James Fortune & FIYA – The Transformation (tbgb review)

James Fortune & FIYA
The Transformation
World Wide Music, Inc. 2008
www.gospeltruthmagazine.com

For those unfamiliar with James Fortune and FIYA (Free In Yahweh’s Abundance) – which means you probably haven’t listened to gospel radio very much in the past two or three years – it is a predominantly female vocal group (someone on Amazon described it more aptly as a “praise team”) led by Fortune. In performance, Fortune plays the preacher role, talking, shouting and sermonizing, directing the group like a vocal traffic officer in a way popularized in part by John P. Kee, though truth be told, Jethro Bledsoe served in much the same role with the Spirit of Memphis, and James Cleveland with the Caravans more than a half century ago.

FIYA traverses praise & worship, urban contemporary and traditional styles with ease, though the consistent threads throughout are Fortune’s dramatic declarations, which weave in and out of FIYA’s very powerful singing like a jazz instrument. The Transformation is the group’s latest project on Kerry Douglas’ World Wide Music label, media kin to his Gospel Truth Magazine.

Every now and then on The Transformation, a male soloist steps up to lead the singing and change the mood for a moment, such as on “The Blood.” “The Blood” stands out on this project like firework blooms at midnight. Prefaced by Fortune who notes how we can never lose sight of the songs that brought us thus far, Zacardi Cortez immerses his entire body in Andrae Crouch’s earliest composition, “The Blood Will Never Lose its Power.” Cortez sings so hard and passionately that one can envision the musical notes just flying off the lead sheet. “The Blood” is an absolute church-wrecker and the clear highpoint of the project. I daresay that it rivals Crouch’s own versions of the song.

A second top-flight song, “I Trust You,” also has its genesis in traditional song style. Written by Fortune and FIYA keyboardist Terence Vaughn, the song has an autobiographical feel, a prayer of despair set to music. “Anybody had to cry in the midnight hour?” he asks, while the performance builds deftly in intensity as Fortune lists things that go wrong in life (lost job, more bills than money). Eventually his emotions run full circle from anguish to ecstatic hope as the prayer ends, faith is renewed, and the intensity subsides, giving the saints a chance to shout with joy. “I Trust You” is the album’s current hit and, I suspect, it is because of its ability, steeped in traditional gospel song craftsmanship, to move listeners to the boiling point – from agony to anticipation – and then to ease up so they can fully appreciate what they just experienced.

“I’m Good” is an urban contemporary track that follows “I Trust You,” which either intentionally or coincidentally continues to riff on the importance of faith, that reliance and trust in God will make things better. Its playful synth ostinato gives grateful liberation, however, from the emotional intensity of the prior track.

On “There Ain’t Nothing,” I was heartened to hear HIV added to the litany of the human ills brought to Jesus for fixing, which includes cancer and diabetes, though I did wince when sexual orientation was listed as something from which one can gain freedom on the otherwise lovely gos-pop song “F.I.Y.A.”

James Fortune and FIYA’s The Transformation is a rollercoaster of musical emotions, and while it will appeal most to praise & worship and urban contemporary enthusiasts, “The Blood” and “I Trust You” will appeal to everyone.

Three of Four Stars