"Thanks For My Mama" - Joe Russell

“Thanks For My Mama”

Joe Russell

http://www.joerussellmusic.com/

As hearts and minds turn to Mother’s Day (May 8), there’s no music like gospel to pay tribute to the family’s selfless anchor.

On “Thanks For My Mama,” South Florida's Joe Russell, formerly of the Debonairs but now a gospel singer, croons his genuine gratitude for his mother’s reassurance, discipline, and love. He also misses her. “She was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

I can see gospel radio stations, especially in the south and southeast, playing “Thanks For My Mama” on Mothers Day.

Michael Boykin & the Mighty Voices - Coming Out of the Storm

Michael Boykin & The Mighty Voices

Coming Out of the Storm

Versatile Music Group (2010)

www.myspace.com/mightyvoices

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

After the most destructive weather the U.S. south and southeast have experienced in more than three decades, reviewing a project called Coming Out of the Storm by a quartet from Clinton, North Carolina, a town slammed by a tornado April 16 seems not only eerie, but also potentially insensitive.

But thank goodness, even if Clinton’s Michael Boykin & The Mighty Voices are not necessarily talking about a literal storm, they’re using the image in the album’s opening selection as a lead-in to say “the storm is over.”  The follow-up, “Brighter Day,” promises the rainbow after the rain.

Let's hope so, on both counts.

Boykin is a hard-driving quartet singer who evokes Clarence Fountain and Robert Blair in his emotion-drenched delivery. His finest performances on the album are “Blessing Me” (also known as “The Lord is Blessing Me”) and “Jesus is All I Need.” On the latter, Boykin wrenches every ounce of utility from the song in shouting eternal fealty to his savior.

Coming Out of the Storm works best when it is delivering simple messages plucked from Scripture and mother wit. Most of the songs are about being encouraged, having faith, and trusting in the Lord. On “Got to Live Right,” the quartet offers a testimony designed to turn the hearts of listeners.

The group provides additional testimony on “Keep Me Safe,” which could be subtitled “The Quartet Prayer,” as the singers pray for safety from physical and emotional harm while on the road. They conclude with an intercession on behalf of a litany of fellow quartets traveling the gospel highway, many of whose names they call as the CD concludes.

The album's couple of praise and worship songs are genuine in spirit but lack the emotional intensity of the faith and encouragement selections.

Coming Out of the Storm is about going through and getting through. Following the events of April 16, this message might not be as much of a metaphor after all.

Three of Five Stars

Pick: “Blessing Me,” “Testify.”

Jay White - Larger Than Life

Jay White

Larger Than Life

Intercession Music (2010)

http://www.jaylwhite.com/

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, as the saying goes. In the case of singer-songwriter-musician-producer Jay White, that tree grows in Brooklyn and has deep roots in gospel music.

White’s father is Bishop Jeffrey L. White, Senior Pastor of Brooklyn’s Greater Temple of Faith (“House of Judah”).  He played bass for artists such as Elder Timothy Wright, Reverend James Cleveland, Bishop Albert Jamison & TriBoro Mass Choir, and Bishop J.C. White and the J.C. White Singers. The J.C. White Singers in particular were musical innovators, having been a part of the contemporary gospel movement and cast members of the original The Gospel at Colonnus.

Bishop White makes a brief appearance delivering the Word on his son’s debut solo album, Larger Than Life, a CD anchored by crisp, jazzy musicianship that evokes the Winans’ early work. Complex Take Six-like harmonies underpin White’s omnipresent vocals that make frequent leaps into falsetto. The selections are love songs to the Lord, delivered with a conviction suggesting a love forged in the crucible of trial. To that point, the poignant “Cry 4 Help” is about a worship leader who battles inner demons and emerges victorious through tear-stained prayer.

Larger Than Life is one of the rare albums where I agree with all of the single selections. The rhythmic and exuberant title song, the swaggering warning to haters called “I Don’t Need You,” and the ballad “Only One I Need” are compelling tracks. In addition, “Love Lifted Me” is a melodic praise song with excellent jazz accompaniment, and “I Know a Man,” with its declaration of joy, has a relaxed soul vibe with a touch of traditional in the faint warbling of an organ.

Those who enjoy gospel and inspirational music with an urban contemporary touch will enjoy Jay White's Larger Than Life.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “I Don’t Need You,” “Larger Than Life,” “Only One I Need.”

"Wow" - Teen Pure-N-Heart

“Wow”
Teen Pure-N-Heart
From the CD Teen Pure-N-Heart Live (Due April 2011)
http://www.teenpurenheart.com/

Kids. They sure grow up quickly.

The indefatigable music minister Alphaeus Anderson has an app for that. It’s called Teen Pure-N-Heart.

A brand extension of the 2010 Stellar-nominated Pure-N-Heart children’s choir, Teen Pure-N-Heart is comprised of more than 200 teenage singers from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In keeping with its motto, “Youth Uniting to Impact the World,” the group is multi-church, multi-denominational and multi-cultural.

On July 31, 2010, the young PNH and Teen PNH recorded their respective CDs before a live audience of some 3,000. “Wow” is the opening track on the debut album of Teen PNH. A straightforward power praise song, “Wow” features a growling guitar that pounds common meter, breaks momentarily into rock steady, and switches back to 4/4. The beyond-her-years voice of a female lead buttresses the youthful chorus.

"Wow" is the exuberant energy of youth giving their all on the altar.

TBGB Pick of the Week: April 25, 2011

“Rejoice in the Lord”

Keesha Rainey

From the JSound Records CD Breakthrough (2011)
http://www.keesharainey.com/

Nashville’s Keesha Rainey is called the "Billie Holiday of gospel" for her voice, not for fateful self-destructive behavior.

In fact, on her rhythmic single, “Rejoice in the Lord,” Rainey sings that God saved her “from destruction and gave me peace within.” The songstress goes on to declare how good God has been to her, while the background vocalists chime their assent.

While I’m not hearing Holiday’s dusky clarinet-like voice on this single, Rainey does give the R&B-flavored track a fine reading. And kudos to the drummer, who keeps the backbeat as if backing a quartet.

