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According to a recent news release, Shekinah Glory Ministry has earned a Stellar Award (gospel music’s answer to the Grammy Awards) in the category of Contemporary Choir of the Year for their double CD, “Refreshed by Fire” (Kingdom Records). The ceremony took place at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville and will make its television broadcast debut at 7 p.m. EST February 11 on The GMC Channel. Check your local listing at www.watchgmctv.com.
Released last fall, “Refreshed by Fire” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums sales chart. The CD also came in at No. 2 on Billboard’s Christian/Gospel chart, No. 12 on the Independent chart, No. 61 on the Top 200 pop chart and No. 59 on the Current Albums chart. The live DVD version of the CD was also a Top 10 debut and continues to sell briskly. The majestic ballad “Just for Me” became a Top 20 radio hit, and the video of the song has received almost 200,000 YouTube views. Shekinah Glory Ministry is profiled in the February 2012 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine.
Shekinah Glory Ministries is not a choir. It’s an ensemble of psalmists, minstrels, and banner bearers who perform “under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. “ Their Hebrew name means “the glorified presence of God.” Their CDs Praise Is What I Do (No. 5 peak Top Gospel Albums) and Shekinah Glory Ministry Live (No. 3 peak Top Gospel Albums – 103 weeks on the chart) were both certified gold in 2005 and 2008 respectively. They also have three gold or platinum DVDs to their credit. Fore more information, go to www.kingdomrecordsinc.com.
According to a news release, Grammy Award winning jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum is the headliner of a “most romantic” dinner and concert at 7 p.m. February 14 at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower in downtown Portland, Ore. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Hotel organizers have also included a one-night stay option with the purchase of dinner/concert tickets. Prices start at $35.
Whalum is the recipient of numerous awards and acknowledgements for his musical excellence including three Dove Award nominations, an NAACP Image Award nomination and has won two Stellar Awards-Gospel music’s highest honor. An eleven time Grammy nominee, Kirk won his first Grammy award for Best Gospel Song (“It’s What I Do,” featuring Lalah Hathaway) alongside life-long friend and gifted writer, Jerry Peters. His most current releases (on Mack Avenue Records) are The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter 3 (double CD & DVD) and Everything is Everything-the Music of Donny Hathaway.
With legendary country music producer James Stroud at the helm, the DUKES of Dixieland (trumpeter Kevin Clark, trombonist Ben Smith, clarinetist/saxophonist Ryan Burrage, pianist Scott Obenschain, bassist Alan Broome and drummer JJ Juliano) and the Grammy Award-winning Oak Ridge Boys (Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban and William Lee Golden) went into the studio earlier this year, and history was made. When Country Meets Dixie(Sony/RED Distribution)was born and will be released on February 28.They recorded four songs together, including a remake of The Oak Ridge Boys’ platinum-selling hit single from 1981, “Elvira,” with an irresistibly funky, N’awlins second line groove fueling the proceedings. The Oak Ridge Boys, who started out as a gospel quartet in their native Tennessee, contribute their distinctive four-part vocal harmonies to a freewheeling Dixie-fied rendition of “Little Talk with Jesus” and a Professor Longhair-influenced rhumba-boogie interpretation of their 1982 hit single “Bobbie Sue,” along with an authentic N’awlins street beat take on the gospel country tune “Unclouded Day.”
When Country Meets Dixieis rounded out by stellar performances from two country music veterans and two up-and-comers on the Nashville scene. Wesley Probst, a deep-voiced singer-songwriter from Missouri who has been working in Music City since the ’70s, appears on the Tennessee Ernie Ford novelty number “Fatback Louisiana” and also belts out an upbeat rendition of Ernest Tubb’s “Nails in My Coffin.”
