Everybody Dance – James Roberson (JDI Records 2009)

Everybody Dance!
James Roberson
JDI Records 2009
www.myspace.com/jamesrobersonjdi

In the liner notes for his debut solo album Everybody Dance!, JDI Records chief Professor James Roberson explains that making this CD was on his mind and in his heart for seven years. After producing successful albums on Norman Hutchins, Beverly Crawford and DeNetria Champ, it was finally Roberson’s turn up to bat. It was worth the wait, too, as he hits it out of the park.

Everybody Dance! runs the gamut of traditional to club-ready performances, and comes off sounding more like a greatest hits album than a debut CD. It helps that the songs come from the creative minds of top gospel composers such as Malcolm Speed, Carnell Murrell, Percy Bady and BeBe Winans. It’s also a plus that Roberson himself is a Grammy-nominated producer. In this case, the shoemaker’s children wear Manolo Blahniks.

The current hit single, “Everybody Dance,” is an electrifying, club-style recording with a pumping beat. “It’s all right to dance when you’re dancing for the Lord,” sings Roberson and the choir. Roberson interjects, “You didn’t know gospel music could be this fun? If you didn’t know, now you know.” It’s clearly the motto of this project.

As if to strengthen his argument, Roberson gives the Tommies’ “Holy Ghost” a quartet treatment. Similarly, the classic quartet piece “Trouble in My Way” features a multi-tracked Roberson harmonizing with himself. Tisa Willis offers a stunning female vocal lead on “Revive Us.”

The most compelling piece is the simplest. “I’m His Child” showcases Roberson singing accompanied by John Fluker on piano. It’s a traditional-sounding gospel song delivered with verve and individuality one hears at a church musical.

The ten-track project could have benefitted from three or four more songs, since “Jesus In Me” is a brief reprise of “The Jesus In Me Loves the Jesus in You,” and “Everybody Dance” is on here twice: once in its original mix form and again as a remix. Nevertheless, there’s hardly a valley in this project full of musical peaks.

Speaking of JDI Records, the company recently reported that in April, Beverly Crawford’s “He’s Done Enough” was named “one of the five most performed songs on Christian radio & television” by BMI.

Five of Five Stars