The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir – Declare Your Name

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Declare Your Name
Integrity Music 2009
www.IntegrityMusic.com

Declare Your Name, the latest release by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, is about as close to perfection as you can get this side of Heaven.

The Grammy and Dove Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is one of the original praise and worship choirs. For nearly thirty years, it has melded together contemporary Christian melodies with the spine-tingling dynamism of gospel music. Founder Carol Cymbala and her team of writers, principally choir leaders Onaje Jefferson and Jason Michael Webb, churn out one unforgettable worship song after another that the 300-voice choir renders with anthemic majesty and dramatic sweep. Brooklyn Tabernacle is second only to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in its robust, thrilling, wall-to-wall sound.

Declare Your Name, a live recording, features cameo appearances by top-shelf soloists such as Israel Houghton (“I’ll Sing of Your Love”) and Jonathan Butler, who sings with the effortlessness of Stevie Wonder on the Afro-pop flavored “Coming Back.” Christian singer TaRanda Greene of North Carolina leads the intricate “New Jerusalem” with a voice as big as a Broadway stage. “Helpless,” featuring Paul Baloche, is an acoustically-driven paean to God’s helping hands. “Made to Live for You,” the album’s most strikingly beautiful song, is drummed along with rock propulsion.

Listening to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, whose members represent a blend of economic and ethnic backgrounds, reminds us where more recent P&W assemblages such as Shekinah Glory Ministry found part of their musical inspiration.

According to the album’s press release, “the church is giving away 6,000 flags [like the three on the front cover] with the purchase of the CD at its bookstore.” The idea is for the consumer to plant his or her flag somewhere in the world to declare “the Lord’s rule,” take a picture of the flag and send the photo to be posted on a website, where a committee will “pick a winner for the most unique flag placement.” So what are you waiting for? Get out there and plant your flag!

Five of Five Stars

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