Oklahoma native Bobby John Henry, who started out as a country singer in the ’50s and now is a 73-year-old bread artisan in Nashville with his All-American Redneck Bread Factory, contributes a soulful performance on the mellow ballad “Back in New Orleans.” Callaway McCord, a 20-year-old firecracker who joined Vince Vance and the Valiants at age 12 and has been singing with soulman Sam Moore since she was 14 years old, kicks up the energy level a few notches on a rowdy, hard-driving medley of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya,” Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin'” and Rockin’ Sidney’s zydeco classic “Don’t Mess with My Toot Toot.” Lathan Moore, a new face in Nashville who grew up in a mining community in Ohio Valley, lends his appealing baritone voice to the anthemic “Are You from Dixie” (a tune originally written in 1915 and since covered by everyone from the Blue Sky Boys to Jerry Reed, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones). Moore, who grew up singing in gospel groups in Ohio, also turns in a moving rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” (which prominently features the DUKES’ ace clarinetist Ryan Burrage) and a tender reading of “I Can’t Fight the Moonlight.” Nashville session ace David Spires is also featured on pedal steel guitar throughout. The DUKES’ pianist Richard Scott Obenschain also contributes spirited vocals on the opener, “That’s What I Like About the South,” a tune composed in 1937 by Fats Waller’s writing partner Andy Razaf and popularized in the early ’40s by Phil Harris and His Orchestra and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
Says Shoup of this meeting of the two musical worlds, “We’re introducing a new genre on this album. Nobody’s ever done it before, but I always felt like country music and Dixieland music go together. And it worked so well. To me, it’s like a perfect marriage.”
“Initially, we wanted to have this little get-together to see if it worked musically,” said Stroud, former head for Giant and Dreamworks Records, current CEO of R&J Records and producer of Tim McGraw, Toby Keith and Chris Young, among many others, in a news release. “We wanted to incorporate some of the sounds the DUKES brought from New Orleans and combine it with what the Oak Ridge Boys bring with their history and successes in gospel and country. The project wound up creating its own sound, its own brand. When Country Meets Dixie is the result of two great American art forms colliding. It’s the most unique thing that we may hear musically for a long time.”
For the DUKES of Dixieland, who have been active on the New Orleans scene and internationally since 1974, When Country Meets Dixieis a crowning achievement in their expansive discography and follows their successful collaboration with R&B singer Luther Kent on 2006’s New Orleans Mardi Gras and their Grammy nominated Gloryland with Moses Hogan’s New Orleans Gospel Choir in 2000.
According to a recent news release, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents the first installment in our 2012 Winter-Spring concert series at the Jazz Depot, 111 E. First St. (Upper Level) in Tulsa, OK. On Sunday, Jan.14 at 5:00 p.m., the Scott McQuade Trio takes the stage at the Jazz Depot alongside vocalists Tavis Minner and Thea Hill. As a fixture on the Oklahoma jazz scene, pianist Scott McQuade is known for his stellar piano stylings. But that’s not all that’s going on at the Depot …
For jazz enthusiasts in need of a musical fix earlier in the week, there is the option of Depot Jams on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Every Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents soulful jazz by our talented local musicians.
On Wednesday, Jan. 11, fans can enjoy live music and lunch at the weekly Jazzwich Wednesday. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., feel free to grab a tasty “jazzwich” as 7Blue performs.
On Sunday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m., the Depot welcomes saxophonist Denny Morouse and his band accompanied by the amazing vocalist Annie Ellicott. Then on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m., vocalist Olivia Duhon – called “Tulsa’s next shining star” by Urban Tulsa – is set to give another stand out performance at the Depot.
General admission tickets are $15, and reserved table seating tickets are available for $20. Seniors, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame members and college students can see the shows for $10, and high school and junior high students attend for only $5 each.
For more information and/or to obtain tickets to any of the events, call Bettie Downing at (918) 281-8609.
Over the last decade, Stephen Hurd has distinguished himself as one of the leading voices in urban praise and worship music. His songs “Undignified” and “Lead Me to the Rock” are sung at faith gatherings around the globe. Now, he’s preparing to release his most ambitious project yet – O That Men Would Worship, his sixth CD and the first on his own Hurd The Word recording label. He’s designed the new CD as a tool to inspire men to take on a greater leadership role in church worship services. Recorded live at The First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Md., where Hurd is the minister of music, the collection is scheduled to hit retail stores on February 21, 2012, via a distribution deal with Central South Distribution Inc.