“Rejoice in the Lord” made history on CJB Radio, an internet-based radio station, for being the only song to remain at number one on its charts for six consecutive weeks. It made number three on the CJB Radio Top 50 songs for 2010.

Martha Munizzi Prepares to Make It Loud

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

It’s been nearly a decade since Central Florida’s Martha Munizzi burst on the gospel music scene with her debut CD, Say the Name.

Since then, the praise and worship leader has garnered Grammy and Soul Train Music Award nominations and secured Stellar and Dove Awards. In 2004, she was named one of the top five Gospel artists by Billboard Magazine.  Her albums have risen to top ten positions on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart.

Make It Loud, available tomorrow, finds Munizzi not only in front of the microphone but also in the producer’s chair. TBGB spoke to the singer about the new CD and her gospel roots.

As a child, Martha Munizzi sang southern gospel with her family, but she absorbed a multitude of influences. “I have a very good blend of all styles of music in my blood,” the singer explained. “I liked Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, and around the age of 16 or 17, I discovered Andrae Crouch, CeCe Winans, and John P. Kee. The one who really inspired my writing was Fred Hammond.”

Munizzi hoped someday to become a professional musician. “When I was a kid, I dreamed that I would be playing piano in my house, and a famous producer would break down, his car would run out of gas and he’d knock on the door. He’d hear me play and that’s how I would be discovered. Of course," she laughed, "that never happened!”

Even though the autos of famous producers never broke down on her street, Munizzi continued hankering for a life in music. “I could feel it,” she said, “when I would go to an Amy Grant concert, or a Michael W. Smith concert, or hear Fred Hammond, that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted it so bad, but I had no idea where to begin. Only God can open those doors and give us the wisdom and the timing, but the desire was from Him. He said to start walking in His path and you’ll walk right into your destiny. And that’s what I did!”

Munizzi entered the world of gospel music when she and her husband Dan became worship leaders at a Central Florida church with a diverse membership. "We introduced a lot of gospel music because that’s what we were listening to. We were young and we loved gospel music. That’s what we sang, that’s what we taught the choirs, that’s the worship music that we chose and so we begin to write in that same vein.

“When I was at the church, busy working every day, every week, writing songs for the choir, I didn’t realize that our songs had gotten out. I had no clue that people had come through and listened to our songs and had taken them back to their own churches and were singing them all over the country. You’re just busy doing what you love to do and then you look up and realize God has taken it and multiplied it. Sometimes your gifts can take you where you can’t go yourself, but God put the songs on my heart.”

(Munizzi’s twin sister, Mary Alessi, also became a gospel singer and praise and worship leader. Alessi’s entrance into gospel music occurred in much the same way as her sister’s: through the confluence of music and musicians at her and her husband’s church in Miami.)

In addition to directing their church ministry, the Munizzis assisted music ministries at other churches. They were especially well received in African American churches. “That was where the invitations were coming from, and that’s where we felt we fit.”

After nearly a decade in the business, Munizzi felt ready to produce her own project. The result is Make It Loud.

The singer reflected on the experience.  “It was a lot of pressure, I have to tell you, because it wasn’t the kind of situation where I would write and help create and then say [to the producer] ‘Let me know when you’re close to being done.’ I had to go back to my music director days when I stayed with the band and the singers and made decisions through the entire process. There wasn’t a rehearsal I didn’t go to, there wasn’t anything I wasn’t a part of, so that was exciting. It was a lot more work but it was very, very rewarding.”

The album's concept can be found in its title. Munizzi explained: “Listening to the news and watching television shows, you hear pop artists coming on strong with opinions and giving them as truth. It’s mind blowing.  It's frightening to me. This album says that I’m not holding back: I’m declaring the bigness, the goodness of God. Christians don’t have to hold back. No one can heal, no one can save like He can, so let’s ‘make it loud.’ I believe the album is going to give people spiritual guts.”

Among the lineup of guest artists on the album is popular praise and worship leader William McDowell. “We go way back with William,” Munizzi said. “Some years ago, we put together a worship team, a combination of worship leaders from local churches. William has been a part of it. Now God is opening doors for him. He’s so beyond his years with the gift on his life. People don’t even know what he has, but they will, they’ll see!

Munizzi is especially excited that her eldest daughter Danielle debuts on the project as a singer and songwriter. “Danielle is eighteen, she’s about to go off to college, and is so gifted. She’s been working with the youth group at the church we’ve been attending for the past two or three years, and it’s amazing how she has developed. She plays guitar, she plays keys, and she wrote a song called ‘Your Love Oh God.’ I told her she had to put her song on the album. It’s really raw, just Danielle, a keyboard player and the congregation. It’s such an amazing moment.”

With Make It Loud, Munizzi says she is going to “share my joy louder, I’m going to share my giving louder, and I’m going to share my love louder. That’s what it’s all about.”

Recorded live at City of Life Church in Kissimmee, Florida, Make It Loud will be released Tuesday, April 26. For more information on Martha Munizzi, go to http://www.marthamunizzi.com/.

Jennifer Holliday and Rev. Raphael G. Warnock - Goodness & Mercy

Jennifer Holliday & Rev. Raphael G. Warnock
Goodness & Mercy
Euphonic Records (2011)
www.cdbaby.com/cd/jenniferhollidayandrevra

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church is preserved in the amber of history for having once been blessed with Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as co-pastors. The philosophy of non-violence rang out from the church's storied pulpit and forever altered the course of world events.

Since 2005, historic Ebenezer has been pastored by Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, once assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist in Harlem, an equally important church in terms of promoting civil rights and social justice.

Ebenezer gained a new member recently when actress and Grammy Award-winner Jennifer Holliday, who created and portrayed the role of Effie White (“And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”) in the original production of Dreamgirls, heard Warnock on the church’s weekly TV broadcast. "I could feel his realness right through the television!" quipped Holliday.

Later, the singer had the idea to blend thematically relevant songs with snippets of Warnock’s preaching. The product is Goodness & Mercy, released on Holliday's Euphonic label last Tuesday, April 19.

