JGM Pick of the Week: November 14, 2016
“Rock Steady” Angela Bennett (2016) Available from digital media outlets An alumna of Houston’s Southeast Inspirational Choir, where she sang under the direction of notables Shirley Joiner, Carl Preacher, and Brenda Waters (the choir also produced Yolanda Adams), Angela Dannett Bennett offers an electrifying performance on “Rock Steady.” Bennett and [...]
Living the Life I Sing: Gospel Music from the Dorsey Era to the Millennium
Living the Life I Sing: Gospel Music from the Dorsey Era to the Millennium (First Edition) Alphonso Simpson Jr. and Thomas A. Dorsey, III, eds. Paperback; 180 pages, with illustrations (Cognella Academic Publishing) https://titles.cognella.com/living-the-life-i-sing-9781634875493.html By Bob Marovich Living the Life I Sing is a fascinating collection of essays from prominent [...]
Trish Standley – No One Else
Trish Standley No One Else Jan’s Joy Ministries (2016) www.trishstandley.com By Bob Marovich The starting salvo of gospel singer and fashionista Trish Standley’s new album, No One Else, is refreshing in its simplicity. There are no anthemic trumpeting synths, no declarative shouts of "C‘mon and put your hands together,” both [...]
Rick Stephenson – My Everything
Rick Stephenson My Everything N-Siteful Music (release date: August 1, 2016) www.rickstephensonmusic.com By Bob Marovich Christian singer-songwriter Rick Stephenson is no stranger to the recording studio. My Everything represents his latest album in at least four full-length CDs in his career. The new album contains ten radio-sized and pleasantly rendered [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: November 7, 2016
“Escaped to Tell” Blanche McAllister-Dykes From the Escaped To Tell Movie Soundtrack www.escapedtotell.com Sung by Blanche McAllister-Dykes, whose vocal vulnerability gives the song the feel of a church testimony, “Escaped to Tell” is the title track of a Christian-themed film by songwriter and author, Nefateri Smalls, who co-wrote the song with [...]
Faithful Connection – Thank You
Faithful Connection Thank You (2015) www.faithfulconnection09.com By Bob Marovich Named Quartet CD of the Year at the 2016 Rhythm of Gospel Awards, Thank You is a ten-track album by Faithful Connection that blends traditional gospel quartet singing with modern musicianship. The Fredericksburg, Virginia, group pays homage to Tidewater quartet history through [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: November 1, 2016
“In Due Season” Jennifer Myles (2016) www.cdbaby.com/cd/jennifermyles2 Bronx-born Jennifer Myles and her team of musicians and singers tear it up on her debut single, “In Due Season.” Fueled by a frenetic pace, “In Due Season” is a romping reminder that although we may wait for our breakthrough for what seems [...]
Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism and the Phonograph, 1890-1900
Various Artists Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism and the Phonograph, 1890-1900 Archeophone Records (release date: September 30, 2016) www.archeophone.com By Bob Marovich There is something quite thrilling about hearing voices singing and speaking from more than a century ago. Those crackly, trebly vowels and consonants, like faraway voices over an [...]
Candi Staton – It’s Time to Be Free
Candi Staton It’s Time to Be Free Beracah Records (release date: July 22, 2016) www.candi-staton.com By Bob Marovich Like Mavis Staples, Canzetta “Candi” Staton made her professional music debut in the 1950s as a member of a gospel group, and later broadened her reach into popular music by employing Muscle [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: October 24, 2016
“Be Still” Riverside SDA Choir feat. Lecresia Campbell From The Riverside Project: Music & Devotion (2016) www.RiversideNashville.org “Declare Your Name” is the initial single from Riverside Seventh Day Adventist Nashville’s The Riverside Project, a two-CD music and spoken word release. But another selection, “Be Still,” is significant because it may [...]
Rev. Clay Evans & the Ship – What A Legacy
Rev. Clay Evans & the Ship What a Legacy Rev. Clay Evans Heritage Series (2016) By Bob Marovich “Give me my flowers while I am still here,” the Consolers instructed in 1955, “so I can see the beauty that they bring.” What a Legacy, a collection of Fellowship Missionary Baptist [...]
Tonya Lewis Taylor – I’ve Got to Win (EP)
Tonya Lewis Taylor I’ve Got to Win (EP) EARS Music Group (release date: August 2, 2016) www.tonyalewistaylor.com By Bob Marovich In 2015, Rhythm of Gospel Award winner Tonya Lewis Taylor landed on the Billboard Top Gospel Singles chart with “Thank You.” She's done it again just recently with her latest [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: October 17, 2016
“Give Thanks” Doe Jones (release date: October 20, 2016) www.doeforeverjones.com Listeners will be familiar with Dominique “Doe” Jones from the family band foreverJONES, for whom she co-wrote and sang the hit single, “He Wants It All.” There’s much more to this singer-songwriter and musician, and if listeners didn’t figure it [...]
Dawn Turner – God’s Thoughts
Dawn Turner God’s Thoughts (EP) Story Book Music, Inc. (2016) www.cdbaby.com/cd/dawnturner By Bob Marovich Buffalo, New York, native Dawn Turner is a fine church singer. She’s not a shouter, squaller, or melismatic artisan but, as she demonstrates on “God’s Name,” one of the five cuts on her God’s Thoughts EP, she [...]
Charles Jenkins – Think About These Things
Charles Jenkins Think About These Things Inspired People LLC / EMPIRE (release date: September 2, 2016) http://inspiredpeoplemusic.com By Bob Marovich I have followed Pastor Charles Jenkins since his Fellowship Chicago debut and Stellar Award-winning The Best of Both Worlds, which offered pew-burning odes to the church’s traditional gospel legacy and [...]
Trisha Alicia – Pieces
Trisha Alicia Pieces New Day Christian Distributors (2016) www.trishalicia.com By Bob Marovich Martrisha Atkins (aka Trisha Alicia) is a singer-songwriter and spoken word artist whose album, Pieces, is a string of selections designed to tell a story—her story—not so much to achieve personal catharsis, though I’m sure it does, but [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: October 10, 2016
“Walking in Victory” Angela “Missy” Billups E’Mazin Entertainment (2016) www.cdbaby.com/cd/angelamissybillups6 New York-based singer Missy Billups returns to her traditional roots on her latest single, “Walking in Victory.” This uptempo call-and-response piece, which Billups introduced at gospel conventions this summer, contains a calypso-sounding chorus that offers a vivid image of Billups [...]
Mahalia Jackson – Moving On Up a Little Higher
Mahalia Jackson Moving On Up a Little Higher Shanachie / Spirit Feel (release date: September 30, 2016) www.shanachie.com By Bob Marovich Moving On Up a Little Higher may well be the finest collection of Mahalia Jackson selections ever released, and ranks among Anthony Heilbut’s best produced music projects to date. It’s [...]
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