“My goal is to get men and especially men of color to realize that worship is not a feminine sport,” Hurd says in a news release. “In this season, I feel we should come together and lift up a sound that has the power to change families and strengthen communities and help brothers to get a glimpse of what real worship is. I think when men see other men worship it gives them freedom to worship without feeling emasculated.”
Joining Hurd are Verity Gospel Music Group recording artist Jason Nelson, Christian pop artist Anthony Evans and Min. Deonte Gray who is a member of the 7 Sons of Soul vocal group. Hurd created an all-male sextet of singers to back certain songs and a coed group called Extol to back the CD as a whole. Aside from co-writing most of the songs, Hurd produced the 15-track set alongside up-and-coming producers Kenny Shelton and Anthony Brown. Celebrated producer Steve Ford, who’s worked with acts ranging from Phyllis Hyman to Richard Smallwood, created the lush string arrangements while the in-demand Phil Lassiter (John P. Kee, Marvin Sapp) delivered the hearty horn arrangements.
Although Hurd began recording albums in the late 1990s, his first national CD release was 2004’s A Call to Worship (Integrity Music) that featured the Caribbean-styled radio smash, “Undignified.” The 2006 My Destiny (Integrity Music) CD featured the hit singles “Great Praise (The War Cry)” and “Destiny” while his 2008 Top 10 Stellar Award winning CD Times of Refreshing (Integrity Music), featured the radio single, “Amazing.” For more information, visit www.hurdthewordmusic.com.
Indie-pop songstress Sami the Great celebrates the New Year with her new album at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. Alongside Sami will be fellow New Yorkers, Tony Castles, Slowdance, The Sanctuaries and many more. The show is sold out. The anticipated, self-titled CD is Sami’s first full length project.
Sami Akbari, known musically as sami.the.great, is driven by her overwhelming desire to write and play music. She frequented open mic nights in college, often taking home cash prizes for her highly anticipated performances. She moved to New York City two weeks after receiving her degree in 2005, and quickly began landing gigs at local venues, including The Living Room, Joe’s Pub and Mercury Lounge as well as other venues around the country.
Her latest EP, “Nothing Left to See,” features five original songs written by Sami and a cover of Sting’s “Roxanne.” The disc not only reveals the trajectory of Sami’s songwriting career, but also her deft combination of emotion and wit, of melancholy and humor. Like her live show, the album reflects the notion that great things come in small packages and showcases a small-framed singer whose impassioned voice fills the spaces and lives around her.
After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and receiving a Grammy nomination for it, jazz vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop recluse Kate Bush in the project “Hello Earth!.” The CD will be released in the U.S. on March 13.
This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate’s Bush music, taking it into other realms of sound and interpretation. Her use of British and Irish myths, her references to psychology, literature and film, her meticulously multi-layered productions and her unusually high voice make her idiosyncratic body of work challenging for other artists to interpret.
Joining Bleckmann in this venture are long-time collaborators percussionist John Hollenbeck and electric bassist Skúli Sverrisson, and keyboardist Henry Hey and violinist/guitarist/vocalist Caleb Burhans, who can also be heard on Bleckmann’s “Berlin” CD.
“When I set out to do this, I knew right away that these were the perfect musicians for this kind of project,” said Bleckmann in a recent news release.
Hollenbeck, a brilliant composer and arranger of his own, contributed his vast orchestrational palette and ideas to the music, including the use of crotales which greatly shaped the sound of this record. Sverrisson and Bleckmann also go back many years and have worked together in various configurations (including Laurie Anderson’s band). Sverrisson’s profound sense of sound and layering and his compositional instincts became essential to the music. Keyboard wizard (and newly appointed musical director for George Michael)
Henry Hey, whom Bleckmann worken with here for the first time, contributed a vast array of sounds and possibilities, transforming and bringing to life Bleckmann’s initial ideas. Caleb Burhans is perhaps one of the most sought after young musician/composers on the New York downtown scene today.
