Category Archives: Gospel Music and Spirituals

Dee Daniels – The Promise (Deluxe Edition)

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Title: The Promise (Deluxe Edition)
Artist: Dee Daniels
Label: Cellar Music Group 
Formats: CD, Digital
Release Date: May 7, 2021

 

Dee Daniels sounds like many artists wrapped together in one package as she draws from jazz, classical and gospel music with her smooth inspirational voice. A force of spiritual bliss and freedom, Daniels’ vocal style was first molded in her stepfather’s Baptist church choir in Oakland, California. From these gospel roots she has continued her musical growth, becoming fluent in multiple genres and sharing the beautiful sound of her voice around the world. Daniels’ new release, The Promise, combines both the sacred and secular aesthetic of her artistry as she reflects on her current moment in life and battle with breast cancer. Upon learning about her condition in 2014, Daniels’ initial response was to remain calm: “I knew in my heart that I was about to embark on a journey that would lead me to the answer.” 

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Merry Clayton – Beautiful Scars

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Title: Beautiful Scars
Artist: Merry Clayton
Label: Motown Gospel
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: April 9, 2021

 

Vocal legend Merry Clayton embodies the true essence of the words resilience and fortitude. The Grammy Award-winning artist has made a return to her southern Baptist gospel roots with her new album, Beautiful Scars. Co-produced by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lou Adler and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, vocalist and instrumentalist Terry Young, Beautiful Scars is a testimony of the hardship that Clayton has endured over her lifetime and in recent years. In 2014, she survived a tragic accident but unfortunately her doctors were forced to amputate both of her legs. In the eye of this storm, when doctors told Clayton she would have to lose her legs, she began to sing. Drawing form the strength of her ancestors and giving praise to God, she persevered despite the new challenges that she would face.

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A Capella Black Gospel: Look How the World Has Made a Change, 1940-1969

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Title: A Capella Black Gospel: Look How the World Has Made a Change, 1940-1969
Artist: Various
Label: Narroway/Dist. City Hall Records
Format: CD
Release date: November 2020

 

This recent gospel compilation from Swedish producer and collector Per Notini is a three disc, 84 track set focused exclusively on a capella singing without any instrumental accompaniment. Featuring many well-known quartets such as the Fairfield Four and Soul Stirrers as well as lesser known artists, the set traces stylistic changes over a thirty year period, concluding in 1969 before the ‘contemporary’ gospel era. These groups created some of the most inventive and progressive African American vocal music of the post-war period, which had a profound effect on later R&B and soul artists, not to mention artists across all other genres.

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The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection

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Title: The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection
Artist: Various
Label: Stax/Craft
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: November 13, 2020

 

The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection is a two CD compilation of all of the gospel music singles released from 1972-1974 by the Stax subsidiary label, Gospel Truth.  One of the many highlights of this set are the opening tracks by the most popular artist on the label, Bishop Rance Allen and the Rance Allen Group, who perform “Just My Imagination (Just My Salvation)” and the song popularized by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Up Above My Head.”

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The Staple Singers – Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection

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Title: Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection
Artist: The Staple Singers
Label: Craft
Format: 7CD Box Set
Release Date: September 23, 2020

 

Released last year as a vinyl box set, Craft has now issued the seven disc deluxe CD edition of Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection. Celebrating one of the most influential gospel and soul groups of all time, the box set features all of the Staple Singers’ studio albums recorded for Stax Records from 1968–1974: Soul Folk in Action (1968), We’ll Get Over (1969), The Staple Swingers (1971), Be Altitude: Respect Yourself (1972), Be What You Are (1973), and City in the Sky (1974). These albums were released after the Staple Singers had already transitioned from the gospel circuit to the stages of folk and rock music festivals, and they were well on their way to becoming musical icons of the Civil Rights Movement with albums such as Freedom Highway (1965) that preached a message of empowerment and racial equality.

