TBGB Pick of the Week: November 27, 2005

“No Way” VaShawn Mitchell (Tyscot 2005)

VaShawn Mitchell is young but certainly no newcomer to the gospel music scene.

Nicknamed “Triple Threat” because he is a singer, songwriter, and producer, Mitchell is minister of music for Bishop Larry D. Trotter’s Sweet Holy Spirit Church on Chicago’s south side, and early in his career worked with Chicago’s Voices of St. Mark and the Nu City Mass Choir. Now Mitchell is embarking on a solo career. From the accolades he’s received from fellow artists and gospel press on his Believe in Your Dreams CD, his future looks even brighter.

TBGB especially enjoys “No Way,” a single penned by the artist and featured on Believe in Your Dreams. The song features Mitchell in musical dialogue with his ensemble. The ensemble’s contagious chant, “It Will Not Work,“ starts with finger-shaking intensity and ends in aural euphoria.

While I enjoyed the melody and happy energy of Mitchell’s earlier single, “Where the Praises Are,” “No Way” has an urgency that makes this contribution his best work yet.