He Reigns – William Smith Jr. & The Renewed Voices for Christ

He Reigns
William Smith Jr. & The Renewed Voices for Christ
Self-released 2008
(312) 409-4782

You can take the choir out of the church, but you can’t take the church out of the choir.

That’s certainly true for Chicago choirs, anyway, which have always had a Sunday morning vibe even when they aren’t trying to be traditional.

Case in point: the first few tracks on Chicago-based William Smith Jr. & The Renewed Voices for Christ’s self-produced He Reigns are robust praise & worship pieces, especially the majestic “You Are,” but the choir’s full bodied sound hints at untapped power just beneath the surface. By the sixth cut, the Pentecostal handclapper “Send the Praise Up,” the group’s inner flame becomes a full-fledged forest fire. From then on, it’s Chicago-style.

Talented male and female soloists contribute greatly to the album’s verve. LaWanda Campbell’s work on “Power” is particularly soulful and noteworthy, while Alisa “Shantae” Gray goes all Dianne Williams on the vamp during “Send the Praise Up,” a song Shantae co-wrote with music director Jeral Gray.

And as for Anthony McSwain, who solos on “Lord, I Thank You”: TBGB wonders if he is kin to Frank McSwain and the McSwain Singers/Sunlight Radio Choir. Their 1970s choir singles are so extraordinarily gymnastic and formidable that any choir director listening to them wouldn’t be faulted at all for quitting on the spot and changing careers.

Back to He Reigns: be sure to check out the “New York/Chi-Town Medley,” which presents classic choral moments from the Tommies’ Darius Brooks (“Over and Over”), as well as from James Hall and Ricky Dillard. Hezekiah Walker’s popular shouter “Jesus is the Light” was a pleasure to hear again, also.

The two brief reprises at the conclusion of He Reigns were anti-climactic, and it would have been better to replace them with one brief but powerful slow-tempo killer number at the end. Still, it is pleasing whenever a privately-made project like He Reigns packs respectable wallop.

Three of Four Stars