New Liberty Baptist Church
2964 Meldrum
Detroit, MI 48207
(1-313-921-0118)

TBGB Reviews...Zie'l

CD Review:

Genesis
Zie’l
Light Records 2006
www.myspace.com/officialziel

Recall my blog entry from December 2005...
http://blackgospel.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_blackgospel_archive.html
...when I predicted that Zie’l would be a group to watch in 2006. Having heard the five women from Shreveport, Louisiana sing at the 2005 Gospel Music Workshop of America, I knew Zie’l exuded talent. They could present traditional and urban gospel with equal zest. For me, their live appearance was one of the finest surprise moments of the convention.

Genesis, Zie’l’s 2006 release for Light Records in association with Gospel Warehouse Records, was clearly crafted to showcase the group’s urban gospel side. Producer Derek Clark of Hitland Entertainment all but telegraphs this point by piping in at the end of the first track, “Send Me,” with a spoken salute to the pioneers of the "urban gospel movement," including Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, PAJAM, and Mary Mary.

Echoes of another female group, Virtue, resound throughout each of the nine musical tracks on Genesis, with “Can We Get Away” and “I Love You So Much” proving to be the jazziest tracks. The two songs hang on a sacred quiet storm groove, and are only a couple of lyric changes away from complete transformation into scorching love ballads.

My favorite (and it would be, wouldn’t it!) is “Surely God is Able,” James Cleveland’s variation on a theme from Rev. W. Herbert Brewster, though a close second was Ziel’s take on Twinkie Clark’s “Is My Living In Vain?” While a much different and earlier version, rendered by Mahalia Jackson, asks the question rhetorically, Clark’s more contemporary composition answers it with an emphatic, "No, of course not!" Zie’l punctuates the point with no-nonsense harmonizing.

The tenth track is a real (or possibly simulated) five-way telephone conversation between members of Zie’l that might have been better served as a hidden track, as it doesn’t really add much to the overall project. Instead, I would have loved to hear the group close Genesis with a traditional-style piece in the manner of RiZen’s “View the City,” to truly showcase their versatility.

It’s hard not to like this effervescent quintet, no matter what style of music they sing, but I do hope the next Zie'l project incorporates at least one old-time church wrecker. Pretty please?!

2 of 4 Stars

D'Vine, TBGB Host Bob Marovich, Author Jerry Zolten at Beloit College Feb. 14

From the Beloit Daily News
Posted: Friday, Feb 02, 2007 - 10:58:14 am CST

Excerpted from an article by Hillary Wundrow
Daily News staff writer

At Beloit College, music will spill out of Beloit College's Eaton Chapel when the D'Vine gospel trio brings its soulful music to Beloit College for a concert on Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets for the event are $12 ($8 for senior citizens and $4 for students) and may be ordered through the Beloit College box office at (608)363-2755.

D'Vine consists of two sisters, Pamela McGuire Deas and Paula McGuire Saunders, along with their friend, Sheryl Pollard. The women blend voices in three-part harmonies in both a cappella arrangements and with musical accompaniment. They often sing “Amazing Grace,” “Let There be Peace on Earth,” “If You're Happy and You Know It” and the national anthem. The D'Vine gospel trio has performed at the 1996 Olympic Games and the inauguration of President Clinton in 1997.



D'Vine's performance is the cornerstone of GospelFest, a Beloit College series that focuses on the beauty, cultural importance and enduring popularity of gospel music. The series will kick off with a discussion by Jerry Zolten (left), an associate professor of communications arts and sciences at Penn State Altoona University. Zolten is the author of “Great God A'mighty! The Dixie Hummingbirds: Celebrating the Rise of Soul Gospel Music” and a professional record producer, collector and musician. His multi-media presentation, “African American Spirituals and Gospel: The Neglected Foundation of American Pop Music,” will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m., in the Moore Lounge, in Pearsons Hall.



Next is a Valentine's Day celebration of gospel music titled “Gospel from the Heart.” Deas, Saunders and Pollard will be joined by radio personality and gospel historian Bob Marovich (right), host of Gospel Memories on radio WLUW 88.7 FM in Chicago, to the history of gospel music. Plans are for the vocalists to offer a cappella renditions of favorite gospel songs, followed by commentary from Marovich. “Gospel from the Heart” will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m., in the Java Joint, in Pearsons Hall. Refreshments will be served.

To learn more about the International Performing Arts & Lecture Series at Beloit College, log on at http://www.beloit.edu/~ipals/, or contact Mary Frey, director of special events at the college, at (608)363-2242.