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Elder Charles Beck – Your Man of Faith

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Title: Your Man of Faith
Artist: Elder Charles Beck
Label: Gospel Friend/dist. City Hall Records
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: November 20, 2020

 

Elder Charles D. Beck, born in 1902 in Mobile, Alabama, was a self-taught musician who covered a variety of instruments including drums, trumpet, saxophone, vibes, piano, and organ. A member of the large African American Pentecostal denomination, Church of God in Christ, he was influenced by the performance style of another well-known church member, the early gospel singer and pianist Arizona Dranes. After cutting his first recordings on the OKeh label in 1930 (a year after Dranes’ final OKeh session), Beck became an ordained COGIC minister and briefly moved to Chicago, where he met Thomas A. Dorsey, before permanently relocating to Buffalo, New York. Known as the singing evangelist and one of the most accomplished sanctified musicians of his generation, Beck released many recordings and also spread the gospel far and wide through weekly radio broadcasts of his sermons and live performances at churches across the U.S.

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Chicago Mass Choir – My Soul Says Yes

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Title: My Soul Says Yes
Artist: Chicago Mass Choir
Label: New Haven
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: July 31, 2020

 

There’s truly no sound like that of the gospel mass choir and the Chicago Mass Choir embodies the very spirit and essence of this tradition. With thrilling heart thumping, hand clapping, foot stomping songs, the choir takes you back to the “old time way,” to quote the late Bishop G.E. Patteson (former presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ denomination). My Soul Says Yes, the choir’s 17th album release, continues this legacy through their creation of songs that further their mission of giving back to their community and the world.

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Various Artists – The Last Shall Be First: The JCR Records Story

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Title: The Last Shall Be First: the JCR Records Story, Volume 1
Artist: Various
Label: Bible & Tire
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: September 18, 2020

 

Rev. Juan D. Shipp was the force behind many Black gospel recordings emanating from Memphis, Tennessee in the 1970s. A pastor at the Greater Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, Shipp also had a gospel radio show on K-WAM, where he spun gospel quartet records as “Juan D.” Believing that “local artists deserve a better sound,” he formed a relationship with Clyde Leoppard, a former Sun Studio drummer who owned Tempo Recording Studio in downtown Memphis. Shipp began recording and releasing professional quality singles for many local and regional gospel groups on his own small boutique label, D-Vine Spirituals. Soon business was booming, and he spun off a secondary label, JCR, for up-and-coming artists who wanted to press a record but didn’t make the D-Vine cut. Seventeen of these tracks are featured in The Last Shall Be First: the JCR Records Story, Volume 1, which was produced by Rev. Shipp.

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Deitrick Haddon – TIME (Truth Is My Energy)

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Title: TIME (Truth Is My Energy) 
Artist: Deitrick Haddon 
Label: eONE   
Formats: CD, Digital  
Release date: March 13th, 2020 

 

Detroit native Deitrick Haddon launched his solo gospel career in 2002 with the album Lost and Found, which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Charts and received a GRAMMY nomination. Since then he has released a string of critically acclaimed albums as well as singles that have been played extensively on both gospel and mainstream R&B radio stations. Known for  his  progressive, urban style of gospel music, Haddon is also the founding pastor of Hill City Church in Los Angeles and a former cast member on Oxygen’s reality television show Preachers of L.A. Haddon’s new album, TIME (Truth Is My Energy), has been hailed as his “best work yet.” 

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The Legendary Ingramettes – Take a Look in the Book

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Title: Take a Look in the Book  
Artist: The Legendary Ingramettes 
Label: Virginia Folklife Records 
Formats: CD, Digital 
Release date: March 20, 2020 

 

 Born July 4, 1930 on Mulholland’s Plantation in Coffee County, Georgia, Maggie Ingram worked in the cotton and tobacco fields with her parents as sharecroppers. She began playing the piano and singing in church at an early age and fell in love with gospel music. Later, she formed the quintet known as Sister Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes, a singing group that became sought after for appearances throughout the South. In 1961 Maggie moved her family to Richmond, Virginia, where she became known as the “gospel queen of Richmond.” Regrettably, Maggie passed away in 2015, but the group still presses onward in her absence.  

