Chicago Mass ChoirXV Live
New Haven Records (2011)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
As usual, Chicago Mass Choir has a packed schedule.
They delivered a stellar performance at the Allstate GospelFest in Chicago on March 25, appeared on WGN-TV with Sesame Street’s beloved Elmo on April 3, and will join Yolanda Adams and Jonathan McReynolds on the Most Powerful Voices program on April 26.
Before the choir records their sixteenth album on May 3, let’s revisit their most recent CD, XV Live. Recorded at the Trinity Broadcasting Network Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, XV Liveis a compendium of infectiously full-throated, rollicking churchy songs and singing for which the choir—and the city it represents—are noted.
Most of the songs are written or co-written by Percy Gray Jr., who solos on “I’m Sanctified,” a paean to the spontaneous musical worship of Fire Baptized, Holiness, and Pentecostal churches. It is one of the album’s several pewburners. Others include “Mighty Good God,” led by gospel shouter Lemmie Battles, and Evelyn Branch on an equally fiery “My Mind is Made Up.” The choir tips its hat to its past by reprising the congregational sing-along, “He That Believeth,” co-written by the late James C. Chambers, CMC founder. From its title, “Jesus Is Worthy to be Praised” sounds like a P&W piece, but it’s another traditional rouser in the hard-driving Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer style, extended vamp and all.
Mama gets to drive when CMC president, Dr. Feranda Williamson, leads the handclapper “Get Your Blessing (Look Up).” Tammy Smith and Patricia Clifton are others who lend their voices to thunderous choral selections.
XV Live is a fine example of the Chicago Mass Choir’s throwback style of gospel music.
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “Mighty Good God,” “My Mind is Made Up,” “He That Believeth.”
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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