Tonya Baker – The Live Encounter

Tonya Baker
The Live Encounter
Kingdom Records (Released May 3, 2011)
http://www.kingdomrecordsinc.com/

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Tonya Baker’s sophomore album for Kingdom Records is a live recording. The Live Encounter is a great way to experience the singer, too. The Dayton, Ohio psalmist is in her element leading a praise and worship service, which is essentially what this CD is.

Baker – like most Kingdom Records artists – knows how to move a congregation from introspective prayer to extroverted worship. She can alter the atmosphere and tone of a serivce as deftly as adjusting a thermostat. She has a lovely and deliciously listenable soprano, a human saxophone given to extended flights of improvisation.

The first four selections on The Live Encounter are punchy, arm-waving, high-energy praise songs. The current single, “Miracles,” is sassy on the radio edit but mood-setting on the reprise, which goes in such a different direction it feels like a separate composition altogether.

At this point, Baker slows things down and stretches out on a series of hypnotically calming praise and worship songs. “Bless Your Name,” and “Let Your Glory Fill This House” are examples, the latter a turning point for the audience, which is audibly moved by the song’s extended reprise. The reprise of this and several tracks are smooth gospel jam sessions that lower the musical temperature as they raise worshippers’ emotional fever.

The last three songs are anticlimactic because they follow “I’ll Sing Forever,” a lovely praise anthem that stimulates high emotions among the live audience. Anticlimactic, yes, but undeservedly so. One, “Kingdom Advancement,” evokes label mates Shekinah Glory Ministry in its depiction of worshippers as warriors for the kingdom.

Fans of Tonya Baker and those new to her ministry will appreciate The Live Encounter. It is best heard for the first time in one sitting to get a feel for the album’s continuity and flow.

Four of Five Stars

Picks: “Miracles,” “I’ll Sing Forever.”