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Sam Cooke – The Complete Keen Years: 1957-1960

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Title: The Complete Keen Years: 1957-1960 
Artist: Sam Cooke 
Label: ABKCO 
Format: 5-CD Box Set, Digital 
Release date: February 7, 2020 

 

After six extremely successful years as lead singer of the influential gospel quartet, the Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke left the group in 1957 to embark on a solo career. Becoming one of the first gospel stars to go pop, Cooke’s gospelized-pop template paved the way for soul music. Just six weeks after recording his final session with the Soul Stirrers, Cooke released his first single under his own name, “You Send Me.” Not only did he manage to crossover on his first attempt, he took the pop music world by storm while also landing at #1 on the R&B charts. Over the next three years, Cooke released a quick succession of albums on the Keen label. All are faithfully remastered and reproduced with original album covers in this 5-CD box set, which includes excellent liner notes by Michael Corcoran, rare photos from the Keen archives, and complete session details.  

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Isaac Carree – No Risk, No Reward

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Title: No Risk, No Reward
Artist: Isaac Carree
Label: Shanachie Ent.
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: March 20, 2020

 

After a seven year hiatus, Isaac Carree has finally released a new solo project, No Risk, No Reward. According to Carree, the title of the album echoes his mantra: “If you never take risk, you will never get the ultimate reward.” So far Carree’s “no risk, no reward” behavior has landed him at #1 on Gospel Billboard and Gospel Radio charts multiple times, and his new release is likely to follow this path to the top of the charts.

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Reverend John Lee Hooker Jr. – Testify

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Title: Testify
Artist: Reverend John Lee Hooker Jr.
Label: Steppin’ Stone
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: February 14, 2020

John Lee Hooker Jr. grew up in Detroit, Michigan as the son of one of the greatest blues music icons in the world, the late and the great John Lee Hooker (1917-2001). As a bluesman, Rev. Hooker traveled the world performing with musical artists such as B.B. King, Snoop Dogg, Taj Mahal, Lenny Kravitz, Z.Z. Top, Buddy Guy and the late Etta James. After a long and successful career in secular music, Hooker became an ordained minister and is now singing a different tune—the tune of gospel—wrapped in his signature soulful blues sound.

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Bound for the Promised Land: Songs and Words of Equality and Freedom

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Title: Bound for the Promised Land: Songs and Words of Equality and Freedom   
Artist: Various
Label: Albany
Formats: CD, Digital
Release Date: January 10, 2020

 

The songs and spoken excerpts that comprise Bound for the Promised Land: Songs and Words of Equality and Freedom were performed live during the Atlanta Music Festival in 2016 at Ebenezer Baptist Church and Glenn Memorial Auditorium at Emory University. The Atlanta Music Festival was first created in 1910 after the Atlanta Race Riots and revived in 2001 by Pastor Dwight Andrews. The purpose of the festival at its inception was to introduce the world to renowned African American concert musicians. The music featured on Bound for the Promised Land does not disappoint and holds true to the original mission of the festival, with works by Dorothy Rudd Moore, T. J. Anderson, Duke Ellington, John Carter and Adolphus Hailstork. Guest artists include the late soprano Jessye Norman, who performs on four songs, tenor Timothy B. Miller, and narrators Taylor Branch and Rev. Robert M. Franklin, Jr.

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Renee Spearman – I Love Him

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Title: I Love Him
Artist: Renee Spearman
Label: JDI
Formats: CD, Digital
Release Date: June 7, 2019

 

Billboard-charting gospel singer/songwriter/producer Renee Spearman has worked in the gospel music recording industry for over three decades and continues to champion her genre. After “standing in the shadows” for many years as a background vocalist for numerous popular music artists including Gladys Knight and Yolanda Adams, Spearman’s solo career took off in 2012 with the release of her successful debut album, Whoa to Wow!, which reached #4 on the Billboard gospel album charts. Her recent release, I Love Him, is yet another career highlight.

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Various Artists – Jubilee Showcase

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Title: Jubilee Showcase
Artist: Various
Label: Time-Life Music
Formats: Digital
Release date: January 17, 2020

 

Chicago was the birthplace of two of the earliest gospel music television series. The half hour syndicated show TV Gospel Time aired on NBC Sunday mornings from 1962-1965, and a 2-DVD set of selected programs was released in 2010 under the title Soul of the Church. Now, ten years later, Time-Life Music is releasing “36 raw, live performances” from the more famous Emmy® Award winning series, Jubilee Showcase. Created and hosted by Sid Ordower, a Jewish civil rights and labor activist, Jubilee Showcase aired on ABC’s Chicago affiliate, WLS Channel 7, from 1963 to 1984. These programs introduced gospel music and Black culture in general to a much broader audience during the peak years of the Civil Rights Movement.