Holliday may be best known for her stage and television career but she is no stranger to gospel. She participated in a Paul Simon-hosted “Gospel Session” for Cinemax in 1986, and released an album of gospel music, On & On (Intersound Records) in 1995. On Goodness & Mercy, the original Dreamgirl improvises and squalls tunefully like Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle on classics such as “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and “My Heavenly Father Watches Over Me,” as well as the contemporary title track and “God Is Faithful.”

On balance, Goodness & Mercy is more spoken word than singing. Warnock delivers an introductory sermonette and full-length sermon with skill and power. The more interesting tracks from an artistic perspective, however, weave Holliday's singing and Warnock's preaching together so they echo one another.  The two could easily have produced an entire album of these word and music amalgams. Nevertheless, both Jennifer Holliday and Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock put their best feet forward on this partnership.

Three of Five Stars

Picks: ”Goodness and Mercy,” “God Is Faithful.”

"Rejoice" - SoJo Ministries

“Rejoice”
SoJo Ministries
http://www.sojojo2.com/

Gospel music has long celebrated the singing married couple, Sullivan and Iola Pugh of the Consolers being among the most renowned, but there are many others.

Delaware’s Sophia and Joe Yancey, Jr. of SoJo Ministries continue the tradition. Sophia sings and Joe makes the music. Both write.

“Rejoice” is the couple’s single that has gotten radio attention. It is a simple praise song, and although the key line is “It’s a brand new day,” the keyboard work gives it a retro ‘80s feel. Even Sophia’s soprano evokes the high-range singing of 80s R&B vocal groups.

SoJo Ministries anticipates releasing a full-length CD this summer.

The Search for Blind Willie Johnson and the Texas Gospel

Shane Ford informed TBGB of a Kickstarter campaign to fund The Search for "Blind" Willie Johnson and the Texas Gospel, a documentary that will explore Texas gospel music and its antecedents.

According to the film's Kickstarter page: "The goal of this documentary will be to explore the social and cultural significance of gospel music within the state of Texas. Presented from the view of historians, professors, and the current participants in the churches, we will seek to flesh out the idea of what gospel music has meant to Texas and the world of music in general."

Shane adds: "We will seek to understand the spirituals, tracing them from their roots through the civil rights movement and to what these songs mean today. This is a subject that has slipped through the cracks of contemporary music history. Most of its historical participants and founders died penniless, persecuted, and in unmarked graves with little to no information known about them. Unlike the blues, most of the gospel songs and performers have been relegated to obscurity."

Featured artists to be examined in this documentary include Blind Willie Johnson, Arizona Dranes, Washington Phillips and the Soul Stirrers.

The documentary is in its early stages and the producers are seeking financial backing. Learn more here: Texas Gospel.  Consider giving a little something something to help these guys out!

Eric Sharper featuring Committed Praise - Pressing Forward

Eric Sharper featuring Committed Praise
Pressing Forward
Dream Reality Records
www.myspace.com/committedpraise

Friend of TBGB Tom Matta forwarded a copy of Eric Sharper and Committed Praise’s most recent release, Pressing Forward, for review.

The ten-track album showcases an ensemble – technically a choir – of fresh, young voices propelled by Sharper’s zesty vocals. But it isn’t all about Sharper; other lead singers also stand out on Pressing Forward.

Of all the selections, “Praise Him” is most representative of the Sharper/Committed Praise experience. It’s a song of thanksgiving for life’s simpler things, and is articulated by singers who sound like they really enjoy what they are doing. Their bright and breezy singing is not campy or cheesy but genuine and passionate, especially on the lead track, “Alright,” which sets the tone for the rest of the project.

Later in the album, Committed Praise provides a contemporary gospel version of the spiritual “Wade in the Water” that is effervescent and powerful. The group then switches to a bluesy rendition of “I Will Trust in the Lord.” A quartet style feel on “Great Things” closes out the album.

Bottom line: Pressing Forward is a feel good listening experience.

Eric Sharper of Valdosta, Georgia has been mentioned in this space before in the context of his work with Karen Washington. It’s good to know he has been letting his own light shine, too, because his is a bright light indeed.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “Praise Him,” “Wade in the Water,” “I Will Trust in the Lord.”

Madelyn Berry - Madelyn

Madelyn Berry
Madelyn
BerryTightMusic 2011
http://www.madelynberry.org/

On her eponymously-titled third CD, Madelyn Berry continues to demonstrate that she can hold her own vocally against better-known urban gospel female singers such as Damita Haddon and Kiki Sheard.

TBGB first became aware of the stylish songstress from Apopka, Florida last year when she released her live CD, You Deserve All Praise. Berry’s new album bristles with the same bright energy as her sophomore project. The pop-infused songs here are inspirational, their titles as straightforward and uncomplicated as their messages. They explore human resilience, the need for encouragement, belief in one’s own abilities, appreciation for inner beauty, and maintaining strength in adversity. Woven throughout all is the importance of leaning on the Lord.

Madelyn’s dozen tuneful tracks are given Berry’s effervescent vocal treatment and are adroitly produced by Berry’s husband and songwriting partner, Taron. The songs buzz with electronic support when they are not breezy and acoustic, such as on the ballads “Never Alone” and “Lord You’re Always There.” A remix of the already-lively “Why I Love Him” bumps the track up a few revolutions, and “Every Lil Thing,” the album’s first single, begs for listener participation.

Madelyn is a marvelously pleasing listen, and Madelyn Berry could well become the year’s latest prime candidate for major label attention.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “You Can Make It,” “Every Little Thing.”

"He Walked Alone (The Story of Jesus)" - Chris Jasper

“He Walked Alone (The Story of Jesus)”
Chris Jasper
From the forthcoming Gold City Music CD Inspired
http://www.goldcitymusic.com/

Isley Jasper Isley alumnus Chris Jasper is no stranger to writing and singing sacred music. “He Walked Alone (The Story of Jesus)” is Jasper’s brief musical biography of Jesus from birth to crucifixion. A tender James Taylor-style ballad with a soulful conclusion, “He Walked Alone” gets Jasper’s high tenor treatment throughout.

Available as a download on CDBaby and other media outlets, the song is a good choice to play during the Easter Season.

