Oklahoma Gospel In OK Hands with James A. Willis, Jr.

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

What if your early vocal training came under the tutelage of Jessie Mae Renfro Sapp?

For those unfamiliar with the great Madame Sapp, her trumpeting voice places her alongside fellow COGIC singers Ernestine Washington and Emily Bram Bibby as a candidate for Most Powerful Gospel Lungs. As Jessie Mae Renfro, she was a major gospel recording artist during the 1950s and 1960s.

James A. Willis, Jr. knows all about that.

Born in Oklahoma City, Willis – whose CD with Nu Praze, I’ll Praise Him (W.M. Music, Inc. & Assurance Ministries) was released recently – sang in Madame Sapp’s youth and adult choirs at Bethel COGIC, where her husband was the pastor.

“She was tough but she was a great teacher,” Willis told TBGB. “She made sure you hit the right notes!”

Although Willis is now a gospel singer, songwriter and group leader, at age eighteen he was headed in a different musical direction. He sang on an R&B record, “but the Lord spoke to me and said that this wasn’t the way for me to go.”

Retooling his vision in the early 1980s, Willis landed a soloist spot on an Oklahama City gospel music television program called “Let’s Praise the Lord.” He also recorded with two gospel groups, Majestic and Faith Incorporated. He became a faithful attendee of James Cleveland’s Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA). One day, while accompanying the Oklahoma Chapter choir at GMWA, Willis found himself playing piano in front of King James himself.

“James [Cleveland] came up and stood behind me [on the stage at GMWA]. He was there to make some announcements. All he said to me was, ‘Play, son.’ I was sweating, but I was playing! I probably never played as hard in my life as I did at that moment!”

In addition to GMWA, Willis cites as his gospel music influences several pioneers of the contemporary gospel sound, including Andrae Crouch, Walter and Edwin Hawkins, Fred Hammond and John P. Kee. Willis worked with Kee after the two met at a GMWA session. Bouncing songs off one another, the two singer-songwriters “became good friends before either one of us was popular,” Willis said.

Refocusing on his music ministry in 2004, Willis organized the gospel group Nu Praze. “I put together twelve of the best singers in the city.” The group recorded Come Unto Me in 2005 and worked for a time with Herman Burroughs of Gospel Warehouse Records.

On their fourth CD, I’ll Praise Him, James Willis and Nu Praze offer up what the artist describes as “hyper-worship,” a musical amalgamation of his influences, “but I always need to be original and a little different,” Willis added.

While the title track is the current single, Willis singled out a couple of other songs from the album that deserve special note. For example, he wrote “You Can Make It” for a niece who successfully overcame drug addiction. His own personal testimony can be found on “Everything I Need” and “He Knows.” The latter song, Willis said, “was birthed through some tough times. It lets people know God understands and will make a way for you.”

Willis is busy promoting I’ll Praise Him, which he said is getting good reviews. Additionally, he is writing  music for the Greater Oklahoma Mass Choir and anticipates a single from the choir by GMWA convention time this summer. He is also working on a solo project due out sometime in 2013.

Madame Sapp would be proud.