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New Holiday Albums: The Best of 2019

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That special time of year has come around again, filling everyone with holiday cheer. But nothing has the ability to spread Christmas spirit quite like music does. Following are brief reviews of what we believe to be the best holiday albums so far this year, featuring releases from Keb’ Mo’, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The McCrary Sisters, Elijah Blake, Jonathan Butler, and Mariah Carey. We hope these selections provide the perfect soundtrack for everyone’s holiday season. Continue reading →

Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection

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Title: Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection
Artist: Various
Label: Earwig
Formats: 4 CD Box Set
Release date: August 9, 2019

 

Produced by Earwig Music Company’s Michael Robert Frank, Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection is hands down one of the best box sets of the year. The beautifully produced hard cover book includes four CDs inserted into the front and back covers, while the lavishly illustrated inner pages tell the story of the Chicago based independent record company owned by Narvel Eatmon, a colorful character better known on the South Side as “Cadillac Baby.” Frank began this labor of love in 2006 when he purchased the entire catalog and archive of the Bea & Baby label, with the goal of sharing Cadillac Baby’s musical legacy with the rest of the world.  The result is this comprehensive anthology which includes all released and unreleased tracks (with a couple of exceptions), ranging from urban and country blues, gospel, doo-wop, soul, and comedy, to rap. Along the way, Cadillac narrates his own story through six spoken word tracks interspersed throughout the collection. Other “expert witnesses” from Chicago include Jim O’Neal (Living Blues magazine), Bill Dahl, and Robert M. Marovich (Journal of Gospel Music), who all contributed to the informative liner notes. Continue reading →

Harlem Gospel Travelers – He’s On Time

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Title: He’s On Time
Artist: Harlem Gospel Travelers
Label: Colemine
Formats: CD, Vinyl, Cassette, Digital
Release Date: October 11th, 2019

 

He’s On Time is a great introduction to The Harlem Gospel Travelers, a group of young and fresh gospel quartet revival singers from New York City. Eli “Paperboy” Reed, who taught a class in quartet music, first discovered these four young singers: Thomas Gatling, Asher Bethune, Stephen Pedley and George Marage.  As Reed told Billboard in a recent interview, “I’m more satisfied with this than anything else I’ve ever been a part of in my whole life. I think it’s something that could really turn a lot of people’s heads…[who] haven’t heard anything that sounds like this record in however many years—or ever.” Continue reading →

The Sensational Barnes Brothers – Nobody’s Fault But My Own

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Title: Nobody’s Fault But My Own
Artist: The Sensational Barnes Brothers
Label: Bible & Tire/Big Legal Mess
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: September 20, 2019

 

Memphis natives Chris and Courtney Barnes grew up in a musical family steeped in gospel and soul music. Their mother Deborah was a former Raelette (Ray Charles’ background singers) and their father, Calvin “Duke” Barnes, was a local church musician. Together with their four children, the Barnes formed the musical group Joy, and more recently recorded and performed together as the Barnes Family. With this background the Barnes brothers were a perfect fit for producer Bruce Watson, of the newly launched Bible and Tire Recording Co., whose vision is to present contemporary artists performing in “the spirit and sound of the past.” After scouring the catalog of Designer Records, a Memphis-based gospel label now owned by parent company Big Legal Mess, they selected eleven songs from the early 1970s for the Sensational Barnes Brothers’ debut, Nobody’s Fault But My Own. Continue reading →

Elizabeth King and the Gospel Souls – The D-Vine Spirituals Recordings

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Title: The D-Vine Spirituals Recordings
Artist: Elizabeth King and the Gospel Souls
Label: Bible & Tire Recording Co.
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: September 20, 2019

 