TBGB Pick of the Week: April 18, 2011

“Trust Me”
Richard Smallwood with Vision
From the forthcoming Verity Records CD Promises
(available June 21, 2011)
http://www.verityrecords.com/

Iconic singer-songwriter Richard Smallwood has created sacred masterpieces such as “Total Praise,” “Center of My Joy” and “I Love the Lord.” Smallwood's latest single, “Trust Me,” recorded with his vocal group, Vision, carries his deft touch: classical, dramatic, sing-able, and alternately reverent and thunderous.

The lyrics are God’s reassurance to those suffering with loss that He has the power to do all things, if one just trusts and believes in Him. While not at the level of the aforementioned hits, “Trust Me” is nevertheless one of Smallwood’s strongest recent releases.

From Detroit to Decatur: Bishop J.C. Williams Encounters New Life

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

No one can call Bishop J.C. Williams an underachiever.

He accepted the ministry at age 15 and started a church ten years later. Now in his thirties, Williams is one of ten ministers who will be honored at the Rhythm of Gospel Awards this July.

His CD, The Encounter Live, recorded with the Voices of New Life, was released April 2.

The Bishop took time out on CD release day to talk with TBGB about the CD and his musical background.

Bishop Jeronn C. Williams, Ph.D. was born in Detroit and attended the International Gospel Center under the pastorage of the late Apostle Charles O. Miles. Williams grew up surrounded by music and ministry: his mother was International Gospel Center’s minister of music, responsible for six groups and four choirs, including a 200-voice chorus. His father was the church organist.

Williams sang in his mother’s choir and cites three innovators as his earliest musical influences: Rance Allen, Marvin Winans and John P. Kee. “I’m dating myself,” he said, “but I can remember listening to Rance Allen’s 8-tracks in the living room, and trying to sound just like him!”

At age 15, Williams formally accepted the call to ministry and chose to further his education at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The summer before entering his freshman year, however, he had a critical decision to make.

“I was asked to sing with Fred Hammond’s Radical for Christ,” Williams recalled. “He was just putting it together, but I had to turn it down. It was a great opportunity, and it was great to be asked to be part of it. At the same time, I knew my college matriculation was going to be even more important.”

In 1993, during his college years, Williams began directing the New Life Inspirational Gospel Choir, a collaborative effort between Atlanta HCBUs Morehouse, Spelman, Clark-Atlanta and Morris Brown. He held this position until 2007.

On Easter Sunday, 1999, twenty-five year-old Williams started New Life International Family Church in Decatur, Georgia, near Atlanta. Today, New Life has approximately 400 members, “and we are growing,” Williams adds.

Despite the church’s growth, Williams felt something was still missing. “I was feeling like there was something that we needed to do and hadn’t done. It came very strong on my heart that we needed to record. The favor of the Lord was with us, especially financially, because we really didn’t have the money to do a recording the way we wanted to do it. But we did it and we are extremely excited with what came out of it.”

The album, The Encounter Live, was produced by Donnie “D-Major” Boynton, Williams’ cousin and the church’s minister of music. “We have a studio at the church and he did all the music production,” Williams said.
Derrick Stevenson, married to gospel singer Monica Lisa Stevenson, handled mixing responsibilities.

“We Serve a Mighty God” was the first single to be released from the album and is currently impacting radio in Detroit, Chicago, Mississippi, and places in between. It also earned the choir three Rhythm of Gospel Award nominations: Song of the Year, Contemporary Song of the Year, and Church Choir of the Year. The awards will be presented in July at a special ceremony in Memphis.

In addition to the nominations, Williams was selected to be one of ten Pastors of Excellence honorees to be feted at a banquet during the Rhythm of Gospel weekend.

Williams said another potential single from the album is “Rejoice.” It’s a family project. “My dad wrote that song about thirty or forty years ago,” Williams explained. “We had the privilege of re-doing it and re-presenting it. My sister, Sheronn L. Williams, is leading it.”

Just prior to the CD release, the Voices of New Life sang for Wrestlemania XXVII at the Georgia Dome. Williams said the opportunity came about when the music director of WWE “was looking for a choir in Atlanta. He went on YouTube and found us. He said our sound was exactly what we wanted, so we were privileged to be part of Wrestlemania. They told us that our performance was the best that they had ever had out of a choir.”

Now that the CD is out, Williams and his team will be sitting down to plan a promotional tour. He said, “There is a myriad of churches calling me and saying they want the project, and want us to visit, so we are going to put together a Midwest, East Coast and Southern tour and see where it takes us.

“I’m my own worst critic,” Williams laughs, “and I absolutely love the project!”

For more information, go to http://www.voicesofnewlife.com/.

"Leaning" - Roy Tyler and New Directions (feat. Clarence Fountain)

Never say never. That’s what Roy Tyler learned recently.

He called TBGB last week to report that “Leaning,” his duet with Clarence Fountain of the Blind Boys of Alabama, suddenly resurfaced – after seven years – and is currently making its way around gospel radio.

The re-arrangement of “What a Fellowship” or “Leaning on the Everlasting Arm” comes from Tyler’s 2004 Three Way Calling (Severn), an album he recorded with his group, New Directions.

Tyler, a singer-songwriter, was a member of California’s Gospel Hummingbirds quartet and has collaborated with the famed Raphael Saddiq.

Hostyle Gospel - Five Star Generals

Hostyle Gospel
Five Star Generals
Hostyle Gospel Ministries (2010)
http://www.hostylegospel.com/

There are worship warriors who stomp on the devil’s head, and then there’s Hostyle Gospel.

This holy hip hop group from Champaign, Illinois does more than stomp. On their mixtape, Five Star Generals, the trio unpacks an entire arsenal of anti-devil weaponry. They break demons’ necks, drive stakes into them and even toss their ol' sorry evil selves into trash cans and roll them.

Hostyle Gospel also stomps, though, because they spit that they have stepped on so many demons they have “holes in their shoes.”

Of course the language on Five Star Generals is metaphorical, but there’s no denying the group’s tough-talking, no-holds-barred stance. These guys aren’t playing around. They have fashioned themselves into spiritual superheroes declaring all-out street war on the demons who have encircled and imprisoned Christians. These guys have God’s back, and visa versa.