“I wanted someone who could play many different instruments, loop, improvise and sing, which pretty much eliminated everyone but Caleb,” Bleckmann said. “For the recording, I chose to overdub myself and add more harmonies, but in performance Henry Hey and Caleb Burhans play AND sing.”
A Grammy nominated and ECHO award recipient,Bleckmann has additionally collaborated with musicians and composers, including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, John Hollenbeck, Sheila Jordan, Phil Kline, David Lang, Kirk Nurock, Ben Monder, Michael Tilson Thomas, Julia Wolfe, Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, the Bang on a Can All-stars, and, most prominently, Meredith Monk, with whom Bleckmann worked as a core ensemble member for fifteen years. He has been interview by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and recently performed with Laurie Anderson on The David Letterman show.
For her fans, topping their 2012 “Let’s dance!” playlist is sure to be Jamie Lynn Hart’s latest CD. But unlike the other pop songs on iTunes, the aptly named “Anticipate” is driven not only by catchy riffs and powerhouse vocals, but also by soul baring lyrics.
After releasing two EPs, Jamie Lynn Hart (2007) and Contract Called Love (2009), the full length “Anticipate” truly flexes Hart’s musical muscles, showing her fans what she’s really made of.
“By opting for a full length release, I was able to open the window of who I really am so much wider,” said Hart in a news release. “Both of my EPs are definitely expressions of who I am, but ‘Anticipate’ examines my personal and artistic growth in a more complete view.”
The album plants its roots in Hart’s lyrical pop voice and a steady rock groove, sprouting in sounds ranging from retro-blues and pop melodies to soulful acoustic ballads while maintaining a consistent direction. Heavily influenced by her personal experiences, her songs are relatable stories that shine brightly with an authentic light.
“It’s important that my lyrics strike a balance of originality and accessibility,” Hart said. To reach a bona fide level of storytelling, Jamie Lynn Hart collaborated with band members Kevin Eldridge, Steve Belleville, Eric Finland, and Attis Jerrell Clopton and produced the album with Zach McNees (The Gregory Brothers, Coldplay, Björk).
According to a news release, organist Moses Tyson Jr.has earned the first Stellar Award nomination of his long and illustrious career. The Stellar Award is gospel music’s version of the Grammy Awards.
Tyson’s latest CD, “Music Remastered & Sacred Organ” (Tymo Gospel Music), is up for a Stellar Award in the category of Instrumental Gospel CD of the Year in a field of noted competitors such as saxophonist Harold Rayford, sax man Todd Ledbetter and Winston Stewart, the former keyboardist for the ’70s era R&B band, The Bar-Kays. The awards ceremony is at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. It’s been a banner year for Tyson, who has been endorsed by Hammond Organ (Hammond Suzuki USA Inc.) and is the spokesperson for their new line of portable keyboards such as the Mini-B and the Melodian. He’s been all over the media spectrum, turning in mesmerizing performances on BET’s “Bobby Jones Gospel,” TBN’s “Praise the Lord” and The Word Network. His dynamic tunes “Pray for Me” and “You’ve Got to Move” have been in heavy rotation on various radio stations.
Tyson isn’t only promoting himself though. His Tymo Records label recently issued the hit CD, “Tribute to Bishop G.E. Patterson 2,” an exhilarating musical celebration of the life of the beloved leader of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). It also features the last live recordings by the late Bishop Walter L. Hawkins and the late Rev. Timothy Wright. The Hammond B3 has spiced up some of the greatest pop records of all time, from Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” to Billy Preston’s psychedelic “Will It Go Round in Circles?” Although, the self-taught Tyson began his career playing on a sessions with his cousin, funk legend Sly Stone, he’s distinguished himself as gospel music’s leading organist over the last three decades. He began his career under the management of Suzanne de Passe and recorded for Liberty/EMI Records on a roster alongside Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton. He returned to his roots in the ’90s and has been home ever since keeping traditional gospel music alive.
