Angela Hall: “Beautiful God” (IMOK Gospel Music 2008)

Angela Hall
Beautiful God
IMOK Gospel Music 2008
www.imokgospelmusic.com

Brooklyn-born Angela Hall is not your typical gospel singer.

I could tell Hall was theater trained even before learning that she in fact earned a BFA in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory of Music and performed in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Black and Blue. Hall has tremendous stage projection and the ability to portray different characters through her voice. This “method singing” technique is developed only through hard work and discipline in the trenches of American musical theater.

On her debut CD, Beautiful God, Hall unfurls her theater training by morphing from a sassy salsa singer on the Latin flavored “Glorify His Name,” to a lithe worshipper on “Jesus Saves, Sets Free,” to a Pentecostal shouter on “Trust Him.”

Hall stays within reach of her stage-savvy Broadway style during the first half of Beautiful God, which showcases several worship songs, but midway through the disc, she takes a dramatic right turn down the Gospel Highway and smack into a string of traditional-sounding pieces, as well as the haunting classic “Pilgrim of Sorrow.” The latter teams Hall with a solo organ, and would have benefited greatly from a live audience to toss out Amens and Hallelujahs, and to handclap Hall to the conclusion.

Also featured during the second half are “Yes Lord,” a quasi-tribute to the Church of God in Christ, of which Hall is a member; and the album’s church-wrecker, “The Victory Medley,” which includes “He’s Bringing Me Out” and “Got To Tell It” (a new composition, not Mahalia’s song). “No Other Name” is another good gospel on Beautiful God, one that benefits from superb musicianship and the famed “gospel waltz” tempo that has the uncanny ability to get an audience almost without fail.

Hall is arguably at her best and most convincing during the quieter moments on Beautiful God, when she can flex her voice in ways that showcase her gift and training. At the same time, she puts the Pentecostal songs over with pure evangelistic gumption and human stamina.

Angela and her brother Jonathan Hall wrote most of the songs on the album, and vocalist Jason Hendrickson performs with Angela on “I Found a Friend,” the album’s only duet.

Two and a Half of Four Stars