The mixtape starts strong, with Hostyle Gospel articulating its mission, though I would have preferred the introduction play longer, because just as it grabs your attention, the audio fades. On the other hand, it fades into “The Boss,” an audio kaleidoscope of samples, sounds and rapid-fire rhyming. Had the entire mixtape maintained the energy and creativity of the first two tracks, it would have been a gospel rap masterpiece.

Five Star Generals eventually transitions into a more conventional vibe, though not necessarily a plain vanilla sound. “The Slave and the Master” is a bold portrayal of redemption, and “Dream On” samples Aerosmith’s 1973 classic for a rap about the group’s evangelistic “dream team”: “like Michael, Magic and Larry on the same team.”

Five Star Generals is well produced and engineered. Listen to or download the mixtape at:
www.datpiff.com/Hostyle-Gospel-Five-Star-Generals-mixtape.138859.html.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “The Boss,” “Dream On.”

Malaco Records Buildings Destroyed By Storm

Joseph Middleton of the Golden Era Gospel Blog informed TBGB this morning that two of the three buildings housing Malaco Records of Jackson, Mississippi were "virtually blown away" by the storm system that cut its way across the southern states Friday.

Malaco Music Group has been a staunch supporter of TBGB.  Our heart goes out to the people who have poured their hearts and souls into the record label and pray that they can rebuild as soon as possible.

Read more here, courtesy of WLBT: Malaco Records.

"He Laid His Hand" - Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson & the Spiritual Voices

“He Laid His Hand”

Keith “Wonderboy” Johnson & the Spiritual Voices

(feat. Zacardi Cortez)

From the Worldwide Music CD Back to Basics Chapter Two (2011)

www.myspace.com/wonderboyjohnson

Possessing raw, shouting preacher-like vocal styles, Keith “Wonderboy” Johnson and Zacardi Cortez (“The Blood,” “I Believe”) are ideally suited to do a duet. On “He Laid His Hand,” the duet comes to pass.

The song, which features the quintessential quartet "mother on her sickbed" story, apexes with a prophetic litany of diseases that will leave the body. Female background vocalists provide cool constrast to Johnson and Cortez’s apoplectic vocal fireblasts following the story’s happy ending with a spritz of cool ‘70s soul harmonies.

Gospel Music Documentary to Hit Theaters June 3

Cinemablend.com discusses the new documentary on gospel music, Rejoice and Shout, that hits theaters in June.

Read more here: Rejoice and Shout.

Historic Roberts Temple COGIC Turns 95

Save the date - the mother church of Chicago's Church of God in Christ community has a long and storied connection to gospel music.

From Minnie Pearl Roberts and Gertrude Roberts Cooper to Katie Bell Nubin and Rosetta Tharpe, the Duncanaires, Arizona Juanita Dranes, Brother Isaiah Roberts...the list goes on and on. Anybody who was anybody came through those doors.

During the ceremony, TBGB's Bob Marovich will give a brief history of Roberts Temple's role in gospel music.

Click on the image for a closer look at the details.

Soul Tempo - Doing Our Father's Business

Soul Tempo

Doing Our Father’s Business

Soul Tempo Music (to be released Summer 2011)

http://www.soultemposingers.com/

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Organized in New Haven, Connecticut in 1985, Soul Tempo is a contemporary quartet with old-school sensibility. The group’s breathy, light-as-helium harmonies and finger-popping rhythms evoke the sound of Boys II Men and the Christianaires.

Winners of the 2009 McDonald’s Gospel Fest, Soul Tempo presents its latest CD, Doing Our Father’s Business. The cover photo depicts the group – Jeremiah Brunson, Anthony Burnett, and brothers Kevin and Phillip Mitchell – looking like CIA agents on assignment, complete with dark suits, white shirts and no-nonsense briefcases. This shows their tough determination, but their singing is more mellow and smooth than such a serious demeanor suggests.

The album is a mix of new songs, R&B classics given various levels of sacred makeovers, and vintage gospel. R&B covers include Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready;” “Fix It” contains funky bass runs and musical echoes straight out of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”

Vintage gospel gets its props with a straightaway cover of the Soul Stirrers’ “Touch the Hem of His Garment,” which adds even more doo-wop to Sam Cooke’s 1956 original. The group’s almost note-for-note cover of the Swan Silvertones’ “The Lord’s Prayer,” also from '56, is included here; it was Soul Tempo who sang it in the 1996 hit film, The Preacher’s Wife.  The group also reprises Andrae’ Crouch’s “Jesus is the Answer” on Doing Our Father’s Business.

“Holy Name” is a radio-friendly praise ballad, followed by “He’s Everything to Me,” which features the sassy lead of Yvette Early, one of the few female voices heard on the project. “Further Up the Road” is the album’s uptempo quartet drive piece, featuring dynamic guitar work by Derrick “Hot Sauce” Cummings.

Doing Our Father’s Business is nicely produced by five-time Grammy nominee Chris Davis and a respectable introduction to Soul Tempo for anyone who has yet to hear their vocal harmony singing.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “Never Give Up,” “The Lord’s Prayer,” “Touch the Hem of His Garment.”

"More Than Anything" - Myron Williams

“More Than Anything”
Myron Williams
From the Flow Records CD Thankful
http://www.myronwilliamsministries.com/

The second single from Myron Williams’ 2010 release Thankful is an uncomplicated, antiphonal praise anthem with a steady rolling rhythm designed to get church congregations on their feet and prepped for worship. It’s mood-setting, a conventional sing-along for contemporary worshippers that serves its purpose well.

"Krazy" - The Church Boyz

“Krazy”

The Church Boyz

From the Worldwide Music CD The Church Boyz (2011)

www.gospeltruthmagazine.com

Sounding like a young Men of Standard, the Church Boyz of Chicago is a contemporary quartet with an old soul. The group lends a jazzy, sanctified style to the loping “Krazy.”

Here, they sing about coming through the trials of life: “even though I knew what I want, I was often confused about what I need.” Without the Lord, or had the enemy prevailed, they would have gone “crazy, stone crazy…straight out of my mind.” A thumping bass keeps funky time while punctuating horns evoke the button-down sophistication of Earth, Wind and Fire.

