Eric ThomasKeep On Climbin’Self-released (2009)www.cdbaby.com/cd/ethomasmusicBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogKeep On Climbin’ by Chicago singer Eric Thomas could easily be subtitled "With the Sons of Chicago Gospel Legends."That’s because Richard Gibbs (Inez Andrews’s son), Bryant Jones (Rev. Billy Jones and Jeanette Robinson Jones’s son), and Joey Woolfalk (Johnny [...]
Minister L. JonesHallelujah to His NameSharper Brothers (released January 16, 2014)www.sharprecordsusa.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogIf I were a betting man (I’m not), I’d wager that the early work of Commissioned and the Winans had more than a smidgen of influence on the singing style of Minister Lorenza [...]
Tim Spady & Inspiration Just Believe Tspady Music Productions (released May 27, 2014) By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog Songwriter and keyboardist Tim Spady’s new album, Just Believe, is a compilation of songs, most of which deal with faith, endurance, overcoming, and victory through the simple but often difficult [...]
Jay BrattenHymns My WayJay Bratten 2014www.cdbaby.com/cd/jaybrattenBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogOn Hymns My Way, bassist Jay Bratten, his fellow musicians, and a team of guest vocalists offer an hour of instrumental and vocal rearrangements of well-known hymns and gospels that represent the foundation of church music. The album [...]
Elain ThomasSongs in the Key of Jazz (2013)www.reverbnation.com/elainthomasBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogDespite the well-worn argument about "devil's music" vs. "God's music," gospel and jazz and blues—and now rock, soul, R&B and pop—are intertwined, fruits from the same musical tree. Elain Thomas’ self-produced Songs in the Key of [...]
Shirlene JacksonWowCRNI (2011)Available at CD BabyBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWow is a self-produced five-track EP by Shirlene Jackson of New Edinburg, Arkansas. A capable gospel singer who proved her merit in 2005 by winning the Gospel Talent Showcase in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Jackson’s calling card is lofting [...]
Ricky Dillard & New G Amazing Light Records/eOne Entertainment (release date: June 10, 2014) www.rickydillard.net By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog Ricky Dillard was once the young turk on the gospel block. Beginning in the late 1980s, Dillard and the New Generation Chorale, a Chicago gospel choir [...]
Christon Gray School of Roses Collision Records (release date: March 25, 2014) www.collision-records.com By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog Christon Gray’s School of Roses may be the most unusual, and the most cerebral, inspirational project you have ever heard. It’s less gospel in its typical structure and more [...]
Pastor David Wright & the N.Y. Fellowship Mass ChoirNext GenerationGodfather Records (released February 2014)godfatherrecordsinc@gmail.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogRecorded live at Brooklyn’s historic First Church of God in Christ, Pastor David Wright and the N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir’s Next Generation does more to preserve the legacy of Bishop [...]
Minister Terrell Rogers & Men of DestinyI’m Still Here(released November, 2013)By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogMinister Terrell Rogers & Men of Destiny of Blytheville, Arkansas, are young men with old souls. This is evident by the traditional bent of the quartet’s new self-produced CD, I’m Still Here.Rogers is the [...]