With a lot of sleuthing and a team of experts on the case, long lost tapes of Wes Montgomery have been discovered and restored. Resonance Records will release Echoes of Indiana Avenue – the first full album of previously unheard Montgomery music in over 25 years – on March 6, 2012, which would have been Montgomery’s 88th birthday. Over a year and a half in the making, the release will provide a rare, revealing glimpse of a bona fide guitar legend. The tapes are the earliest known recordings of Montgomery as a leader, pre-dating his auspicious 1959 debut on Riverside Records. The album showcases Montgomery in performance from 1957-1958 at nightclubs in his hometown of Indianapolis, Ind., as well as rare studio recordings. The release is also beautifully packaged, containing previously unseen photographs and insightful essays by noted music writers and musicians alike, including guitarist Pat Martino and Montgomery’s brothers Buddy and Monk.
On this scintillating discovery, Montgomery plays it strictly straight ahead, swinging with a momentum and ferocity that is positively visceral – a clear display of Montgomery’s bebop side. Listening to these recordings only reaffirms how Montgomery exerted such a profound influence over generations of guitarists – from George Benson, Pat Martino and Joe Pass to John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Kevin Eubanks, and Russell Malone to Kurt Rosenwinkel.
Joined by such Naptown colleagues as drummer Paul Parker and keyboardist Melvin Rhyne (who would later appear on Montgomery’s first Riverside release), pianist Earl Van Riper, bassist Mingo Jones and drummer Sonny Johnson, as well as brothers Monk on acoustic bass and Buddy on piano (the brothers featured on one track), Montgomery swings with blistering abandon on a program of burners and ballads. Included here are renditions of Shorty Rogers’ “Diablo’s Dance,” Erroll Garner’s “Misty” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train” as well as jazz standards “Darn That Dream” and “Body and Soul.” Montgomery also reveals some bluesy roots with an earthy improvised “After Hours Blues,” which has him playing with Guitar Slim-like nastiness. Elsewhere on Echoes of Indiana Avenue there’s a stirring duet between Wes and organist Rhyne on a moody rendition of Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight” and a faithful rendition of Horace Silver’s Latin-tinged “Nica’s Dream.” Montgomery and his brothers also tackle Thelonious Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser” with bop-ish authority.
How these long lost tapes from the early stage of Montgomery’s solo career finally emerged after being on the shelf for more than 50 years is a tale of intrigue that will enthrall collectors and aficionados. Although the identity of the person who made the original recordings remains unknown, the tapes may have passed through several hands before they were eventually acquired in 1990 by a guitarist and Montgomery fan Jim Greeninger. Due to their fragile condition, he immediately made digital transfers of the original tapes and set out to make a deal with a record company. It wasn’t until 2008 that Greeninger, who had tried selling the tapes on eBay, contacted Michael Cuscuna, the respected veteran producer who has had a long track record with Blue Note Records and is also the co-founder of Mosaic Records. In the summer of 2010, Cuscuna contacted Zev Feldman of Resonance Records, who served as a producer on the project.
“We had no idea when we got the tapes what they were exactly,” Feldman says in a news release. “All we knew was that Wes was on them. So between 2010 and 2011, I made three trips to Indianapolis where I interviewed and discussed the recordings with scholars, musicians and friends of Wes. It was a big mystery and we had to act like gumshoes in piecing it all together. It was actually in part because of label founder and president George Klabin’s support that we were able to make this project possible.”
In addition to its release via physical CD and digital formats, Resonance has created a hand-numbered, hand-assembled LP edition pressed by audiophile embraced Record Technology, Inc. (RTI) and with a deluxe gatefold LP jacket by Stoughton Press. The two 12″ LP’s were mastered by the legendary Bernie Grundman at 45 RPM for the best sound. Resonance is also offering a free digital booklet with purchase where available (which will contain all of the content in the physical editions).
“I’m thrilled that this music will finally see the light of day,” wrote Cuscuna in the liner notes. “And even more delighted that it is all being done in the best possible way.”