Back in 2009, TBGB had a chance to speak with Rev. Eric Harris of the Church Boyz and is pleased to see they have gotten major label attention via Kerry Douglas’s Worldwide Music.

TBGB Pick of the Week: April 11, 2011

“I Want the World to Know”

Desiree Coleman Jackson

From the CD My Voice is My Weapon

www.desireecolemanjackson.com

A jumping polyrhythmic backbeat fuels “I Want the World to Know,” an infectious mid-tempo praise song by Desiree Coleman Jackson that will make shoulders shake and hands clap.

Just how good is God to “Dez” Coleman? “You make a girl kick off her shoes and dance as your spirit runs through,” she sings. The enthusiasm of this Jamaica, Queens native to tell the world how she feels is so bright and unbridled you can imagine her shaking off her shoes and praise dancing in the aisles.

Aided by none other than Patti LaBelle, who helped the young songster land a record deal with Motown, Desiree started in the R&B music field but is now singing gospel. She is married to NBA hall-of-famer and coach Mark Jackson and a mother of four.

XBN Is On the Air...Everywhere!

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

XBN is one of the latest gospel Internet radio stations to enter a growing market.

TBGB recently spoke via telephone with Pastor Frank Henderson, CEO of XBN Network.

Henderson, a gospel artist and minister, is originally from Rocky Mount, NC. His wife, Shawanda, is from Oxford, NC, where sixteen months ago they planted the non-denominational Xcel Fellowship Church.

Three months ago, the Hendersons came up with the idea for the combination Internet station and social networking site to keep church members connected. A month later they launched XBN. Soon, more than Xcel Fellowship Church members were enjoying the new outlet. The station had an international followership. 

Today, XBN counts thousands of listeners. “Last week,” Henderson noted, “we had 3,000 listeners and 22,000 page views.”

The station programs all genres of gospel, including hip hop, urban, AC, quartet, and praise & worship. It streams sermons from nationally renowned preachers and offers Christian comedy. The website also includes music videos. “I call it ‘no-format radio,’” Henderson explained. “We’re open to all styles because that’s how a family operates. Young people need to learn from the older people, and vice versa.”

Henderson especially encourages independent gospel artists to submit their music to XBN, and even cleans  up the audio of their mp3s, if necessary. “Independent artists fund gospel music,” Henderson said. “They are the ones you see at your church on Sunday morning. And listeners love indie artists! They hear a song [on XBN] and say, ‘I didn’t even know it was out.’” Likewise, Henderson instructs indie artists to see that “life is bigger than the big [gospel radio] stations and not to overlook opportunities.”

In addition to gospel music, XBN offers individuals networking opportunities via its social networking component. Postings, comments and chat opportunities help artists promote their ministries and teach them about the business of gospel music, including how to move from a local market to a national platform.

The staff is small. Besides Pastor Frank and Shawonda Henderson, other members of XBN include LaShelle Crump who handles sales, and an autobot DJ that keeps the music flowing 24/7. XBN has also partnered with Pastor Arvetra Jones, Jr. and the North Carolina Gospel Announcers Guild.

Henderson envisions XBN as a community of artists and gospel music enthusiasts who can meet one another on line and share their mutual passion for ministry. “We’re not trying to push the Xcel Church agenda,” Henderson explained. “We just want to bring believers together. Our goal is to become the premier gospel Internet station.”

For more information, go to http://www.xbn247.com/.

Quartet Meet and Greet Reminder

Darrell Jay Jones of OverBoard Records reminds everyone to sign up for the inaugural Quartet Meet and Greet Showcase and Conference in Houston, Texas: June 1 & 2, 2012. 

More information is available by emailing quartetmag@gmail.com.

TBGB Among "Best Gospel Bloggers" in Gospel Music Industry Round-Up

The Black Gospel Blog is honored and excited to be mentioned in the Gospel Music Industry Round-Up 2011 as among the top gospel bloggers. 

The Gospel Music Industry Round-Up, compiled annually by Lisa Collins and Eye On Gospel Publications, is known as the "bible of the gospel music industry."  From radio to records, artists to management, distribution to marketing and everything in between, everybody you need to know is in it. 

If you didn't know...now you know!  To order a copy, go to http://www.gospelroundup.com/.

"Surrender" - Carla Martin

“Surrender”
Carla Martin
5:11 Music Group (2011)
http://www.amartinproduction.com/

With a rocking beat that speeds along like a brakeless freight train, “Surrender” riffs on the irony that in the midst of trials, it is in surrendering that life begins. Don’t give up, she sings, give in.

First place winner at the 2002 McDonald's Gospelfest, Evangelist Carla Martin now lives in Orlando, Florida and is married with seven (!) children. Her voice is reminiscent of Cher's no-nonsense alto, which is appropriate to the content and message of the single.

Homegoing for Alfred "Gino" Smith of the Gospel Keynotes

Thanks to Joe James of the Voices of Clouds and quartet promoter Mama Curtis and  for information on the passing of Alfred "Gino" Smith, longtime member of the Gospel Keynotes.

Smith died in Rochester, NY on April 2, 2011.

Joe pointed us to the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester for information on the homegoing services:

"Calling, TODAY (Fri.), 5-9 PM at Memories Funeral Home, 1005 Hudson Ave., Roch. (544-4929). Funeral Saturday, 11 AM at Rock of Ages-Christ the Good Shepherd Church, 1000 Winton Rd. North. Interment, Falls Cemetery."

Smith is survived by wife, Pat Smith; 3 sisters; 2 brothers; 6 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild.

Mark Williams - Everything

Mark Williams
Everything
ATAP Music Group (in stores June 2011)
http://www.drmarkawilliams.com/

As a board-certified Otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat physician), Dr. Mark Williams knows a thing or two about the voice.

Including how to sing with it.

Turns out the founder of the Voice Care Center of Nashville is also an artist and a good one. His debut project, Everything, is a fine CD in many respects. Not only is it well produced (thanks to the talents of the award-winning Daniel Weatherspoon and Roger Ryan), but the singing, whether by Williams or several others, is spot-on. Most importantly, the songs Williams wrote for the project – every one on the CD is from his pen – are superb.

