Bishop Leonard Scott Presents My Worship Experience

Bishop Leonard Scott Presents
My Worship Experience
Tyscot Records 2010 (release date: September 14, 2010)
http://www.tyscot.com/

On several occasions, TBGB has referred to gospel CDs as “worship services in a jewel case.”

Well, Bishop Leonard Scott Presents My Worship Experience is literally that.

Recorded live at the Madame Walker Theatre in Indianapolis during the 2009 Harmony Conference, My Worship Experience is a two-CD set that captures every moment of the conference’s plenary worship service. The recording tape runs as songs, exhortations, testimonies and commentary come forward, from congregational warm-up songs to the altar call.

The CD set features a galaxy of gospel artists – from Tyscot and other labels – who were on hand for the service. Included are stars such as Lucinda Moore (who hits her trademark off-the-staff high notes on “The Joy of the Lord”), Deitrick Haddon, Joann Rosario Condrey, Pastor Ronnie “Diamond” Hoard, and gospel saxophonist Pastor Harold Rayford. Musical Director Jeffrey Thomas II lined up a superb group of musicians, including Tyron Cooper on electric guitar. Bishop Scott sings several songs and Pastor Bryant Scott sets the tone early on with an emotional exhortation about what a true worship service means to him.

For a program that was not intended to be a commercial recording, it is marvelously paced. My Worship Experience ushers in praise and worship with a jaunty island beat on “Did You Come to Praise Him,” while the parade of artists turns the Walker Theatre into a megachurch with CCM-spiced praise songs. Like a Shekinah Glory Ministry CD, the atmosphere gradually shifts from exuberant and energetic to peaceful and introspective to celebratory by the conclusion.

During the tranquil segment on the second CD, Bishop Scott, along with Ernest and Ericka Jackson, challenge the congregation with a simple but often unasked question: “Will you still worship when the music stops?” As the Jacksons deliver their incredible testimony of overcoming extreme hardship, the program hushes to a whisper for a rare quiescent moment on a gospel recording. The metaphor, of course, is if the congregant will continue to praise when life gets tough, or when life is not terribly melodious.

The album’s current single, “I Need You Now,” features the combined talents of Lil Mo, Damita Haddon, Phillip Bryant, Ivan Powell, Lamar Campbell, Rodnie Bryant, with the Indiana Celebration Mass Choir dubbed in. Other standout tracks here include Rosario Condrey and Rayford’s “Give Your Life to Christ” and Bishop Scott’s “Greatness of Your Love,” with its steady rolling melody.

My Worship Experience is a portable church service where the music plays the dominant role setting the mood, delivering the Word, saving the souls, conducting the doxology and sending everyone home with renewed vigor and purpose.

Four of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “I Need You Now,” “Give Your Life to Christ.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.