In 1960, a newly married Elizabeth King moved 90 miles north of her hometown in Charleston, Mississippi to settle in Memphis, Tennessee. This fortuitous relocation led to a 33-year collaboration with the Gospel Souls, a popular male vocal group in Memphis featuring lead singers Walter Boone and John Powell. Sister Liz King was invited to join the group in 1969 and took over the lead on the majority of songs. According to the liner notes by Nick Loss-Eaton, King had always envisioned being backed by male singers, so this was her dream come true. However, she told the men in no uncertain terms that if they had jealous wives, she would walk. Continue reading →

The Jewell Gospel Trio: Many Little Angels in the Band

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Title: The Jewell Gospel Trio: Many Little Angels in the Band
Artist: Jewell Gospel Trio
Label: Gospel Friend
Format: CD
Release date: October 18, 2019

 

 

Before Candi Staton hit it big as a soul singer in the 1970s, she was a member of an extremely talented group of young singers known variously as the Jewell Gospel Trio, Jewel Gospel-Aires, and Jewel Gospel Singers. Based in Nashville, the core group included Canzetta Staton*, as she was then known, her sister Maggie Staton, and the late Naomi Harrison. This new compilation, The Jewell Gospel Trio: Many Little Angels in the Band, tells the story of the group as well as the Staton sisters through the liner notes by Opal Louis Nations and archival photos supplied by Maggie.  Continue reading →

John P. Kee – I Made It Out

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Title: I Made It Out
Artist: John P. Kee
Label: eOne
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: September 13, 2019

 

Pastor John P. Kee releases yet another spirit filled, “fire baptized,” sanctified and funk-tified album. I Made It Out, Kee’s debut on the eOne Music label, is actually his 26th album release. Building upon the legacy of Kee’s rich musical career that began with his 1987 debut, Yes Lord, his new project features popular gospel artists such as Zachardi Cortez on the hit single “I Made It Out” and Micah Stampley on “Created to Worship.” The album also features the Instagram singing sensations and industry up and comers, Samoht and Ashley Jayy. Continue reading →

Kirk Franklin – Long Live Love

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Title: Long Live Love
Artist: Kirk Franklin
Label: Fo Yo Soul/RCA Inspiration
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: May 31, 2019

 

Kirk Franklin, aka “your uncle, your nephew and your brotha,” released his 12th album Long Live Love, moving gospel music another step forward with its “radical messages.” In many ways, Franklin’s new project mirrors the contemporary sound of his earlier releases such as The Nu Nation Project (1998), the soundtrack to Kingdom Come (2001), and Hero (2005). Songs like “Strong God,” a response to the current state of the world and the need for change, continue Franklin’s inclination to address social issues and is one of the album’s highlights. He also offers uncanny inspiration through tracks such as “Favor/Grace” and “Spiritual,” encouraging listeners to continue living despite what they may have done in their past and sending the message that no matter how you’ve gone astray, “You’re the reason why God made grace.” The lead single, “Love Theory,” perhaps best sums up Franklin’s concept for the album: “one of the weapons to defeat fear is love.” As he shouts at the beginning of the track, “make your next chapter your best chapter!” Continue reading →

GMWA Detroit Chapter – Bringing It Back Home

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Title: Bringing It Back Home
Artist: Gospel Music Workshop of America Detroit Chapter
Label: G.M.W.A. Detroit Chapter
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: September 1, 2018

 

In 1967, Rev. James Cleveland founded the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) and organized the first national convention the following year at Detroit’s King Solomon Baptist Church. One of the most notable events of that convention was the formation of a 250 member mass choir that marched in singing “We Are on Our Way” by Eugene Dukes of Philadelphia, PA. Now, fifty years later, the GMWA Detroit Chapter celebrates this anniversary with the album, Bringing It Back Home. Recorded live at Second Ebenezer Church with Bishop Greg Davis serving as emcee, the album’s 12 tracks showcase the development of the mass choir movement, from uptempo contemporary worship songs such as “Bless the Lord” and “All is Well” featuring Theresa Moss, to more traditional choral works including  “O King” and “Kept By the Grace of God” featuring Charles Thompson. Representing one of the best mass choirs in the country, the Detroit Chapter blends the secular sounds of the Motor City with the sacred on this fantastic project. A must have for any fan of gospel music! Continue reading →

