"I Believe" -- Sons of Wonder Honey-B-Recording Co. 1045 Early 60s I have heard plenty of syrupy-sweet or just plain bad versions of the gospel/country chestnut "I Believe" to make me want to abandon hope of ever fully appreciating the composition. Until recently, only Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelle's glass-shattering [...]
Week 115: "No Love is Sweeter" Echoes of Harmony ca. early 1970s (Savoy LP 14280) I could not find definitive information on the Echoes of Harmony, and that's a shame, because they are superb! If, however, this quartet is the same as the Echoes of Harmony of Jersey City, NJ [...]
Samuel Patterson, known as "Saint" Samuel Patterson, left this world for his eternal reward on Thursday evening, September 16, 2004. According to information generously supplied to me by Chicago COGIC and gospel music historian Mack Mason, Patterson was memorialized at the church he founded, St. Samuel Temple COGIC, 8749 South [...]
NOTE: Gregory Gay, the son of Donald "Preacher" Gay, wrote this brief history of the Gay Sisters, a family that gospel music historian Anthony Heilbut once wrote "is worth a longer study; they provide in microcosm a history of black migration." ################################################################################### The church and gospel music has long played [...]
From the South Side of Chicago -- where gospel music found its voice more than eight decades ago -- comes Fortitude (Jamie Simond, Cinque Cullar, Leon "Rock" Guyton and Teddy Jackson). Originally the Stellar nominated NuWave, the group has been reborn as Fortitude with the same tight harmonies, only richer [...]
On its list of "Best Decisions of 2004," Professor James Roberson's JDI Records must have included at the top its release of DeNetria "Aretha" Champ's first solo CD: "I Really Love You." Having appeared as a guest on a number of JDI projects, including Chicago's Greater Walters ("He Can Do [...]
Week #114: "To the End" - Hightower Brothers Nashboro 719, early 1960s [also available on Nashboro LP 7011; on CD as "The Best of the Hightower Brothers" NASH 4004] Eschewing the frenetic shouting typical of the Hightower Brothers' most popular recordings, Robert Lee "Sugar" Hightower slows it up on "To [...]
Bishop Leonard Scott – “Hymns for the Nation” (Tyscot 2004) There are some projects that I especially enjoy reviewing, and this is one of them. Bishop Leonard Scott’s “Hymns for the Nation” not only features an all-star cast, including Albertina Walker, DeAndre Patterson, and Nicki Ross-Turnley, but also showcases old [...]
Joe Stevenson & Friends: "I Had to Wait on Him" (Blessed Man Music, 2004) Joe “Quarterback” Stevenson – a high school and college gridiron athlete, law enforcement officer, elected official, and musician – passes for far more completions than incompletes on his debut effort, “I Had to Wait on Him.” [...]
Personally, I'm not a big fan of "American Idol" type contests, but I must admit that they have identified some very talented singers, especially LaShell Griffin. LaShell was the winner of Oprah's Pop Star Challenge, and if this is a way for a 36 year-old mother of five to get [...]
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