Phil Tarver – Place of Worship

Phil Tarver
Place of Worship
Kingdom Records 2010
www.kingdomrecordsinc.com

Those familiar with Phil Tarver as the successful, hit-making recording artist and praise and worship leader with the award-winning Shekinah Glory Ministry may find it hard to believe that in 1999, the man was homeless. He and his family shuttled back and forth between relatives and hotels when his wife lost her job and his didn’t pay enough to cover costs.

So today, when the six foot, seven inch gentle giant sings about Jesus being “bettah than that,” it’s an understatement for the ages.

And Tarver is not looking back. Late last month, he released his third U.S. solo CD, Place of Worship, and it’s his best work to date. Place of Worship is resplendent with memorable, singable songs, lively rhythms and almost flawless pacing, or as Tarver might call it, “setting the atmosphere.” The first half of the CD is jazzy, punchy and hard-hitting, while the second half drifts along on that hypnotic P&W wave, its apex the hit single “God Is Able” and the soothing, mantra-like “Commune With Me.”

The musicians are superb, as listeners have come to expect from Shekinah Glory Ministry and Phil Tarver recordings. The group is anchored by sizzling electric guitarist Isaiah Sharkey and percussionists Michael Weatherspoon and Otha Seals. The reprises to the anthemic “Warrior Nation” and “Because You Say So” feature mesmerizing polyrhythmic percussion – gospel’s version of the drum solo – a sound Tarver describes as “the gates of Hell falling at your feet.”

And here is where the thought struck me. The lyric theology and aggressive percussion of praise and worship artists such as SGM and Phil Tarver may well represent a new, third epoch of African American sacred song, at least in the evangelical church.

Recall that, with arguable exceptions, the spirituals (epoch one) were expressions that rest and gentle peace were to be found in the hereafter. Gospel songs (epoch two) were less patient, as were their composers, seeking solace not in the hereafter but in the here and now. A constant for both was man’s – and nature’s – prevailing inhumanity. Prayer was a defense against the inevitable. The soul’s solace, therefore, was dependent on God who interceded on behalf of the forlorn to resolve earthly issues and provided an eternal paradise to the faithful upon their last breath…because, like it or not, the devil and evil were still alive and running amok in the world.

But when SGM’s “Warrior Nation” and its kingdom worshippers “stomp on the devil’s head,” tear down the gates of Hell with the beating of drums and other musical pageantry, or otherwise employ military metaphors, they are communicating as fearless, self-assured people on the offensive. In the third epoch of African American sacred music, the Alpha Worshippers not only seek earthly intercession like their gospel peers do, they go one step further: they seek to eradicate evil completely from the surface of the planet. There’s no need for intercession if an empowered army of warrior worshippers can mulch the devil’s head and melt down the gates of Hell.

Perhaps all of this is a natural response to a world so out of control with terrorism and corporate and political oppression that complete eradication of evil is the only real solution. One can also argue that the third epoch of sacred hymnody is the product of a people who have come a long way and have much for which to praise and celebrate (i.e., praise and worship), even if the work of eliminating what are more insidious and sly forms of racism and human suffering is far from over.

No matter what your take might be, it’s just as Dot Coates once sang: “Ninety-nine and a half just won’t do.”

Five of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “God Is Able,” “Warrior Nation.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.