The Lee Boys – Live on the East Coast

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Title: Live on the East Coast
Artist: The Lee Boys
Label: M.C. Records
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: April 19, 2019

 

Over the past decade, a number of “sacred steel” bands have left the confines of the church to take center stage on the festival circuit. The Lee Boys of Miami, Florida, have emerged as a crowd favorite, as demonstrated by their new release, Live on the East Coast. Recorded in 2018 at three different venues, the album includes live performances of previously released songs as well as a few gems making their first appearance on record. Continue reading →

The Tommies Reunion

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Title: The Tommies Reunion
Artist: The Tommies Reunion
Label: 7 Legend/Journey/Tyscot
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: February 22, 2019

 

The Tommies Reunion has a rich history rooted in the fabric of gospel music.  The original Thompson Community Singers were formed in 1948 in Chicago by legendary gospel musician Rev. Milton Brunson. Named after Brunson’s pastor Rev. Eugene Thompson, they began recording for Vee-Jay records in 1963 at the same time that the Beatles released their first American LP on the historic black-owned label.  They later went on to record for HOB/Scepter Records and Nashboro/Creed Records before joining Word Records (Myrrh/Rejoice) in 1982. Throughout the decades, this ensemble under the direction of Brunson brought the world songs like “I’m Available to You,” “I’ve Tried Him and I Know Him,” “Safe in His Arms” and “I Really Love You Lord,” to name just a few.  After Brunson’s death in 1997, the choir continued to perform and record under the direction of his wife, Joanne Brunson, until 2000 with their Word Records release Real. Continue reading →

Earl Bynum – This Song is For You

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Title: This Song is For You
Artist: Earl Bynum
Label: Tyscot
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: October 5, 2018

 

Earl Bynum’s third solo album, This Song Is For You, is full of great choir and congregational songs featuring the many different textures of modern gospel music. Different from his previous album Open My Heart (2009), Bynum decided to step back from the live stage and do a full studio recorded album. Bynum says of the sessions, “It was different for me … I’m a live concert type of performer… it helped take me out of the choir backdrop and let me live in a new space.” Continue reading →

Marietta Simpson – Crooked Stick: Songs in a Strange Land

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Title: Crooked Stick: Songs in a Strange Land
Artist: Marietta Simpson
Label: Art Salad Productions/Dist. CD Baby
Formats: CD, Digital
Release: February 12, 2019

 

Indiana University professors Tyron Cooper and mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson have produced a fresh take on the Negro spiritual, the earliest form of Black religious music created by enslaved Black folk during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States. Crooked Stick: Songs in a Strange, an11-track concept CD produced by Cooper, marks Simpson’s first solo project. The title “Crooked Stick” is derived from the expression to “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” which is the act of accomplishing a major feat using meager resources. This adage parallels the plight of African people who were, as Simpson states in her liner notes, “ripped from their native land, sold, beaten, plucked from families, and often treated worse than animals.” Despite such dire circumstances, these captives created new sacred songs, which also housed “clever strategies and hidden messages for survival… The Negro spiritual is therefore a tangible representation of what it means to ‘hit a straight lick with a crooked stick.’ That is, slaves transformed the misery of their daily plantation life (i.e. crooked stick) into something beautiful and creative that would sustain the songs and souls of Black folk for generations to come (i.e. straight lick).” Continue reading →

Damien Sneed – We Shall Overcome

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Title: We Shall Overcome
Artist: Damien Sneed
Label: LeChateau Earl
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: January 18, 2019

 

Conceived as a celebration of the 35th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Damien Sneed’s We Shall Overcome is an album steeped in the African American experience. In honoring Dr. King, Sneed chose to follow in the footsteps of artists that “have used their platform to proclaim songs of protest and reconciliation in response to the main issues in our homes, schools, government, nation and the world abroad.” The multi-talented pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger effortlessly crosses genres, delivering a cohesive 18-track collection that pays homage to civil rights anthems, Negro spirituals, classical composers, and iconic jazz, soul, and gospel musicians. This should come as no surprise from one who has worked with artists ranging from Jessye Norman and Lawrence Brownlee to The Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Aretha Franklin, Wynton Marsalis, and Stevie Wonder, to name just a few. Continue reading →