The melodies in particular are exceptional. “Awesome God” could have languished as a middle-of-the-road praise ballad but it is so melodious and well articulated, it hypnotizes. The album's first single, “The King of Glory,” is a mid-tempo power praise anthem with a strong call-and-response component. “Don’t Worry” finds the group playfully interpolating the main line of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 hit, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” to emphasize the song’s message of patience and faith.

But the crown jewel of Everything is “Fill Me Now.” We are introduced to the song at the opening of the CD as it is sung with strings and Ryan on piano. Later, Stellar-nominated Terrell Hunt leads the full composition, a call for anointing, with verve. A song you can imagine coming out of Kevin LeVar, “Fill Me Now” is one of the best gospel songs I’ve heard this year.

Everything is a pleasant and relaxed listen, filled with powerful praise and worship moments bathed in melody and sung with strength. Dr. Williams obviously practices what he preaches.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “Fill Me Now,” “Awesome God.”

"I Need You Lord" - Pam Green

“I Need You Lord”
Pam Green
From the CD In His Presence (2011)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pam-Green-In-His-Presence/108086825893
(Available as a download on iTunes and other digital media outlets)

“I Need You Lord” is a well-produced and passionately delivered call for healing from St. Louis’s Pam Green and a bevy of background vocalists. Towards the end of the contemporary piece, the assemblage, led by Green, effortlessly blends the old standard “I Need Thee Every Hour” into their smooth harmonies for added emphasis.

Two Losses for the Quartet Community

TBGB was saddened to hear of two losses impacting the quartet community:

Alfred “Gino” Smith of the Gospel Keynotes passed away in Rochester, NY.

Claude Ligon, the brother of Joe Ligon (Mighty Clouds of Joy) also passed away and will be funeralized in Los Angeles this Saturday.

Please keep the Smith and Ligon families and their friends in your prayers.

Twinkie Clark - With Humility

Twinkie Clark

With Humility

Larry Clark Gospel (in stores April 5, 2011)

www.larryclarkgospel.com/twinkie

Following a few years’ recording hiatus, Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark of the Clark Sisters today released a solo project, With Humility.

"This project actually started out as me producing a couple of instrumentals for my aunt Twinkie to use as accompaniment for concerts on the road,” explains the album’s producer, Larry Clark. “Eleven tracks later we had a full project that we titled With Humility because that is the posture that we've taken in offering it to God's people.”

With Humility is a brief album by today’s CD standards, clocking in at just under forty minutes, but Twinkie uses every second wisely.

The famed “Queen of the Hammond B3” traverses a passing parade of gospel subgenres with effortlessness, her straightforward, no-holds-barred gospel voice fitting in like family on all of them. The opening track and current single, “God’s Got a Blessing,” is a handclapping choir rouser straight from the COGIC experience, while “The Anointing” has that contemporary bounce that put the Clark Sisters on the map. “Did Not Have to Do It” is gospel hip hop, featuring a rap by RIME. The harmonious Clark Brothers, sounding like Take Six meets the Christianaires, accompany Twinkie on “The Righteous.”

Most notable are the album’s memorial tributes. Clark salutes her father, Pastor Elbert Clark, with “For You I Am Praying,” a song he used to conclude his services. “A Tribute” is a conversation between Twinkie and Larry about Dr. Mattie Moss Clark’s legacy. They reminisce over a melody line that, one discovers, is a motif that was conceived and tape-recorded by Dr. Clark but never fashioned into a song. At the conclusion, we hear a previously unreleased snippet of Dr. Clark singing the melody into a tape recorder.

In the spirit of the album’s title, the finest moments on With Humility are the simplest: Clark delivering a piano-accompanied version of “Precious Lord” that would put a wide grin on Prof. Dorsey’s face. The up-tempo instrumental “Shout” is Clark working her magic on a B3, a tambourine pounding out the backbeat and all of it sounding like the quintessential opening of a prayer service. “Shout” makes one want to hear a whole album of Clark organ instrumentals.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “God’s Got a Blessing,” “Precious Lord.”

TBGB Pick of the Week: April 4, 2011

“For All We Know”
Jeff Majors
From the CD/DVD Sacred Epistles (2011)
http://www.jeffmajors.com/

Sacred harpist and television host Jeff Majors transforms the 1934 Broadway gem by J. Fred Coots and Sam Lewis into an atmospheric worship ballad that is unlike any cover of the song I’ve ever heard.

Al Johnson provides a marvelous crooning lead vocal as the background vocalists harmonize like an angelic choir.  Majors’ harp soars and swoons as the melody moves at a meditative pace.

The song’s concluding line, “Tomorrow may never come, for all we know,” was especially poignant during World War II, but in this context could also be interpreted as a hushed anticipation of the end-of-days.  The track comes from the first volume of Major's new series of CDs called The Epistles.

Rebuild of Pilgrim Baptist Church: "On Again"

From the Associated Press:

CHICAGO — The on-again, off-again reconstruction of a landmark Chicago church known as the birthplace of gospel music is on again.

Church leaders have announced work to rebuild the fire-ravaged Pilgrim Baptist Church will begin in earnest this summer.

A 2006 fire ignited by workers repairing the roof devastated the 120-year-old structure designed by famed architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan.

Officials announced a $37 million rebuilding plan in 2008, but nothing came of it. Pastor Tyrone Jordan says a first construction phase set for a 2012 finish will "prove to the world" the church will rebuild.

The four-phase project is expected to cost at least $30 million.

Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, the Rev. James Cleveland, and the Staples Singers are among those who have sung at the church.

Twinkie Clark Looks Back With Humility

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Gospel music is, by its very nature, forward-looking, anticipatory.

Gospel songs are about keeping the faith and having hope, awaiting blessings, knowing that “troubles don’t last always” and preparing for that Great Day in the Morning. The Gospel Train is moving and if you don’t get on board, you’ll be left behind. Ever moving forward.

Then again, gospel music makes room for reflection, to “look back and wonder how I got over.” Therein lies the testimony.

Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark’s new solo CD, With Humility, looks back and testifies about more than four decades in gospel music as a member of what is arguably the most prominent gospel music family of all time.

Twinkie recently spoke with TBGB about her beginnings and the new CD, which hits stores April 5.

She first started playing organ around age fifteen. Her mother, the late Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, was her first teacher, but she also took lessons from a music instructor in her hometown of Detroit. In addition to her mother, Twinkie’s earliest keyboard influences were fellow Detroiters Thomas Whitfield and Ronald Kersey.

It was playing for untold numbers of Church of God in Christ revivals and at the COGIC annual convocations that really helped Twinkie develop her distinctive style that has earned her the title “Queen of the Hammond B3.” “With my mother being President of the Church of God in Christ Music Department,” Twinkie said, “I played for services, workshops, rehearsals and musicals. I got a lot of my training through playing at the conventions.”

Twinkie also began writing songs at a young age. She said that the Clark Sisters’ earliest material was written by their mother, but “after my mom saw that I was developing [as a writer], she began letting me teach some of the songs that I had been writing as I matured. By nineteen, I was becoming pretty good as a writer.”

The first song Twinkie wrote was “Jesus Has a Lot to Give.” “I got the inspiration from the old Pepsi Cola commercial, ‘Pepsi has a lot to give.’,” she said. Today, Twinkie has more than 150 songs to her credit.

One in particular, “You Brought the Sunshine,” became a sensation and caused quite a stir in the church community.

“’You Brought the Sunshine’ was inspired by Stevie Wonder,” Twinkie explained. “He had a song called ‘Master Blaster (Jammin')’ that had a reggae-style beat. No one had ever done that in gospel, so I thought, let me try it. I came up with a little bass line, and then came up with the words and the melody. Thank God, it was played all over: in the secular stations, clubs, and it crossed over from gospel to R&B and some jazz stations.

“I never thought that would happen. I just wanted to add a little reggae style to gospel, and to my amazement, it did what it did. The DJs started picking it up and passing it along to others.”

Some members of the church community were rankled that a gospel song became a danceable club hit. The consummate diplomat, Twinkie replied that “yes, we got a lot of feedback from the church, but thank God a lot of people were saved and touched by it.”  Today, "You Brought the Sunshine" is among the 100 most influential gospel songs of all time, according to The Black Gospel Blog.

Twinkie added that by being the first to cross over to the secular market in a big way, Edwin Hawkins’ “Oh Happy Day” “kind of paved the way for ‘You Brought the Sunshine.’”

With Humility is Twinkie's first solo outing since the Clark Singers’ 2007 Live: One Last Time (EMI Gospel), a project which earned the group a Grammy and a hit single in "Blessed and Highly Favored." The new CD is a retrospective on Twinkie’s family and her journey in gospel music. “It has let me reflect back on how I was raised and how I got started in music,” she said, “with my dad being pastor and my mom being so involved with church and choirs.”

As such, “The CD has a little bit of everything. There’s a good choir song. We have something for the older people, such as ‘Precious Lord.’ We also have contemporary-style music for the young people, with a little hip hop gospel. I do a duet with my nephew Larry Clark, who produced the CD, and an instrumental on the organ.  The Clark Brothers also sing on the CD.”

The album’s first single is the “good choir song,” the rousing “God’s Got a Blessing.”

Perhaps the most interesting selection, "A Tribute," teams Twinkie and her mother, the late Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. Twinkie explained: “There’s an old tape we found of my mom’s in the house. She used to keep [tapes] by her bed at night. We found the tape with her doing some writing, but she never finished the song. She just sort of hummed the melody. So we took that tape and recorded it professionally, and I did a line of the song with her. It’s kind of like what Natalie Cole did with her father ["Unforgettable," with Nat Cole].”

Twinkie assures her fans that “the old Twinkie Sound” is present on With Humility. What is the Twinkie Sound? “It is a church service or a good musical with a little bit of Thomas Whitfield flavoring, mixed with Dr. Mattie Moss Clark’s style. It’s a little contemporary and good churchy sound mixed together.”

With Humility is on Larry Clark Gospel Records and distributed by Central South Distribution.

Show Me the Way - Terry Myrick

Terry Myrick
Show Me the Way
Sweet Melody Records (2011)
http://www.terrymyrick.com/

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog

Show Me the Way is gospel artist and off-Broadway talent Terry Myrick’s sophomore solo release on his own imprint, Sweet Melody Records.

The album’s opening selections, such as “He Is” and “It’s Going to Be All Right,” have a laidback acoustic vibe. Early on, Myrick also spends much of his time exploring the top of his five-octave range, but his vocals are more comfortable when he is singing in the middle of his range and only pulling on falsetto leaps for dramatic emphasis. For example, on “Didn’t I Tell You,” a mid-tempo mover written by the album’s producer, Rod Clemmons, Myrick’s mid-range vocalizing makes the track.

The background vocalists, including Tamara Beamer and Gail Lou DeSandies, do a fine job throughout Show Me the Way, and the Brian Hines Ensemble, accompanied by in-demand keyboardist Michael Bereal on organ, take “You Were There For Me, Lord” up several notches. Guitarist Willie Brown contributes some fine licks on the title track, while sessionista Jonathan DuBose, Jr. provides relaxed guitar work on “I Need You Lord,” a song that riffs on the lyrics to the hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

“You’re All That I Need” is a contemporary gospel piece that flirts with traditional, especially given Brian Hines’ old-school organ work.

The melodies outshine the lyrics on Show Me the Way, and some tracks work better than others, but overall the songs grow on you after a couple of listenings.

Three of Five Stars

Pick: “Didn’t I Tell You.”

"Gospel For Teens" Educates, Enriches, Inspires

God bless writer-producer Vy Higgensen for preserving gospel music as an American art form while using the genre to help young people connect with, and become enriched by, their cultural heritage. 

The Gospel for Teens Program is a program of The Mama Foundation for the Arts and Vy's Higginsen's School of Gospel, Jazz and R&B Arts.

The story of the program will be aired Sunday, April 3, on CBS' television show 60 Minutes. 

Read more here: Gospel for Teens.

Photo Credit: G.N. Miller