Koryn Hawthorne – I Am
Koryn Hawthorne I Am RCA Inspiration (release date: September 18, 2020) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich I Am, the new album by Koryn Hawthorne, the award-winning gospel singer and finalist on The Voice, is as contemporary as this minute. The musical mission of her best-selling 2018 debut Unstoppable, to bathe Christian [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: September 14, 2020
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” Dr. Henry Jackson From the Hawke Music CD Good to Me (release date: July 24, 2019) https://www.hawkemusicllc.com By Bob Marovich It’s great to hear new recordings from Dr. Henry Jackson, an alumnus of the Los Angeles Community Choir and Cleveland Singers, as well as a [...]
PJ Morton: Gospel According to PJ
PJ Morton Gospel According to PJ Morton Inspiration / Tyscot (digital release date: August 14, 2020; physical release date: November 27, 2020) www.tyscot.com By Bob Marovich Much is being made about Gospel According to PJ being PJ Morton’s return to gospel. But like the Reverend C. L. Franklin said of [...]
“Bow Down” – Christina Bell
“Bow Down” Christina Bell From the Malaco CD For His Glory www.malaco.com By Bob Marovich It’s not easy being the psalm to follow the popular Psalm 23 (“The Lord is My Shepherd”). Nevertheless, Psalm 24 has plenty of wonderful imagery to offer and Christina Bell must agree. The former Z’iel [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: September 7, 2020
“Alright” Bishop Larry Trotter & Sweet Holy Spirit Choir From the forthcoming album Restored By Bob Marovich Bishop Larry Trotter and the choir of his Sweet Holy Spirit Church on Chicago’s Southeast side offer encouragement in the full-throated, hand-clapping, church-wrecking style emblematic of the Windy City gospel choir sound. In [...]
Melvin Crispell III – I’ve Got a Testimony
Melvin Crispell III I’ve Got a Testimony RCA Inspiration (release date: September 4, 2020) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich Having lost both his parents before his eighteenth birthday, Melvin Crispell III might be expected to render introspective songs about loss and recovery on his first full-length solo album. Au contraire. On [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: August 31, 2020
“Happy in Jesus” Exciting Holy Sons From the album Finally Live in Chicago Independent (release date: August 7, 2020) By Bob Marovich If you are a fan of Chicago’s Victory Travelers, you’ll enjoy Chicago's Exciting Holy Sons. Both groups offer up meaty traditional gospel quartet fare, complete with pulpit-honed messages, [...]
“Joy” – Philip Mercer
“Joy” Philip Mercer Independent (release date: 2020) By Bob Marovich To a bubbly R&B vibe straight out of the 1980s, Philip Mercer’s “Joy” expresses gratitude to the Most High for His salvation and for subsequent blessings with the familiar refrain, “this joy, the world didn’t give it to me.” To [...]
David Billingsley – House of David, Volume 1
David Billingsley House of David – Volume 1 Intersound (release date: July 31, 2020) www.billingsleymusic.com By Bob Marovich Only two months after his album debut, Hymns from Grandma’s Living Room, jazz pianist David Billingsley has released his sophomore project, House of David, the first volume of self-penned instrumental jazz compositions. [...]
Fisk Jubilee Singers – Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album)
Fisk Jubilee Singers Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album) Curb (release date: August 10, 2020) www.fiskjubileesingers.org By Bob Marovich On the eve of the sesquicentennial of its founding, the Fisk Jubilee Singers have released an album more musically and culturally diverse than any of its other recordings, going back more [...]
Instruments of Musick – Determination (EP)
Instruments of Musick Determination (EP) Independent (release date: June 20, 2020) By Bob Marovich “Psalm 33:2,” a track from the Instruments of Musick’s Determination, is a rousing sacred steel-led and non-vocal interpretation of “Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.” [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: August 11, 2020
“Trust and Believe”Mona MooreIndependent (release date: July 2, 2020)Available on iTunes By Bob Marovich Mona Moore’s affecting treatment of the dramatic "Trust and Believe" is what sells the single. From Houston, Texas, Moore reminds the listener that God is a “miracle worker,” so don't fret: “God will do what he [...]
Mali Music – The Book of Mali
Mali Music The Book of Mali RCA Inspiration (release date: August 14, 2020) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich The Book of Mali is aptly titled. Mali Music’s fifth album, released in a partnership between his own imprint, K Approved Enterprises, and RCA Inspiration, is a study in self-awareness. Much of the [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: August 3, 2020
“God’s Power” Minister John Taylor Jr. John Jr. Gospel Productions, Inc. By Bob Marovich Minister John Taylor Jr. recorded this song in 2016, but it sounds as if it was recorded 50 years earlier. “God’s Power” is a reassurance to all those who are sick, especially Taylor’s mother, whose illness [...]
Elder Arlester Washington & the Anointed Central Kentucky Mass Choir – Thank You
Elder Arlester Washington & The Anointed Central Kentucky Mass Choir Thank You Time Now Records (2020) By Bob Marovich On the morning of April 9, 2019, Elder Arlester Washington was involved in a two-car accident that claimed his life. The tragedy devastated Lexington, Kentucky’s Now Faith Worship Center, where Washington [...]
All Nations Music – Come Alive (EP)
All Nations Music Come Alive EP RCA Inspiration (release date: July 3, 2020) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich Dr. Matthew L. Stevenson III needn’t worry about his sacred music bona fides. Stevenson's great-grandfather was the Reverend Elijah Thurston, founder of Chicago’s historic 44th Street Baptist Church, which produced many pioneering gospel [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: July 27, 2020
“Jesus, Let Us Be One” Roscoe Robinson Savoy Records (original release date: March 1983, reissue 2020) By Bob Marovich “Problems all around us, everyone has an answer,” Roscoe Robinson rues. Seeking the true solution, the gospel and soul singing star not only reaches back for the Word, he also reaches [...]
“Love” – Donnell Russell & Free Worship
“Love” Donnell Russell & Free Worship feat. Jai Reed, Tonya Boyd Cannon, Cory Ricks & Caren Green The Rite Note Ent. (release date: June 5, 2020) www.donnellrussell.com By Bob Marovich Donnell Russell & Free Worship’s “Love” is a crossover single in lyric and melody. To a quiet storm R&B arrangement, [...]
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