Right Now PraiseJonathan Nelson featuring PurposeIntegrity Music 2008www.integrityMusic.com/JonathanNelsonStellar Award-winning songwriter, praise and worship leader, and “PK” Jonathan Nelson of Baltimore grew up in a singing family and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, but received his first real taste of professional singing while backing Karen Clark-Sheard. The singer was [...]
Tell ItThe Georgia Mass ChoirSavoy Records 2007www.malaco.comWhile the big gospel choirs have lost market share to the current crop of small groups, never fear: there are several powerful choruses that remain forces with which to be reckoned when it comes to gospel hits. The top choirs include the mighty Chicago [...]
“Got Fruit”YunekFrom the CD Exodus Three:Seventeenwww.yunekmusic.comTwenty-six year-old Jessica Joseph of Houston goes by Yunek (pronounced “Unique,” and not like a village in Eastern Europe). A semi-finalist in the Gospel Dream competition, Yunek’s most recent single, “Got Fruit,” bounces brightly along like a neo-soul track by Lauren Hill or India.Arie, both [...]
Golden NuggetsThe Sons of the Soul ReviversAlpha 7 Ministries 2007www.alpha7ministries.comMuch in the tradition of the Sons of the (Dixie Humming) Birds, the Sons of the Soul Revivers are in the family business. Since 1970, the quartet has continued and expanded the quartet-singing tradition of their fathers, uncles, and other relatives, [...]
A blog article written by Peter Holderness for the Chicago Methods Reporter provides a thoughtful and provocative exposition of the clash between the old and the new in gospel music. The conflict between traditional and contemporary is certainly not new to gospel music; this is just the latest example.The piece [...]
WOW Gospel 2008Various ArtistsZomba Gospel Group 2008www.wowgospelonline.comFor the past eleven years, I have looked forward to each February with eager anticipation, knowing that the latest installment of the WOW Gospel series was due for release. This double-CD gospel music yearbook, the sister series to Christian music’s WOW project, has never [...]
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that, in addition to the American gospel artists who took Grammies home on Sunday, the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa also took home a Grammy, their second.The world-renowned 26-member group that was formed in 2002 received the Best Traditional World Music [...]
Congratulations to the Clark Sisters for taking home the hardware in three of the six black gospel-related categories -- and in all the categories in which they were nominated -- at Sunday's 50th Annual Grammy Awards. It was a repeat of the group's sweep of this year's Stellar Awards, which [...]
Darius Brooks Presents…The Reunion: Live in Chicago – Side AJMG 2007http://www.journeymusicgroup.com/When Milton Brunson organized the Thompson Community Singers in 1948 while attending Chicago’s McKinley High School, he could hardly have imagined how his community gospel choir would inspire the establishment of similar organizations throughout the country, much less that members [...]
Feel the Spirit – A Tribute to MahaliaThe Big DooWopperDelmark Records 2002www.delmark.comAs Opal Louis Nations counsels in the liner notes to Feel the Spirit, don’t let Cornell H. Williams's nickname throw you. Williams earned the moniker as a young man for his habit of humming and singing along with the [...]
