Awesome
The Voices of Promise
IMOK Gospel Music 2008
www.imokgospelmusic.com
The Voices of Promise. It’s a perfect name for a youth choir.
But they could also have been dubbed the Voices of Surprise.
The youth choir, which hails from The St. Mary Church of God in Christ in Brooklyn, New York, was a concept conceived by Elder Jonathan Hall to surprise their Pastor, David A. Butler. The participants kept the secret from the pastor despite numerous rehearsals and preparations for a recording. The surprise was unveiled when the group entered its first recording date in November, 2006. Pastor Butler was “shocked,” surely, but he was probably also smiling and mighty proud of his teens.
The product of Elder Hall’s original idea, the Voices of Promise’s debut CD, Awesome, benefits from a crack production team that includes just about everyone on the IMOK Gospel Music roster, including Angela Hall and Melvin Crispell (who fronts his own gospel group, Testimony). The adult participants are all over the project like camp directors, playing drums, organ, writing songs, directing the choir and filling in wherever needed.
The ensemble offers up its best work on “Trust in Him,” a mid-tempo number that requires concentration and harmonic exactitude. Feeling the group’s kinetic energy, one anticipates a reprise of the song before it even begins.
Another strong track is the vigorous “I’ll Reign With Him,” though the group must have had the most fun singing “He’s Coming Again,” with its special vocal gymnastic section toward the end.
The lead vocalist with the most promise among the Voices of Promise is Naomi Broadus. The alto’s contributions on “What You Need” demonstrate a young singer who, with continued training and performance opportunities, could go far.
The chance to record Awesome is a great experience for the members of the Voices of Promise, one that will provide them a lifelong remembrance of when they were growing up in the church. And the time they kept a huge secret from their pastor, and he didn’t mind one bit.
Two of Four Stars
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Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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WOW! IF YOU LOVE THAT DRIVING, IN YOUR FACE GOSPEL MUSIC, YOU’LL LOVE “THE VOICES OF PROMISE”. NEVER, SINCE THE SOUND THAT CHOIRS LIKE HEZEKIAH WAS MADE FAMOUS FOR, WERE A GROUP OF KIDS OUT OF NEW YORK WILLING THROUGHT HE GOSPEL AIRWAVES. ONLY GOD CAN TELL WHERE THIS GROUP OF YOUNGSTERS WILL APPEAR. THEY MAY END UP IN YOUR HOME CHURCH SINGING DOWN THE ROOF!