The following article on The Mighty Clouds of Joy comes from a Black Gospel Promo release, courtesy of EMI Gospel. — TBGB ****** It’s not hard to divide the world of Gospel quartet music into categories. In fact, there are really only two. There’s the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and then there’s everybody else. After 44 years and 35 albums, three Grammys and trophy-case full of almost every award imaginable; shows that have run a gamut from the church-house to the White House, and top-billings with a dazzling roster of superstar artists from nearly every genre of popular music (the ...

Thanks to Cozy Productions, those of us who did not have the good fortune to hear the late Cassietta George perform in person can now experience the next best thing. Cozy recently re-issued the 1979 Audio Arts two-LP set, Cassietta in Concert on CD as Cassietta George Live in Concert at the Coconut Grove. The 1979 program in Los Angeles, with Reginald Utley as master of ceremonies, featured a lineup of solid background musicians and vocalists, including Ricky Grundy on organ, Charles Barnette providing a stellar piano accompaniment, and the voices of the Pentecostal Outreach Choir under Barnette’s direction. Like ...

This message comes to TBGB from Tammy Taylor of Nashville, TN: To Mark and Maurette Clark on the arrival of Jasmine Daniel Clark! Born March 31, 2005 at 6:45 pm. Weighing 6 lbs and 10 oz and 19 inches long! Mother and baby are doing great. Look for Maurette’s new project this summer on AIR Records! For the latest news on Maurette, go to www.MauretteBrownClark.com

In much the same way as did Moe Asch of Folkways and Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records, Kevin Nutt is traveling the road less taken with his CaseQuarters imprint. CaseQuarter’s first CD release – God’s Got It, a reissue of the impossible-to-find Booker and Jackson 45s by Reverend Charlie Jackson – was a superb debut, with equally impressive liner notes. Nutt, host of the vintage gospel music radio program Sinner’s Crossroads on WFMU, has followed up the Jackson CD with the work of guitarist/vocalist Isaiah Owens: You Without Sin Cast the First Stone. If we didn’t know that Owens was ...

An early notice from TBGB that PBS affiliates will be broadcasting Let the Church Say Amen, a documentary on storefront churches throughout the U.S. There promises to be some good gospel music in this documentary, so check the website below to find out when the show is airing in your community. Happy Easter, everyone! Let the Church Say Amen Website

As You Are I Must BeCharlene MooreCommitted Records CR101CD2001 Having recently complimented Charlene Moore on her inspired keyboard work for Gene Viale’s new project, A Light to This World, little did I know that this minister’s daughter from the Bay Area was also a gifted vocalist. Sure enough, her project As You Are I Must Be demonstrates that Moore is all about singing. Her soulful alto voice decorates songs that feature memorable, radio-friendly melodies and well-crafted arrangements. The CD’s production and mixing admirably spotlight all of the voices on the project without minimizing the instrumental backdrop. For my money, the ...

“I Know the Lord Will Make a Way” Pastor Alyn E. Wallerfrom CD With His Permission www.alynwallerministries.com From the City of Brotherly Love and Germantown’s Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church comes the young Pastor Alyn E. Waller, who wraps his formidable vocal chops around Roberta Martin Singer Eugene Smith’s quintessential gospel blues, “I Know the Lord Will Make a Way.” Ably assisted by a female ensemble and top-notch instrumentation, Pastor Waller delivers Smith’s composition with a raw intensity that will appeal to fans of contemporary/urban gospel music and the classic sound alike. This is gospel blues that will make you shout, ...

Another soldier’s gone on home. This report is from Elder Mack Mason: March 13, 2005 CHICAGO, IL – It was announced today on several churchradio broadcasts that Herbert Williams, former vocalist with theCosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir, has passed away. Services for Mr. Williams will be held on Thursday, March 17, 2005 atThe Progressive Community Church located at 48th & Wabash in Chicago, ILwhere Rev. B. Herbert Martin is Pastor and Nash Shaffer is Minister ofMusic. For nearly 30 years, Herbert Williams was the most popular male leadsinger for Dr. Charles Hayes’ Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir,appearing weekly on the ...

This sad news comes courtesy of Elder Mack Mason and the text is from a press release on www.blindboys.com. The Black Gospel Blog extends its sincerest and most profound condolences to Mr. Scott’s family and friends. * * * George Scott, a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama gospel group, died in his sleep Wednesday morning, March 9, 2005 at his home in Durham, NC. He was 75. Scott was the booming baritone voice of the group, which formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s. Since then, Scott and his bandmates traveled ...

“Angels, Angels, Angels!” Edna Gallmon Cooke with the Mt. Vernon Men’s ChorusDeLuxe1949 Another DeLuxe classic, one catalog number away from TBGB’s No. 123 “Essential Gospel” feature by the Spirit of Memphis Quartet. God must have been smiling particularly warmly on Linden, New Jersey’s DeLuxe Records in the spring of 1949. Before the “Sweetheart of the Potomac” was waxing her classic sermonettes for Nashboro, before she was collaborating with the Radio Four, even before she was singing with the Young People’s Choir of the Springfield Baptist Church and making records for Dave Miller’s Gospel Records, Madame Edna Gallmon Cooke collaborated with ...