Pastor David Wright & N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir (Next Generation) Clap Your Hands Godfather Records (release date: April 19, 2016) www.godfathergospel.com By Bob Marovich When Pastor David Wright speaks of his father on the second of the two-CD N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir recordings done in June 2013, he is referring to the late Reverend Timothy Wright, Godfather of Gospel Music, renowned for his dynamic ensembles and choirs. Brimming with new songs written in the traditional style, Clap Your Hands demonstrates that the Wright family tradition is alive and well. The album is bookended by two up-tempo church wreckers. The title track ...

Todd Dulaney A Worshipper’s Heart eOne Music (release date: April 15, 2016) www.todddulaneyland.com By Bob Marovich Todd Dulaney is among the new-ish crop of male gospel tenors who croon rather than shout their praises aloft. His latest album, A Worshipper’s Heart, is his first live project and as good a demonstration as any of his growing potential as a singer and songwriter of serious note. The album opens with a congratulatory introduction from Dulaney’s former pastor, Smokie Norful, who helped launch the singer’s career when Dulaney, then a ballplayer with the New York Mets, joined Norful’s Victory Cathedral. From there, A Worshipper’s ...

“Oh How We Love YOU” Tiff Joy From the Tyscot Records CD Tiff Joy www.tyscot.com The second single from Tiff (“Amazing”) Joy’s eponymously titled album from 2015, “Oh How We Love YOU” finds the award-winning singer-songwriter leading an exuberant group of background vocalists on one of those rigorous praise pieces that may not be in the hymnbook but appears with regularity at gospel music programs. Written by a team of talented songwriters (Tiff Joy, Phillip and Angel Feaster, and Calvin Rodgers), “Oh How We Love YOU” has so much motive power, clapping along is almost compulsory. Destined to be a ...

“To Be Loved By God” Kimberly Palmer-Blackwell From the Thornewell Records album The Best of Kimberly Palmer-Blackwell, Vol. 1 www.cdbaby.com/cd/kimberlypalmer14 It’s Kimberly Palmer-Blackwell’s soaring, soulful vocal that sells “To Be Loved By God,” a heartfelt melody and just-right arrangement reminiscent of early 1980s R&B balladry. To depict God’s love as better than all earthly desires, Kimberly builds the emotion without resorting to melismatic runs or shouts. One can imagine the singer standing flatfooted and alone on an altar or stage, belting out this song in a powerful, resonant tone. Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Kimberly Palmer-Blackwell is a member of the ...

Jeff Wilford Presents The Volunteer State Mass Choir The Gospel of Tennessee www.VolunteerStateMass.com By Bob Marovich Ten years after their establishment by gospel music industry and retail professional Jeff Wilford, the Volunteer State Mass Choir makes its debut on CD with The Gospel of Tennessee. Waiting to gel in tone and texture before releasing a full-length recording has paid off for the Volunteer State Mass Choir. The Gospel of Tennessee showcases a group that has its swagger together, whether on P&W pieces such as “Fresh Oil” or on aisle stompers such as “I Forgot Just Who I Am,” featuring feisty ...

Ysabella Help Me Out Sharper Brothers (2016) Available on Amazon By Bob Marovich Ysabella, formerly known as the Jenkins Sisters, is a contemporary gospel sister trio. Jentry, Aja, and Armani Jenkins have been singing for some time: in 2008, the group won the Word Network’s Gospel F.O.C.U.S. competition. Help Me Out is their latest recorded offering. There’s no doubt that the ladies can sing. Their crisp and youthful harmonies, no doubt honed over years of sisterly closeness, evoke a Destiny’s Child vibe, and the title track features a churchy lead vocal over the bluesy vamp. Take away the extroverted electronica ...

Carl B. Phillips & Friends Great Rain Prove Me Productions (release date: January 29, 2016) https://www.reverbnation.com/carlbphillips By Bob Marovich The photo on the back of the CD booklet for Carl B. Phillips & Friends’ Great Rain shows an Ivy League-attired Phillips standing next to a clock, a briefcase and umbrella in his hands. If, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, this photo is saying that Phillips is prepared, but waiting patiently, for his bountiful shower of blessings. Waiting with expectation for a movement from God in one’s life is a current that runs throughout this live project ...

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis Featuring Damien Sneed and Chorale Le Chateau The Abyssinian Mass Blue Engine Records (release date: March 18, 2016) www.blueenginerecords.org By Bob Marovich During the sermon section of The Abyssinian Mass, Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III welcomes congregants with a statement that is the underlying theme of the piece: “Everybody has a place in the house of God.” Unity in diversity under one supreme deity is the binding agent of The Abyssinian Mass, written in partnership with Harlem’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church by Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician, composer, and educator Wynton Marsalis. Blending ...

Bri (Briana Babineaux) Keys to My Heart Tyscot Records / Marquis Boone Enterprises (release date: March 25, 2016) www.tyscot.com By Bob Marovich You probably know Briana Babineaux (Bri), the pompadour-wearing fashionista, from her Instagram singing segments that racked up such significant interest among the hoi polloi that she garnered attention from Marquis Boone, the man who transformed Casey J from schoolteacher to Billboard charting artist. Bri’s twelve-track debut album with Boone and Tyscot, Keys to My Heart, answers the growing “Bri Nation’s” encore cry and offers further proof of the singer’s, and soon to be college graduate’s, talent. The album has a hybrid production sound ...

Kalind Haynes “One Angel Short” www.cdbaby.com/artist/KalindHaynes At six foot, eight inches tall, Kalind Haynes of south suburban Chicago stands out physically. He also stands out vocally. An alumnus of BET Sunday Best, where he made it to the top ten in 2009, Haynes was praised by Tina Campbell of Mary Mary for his clean and smooth delivery. On “One Angel Short,” Haynes delivers Donald Smith’s pop-inspirational love ballad in that clean and smooth delivery, a silky touch reminiscent of Luther Vandross and Peabo Bryson. The song’s premise? To quote Tavares: Heaven must be missing an angel: she is here on earth, ...