Category: new releases

Categories
Darius Paulk Georgia gospel music new releases releases United States urban gospel

“Nobody Greater” songwriter Darius Paulk releases first digital CD

The last three years have been a whirlwind for Atlanta, Ga.-based, Dove and Stellar Award nominated songwriter, Darius Paulk. Singer Vashawn Mitchell recorded his tune “Nobody Greater” and watched it rise to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and spend a solid year in the Top 10 in 2010-2011.

“Darius wrote a song that captured and changed the hearts of so many lives, and he’s only scratched the surface,” Mitchell says in a news release. “The world will soon experience more of his heart of worship.”
 
That experience is coming Aug. 14 when Paulk will release his first digital EP, “Lyrics & Melodies”, a five-song cyber album that will be available on iTunes and other online music stores. It may surprise some that Paulk is a singer, but he’s been doing it all of his life.

 “God has invested so much into me and I want to exhaust every area of gifting that he’s blessed me with and singing happens to be one of them,” he says. “I’ve always admired singer- songwriters such as Walter Hawkins, Thomas Whitfield, Twinkie Clark, Andre Crouch, and Donald Lawrence, so this is me living out the dream I’ve had since I was a child.”
 
Those influences are evident on songs such as the majestic ballad “He is God” that’s cut from the same cloth as the best songs by Crouch and Whitfield. Paulk’s tenor warmly fills the nooks and crannies of the tune rather than overpowering it, allowing the lyrics and melody to shine instead of having them overshadowed by vocals. “It’s a worship ballad that is dear to my heart,” he adds. “I wrote it a day after I got held up at gunpoint after the Stellar Awards last year. It kind of falls in line with the current trend.”
 
The up-tempo “This I Give” employs a charmingly sophisticated urban AC and smooth jazz vibe that makes it a refreshing vehicle to express the inspirational lyrics. Paulk, who wrote “Deeper” for Marvin Sapp’s current No. 1 CD “I Win”, is asked whether he feels pressure to deliver another massive hit like “Nobody Greater” and his response is definitive.

 “I never gauge my songs off of one another because they all come from different experiences and the true success for me is not how well it charts, but how well it provokes the listener to change for the better,” he adds. “’Nobody Greater’ was massive, but I didn’t write it with the thought this is gonna be a radio smash. I wrote it with the thought that everyone that hears this will know there’s not another power Greater than our God.” 

For more information on Darius Paulk, visit him online at www.dariuspaulk.co.

Categories
Bob Belden jazz music new releases New York RareNoiseRecords United States University of North Texas

Bob Belden unveils dark narrative of Manhattan on second Animation project “Transparent Heart”

Following on the heels of Animation’s 2010 RareNoiseRecords debut, Asiento, and 2011’s Agemo, saxophonist-composer-bandleader Bob Belden tells his own story on Transparent Heart. With his new Animation lineup consisting of young musicians hired from his alma mater, the University of North Texas (23-year-old keyboardist Roberto Verastegui, 24-year-old bassist Jacob Smith, 29-year-old trumpeter Pete Clagett and 20-year-old drummer Matt Young), Belden unveils a dark narrative as heard through the musical diary he has composed over 29 years of living in Manhattan. 
An imposing electronic noir masterwork, Transparent Heart travels from Belden’s initial awestruck impressions of New York City (“Terra Incognito”) to his feelings of foreboding (“Urbanoia”) and hope (“Cry in the Wind”) as a city dweller on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, to the pervasive angst of post-9/11 Manhattan (“Seven Towers,” “Provocatism”). He also addresses the mass exodus of artists from the city (“Vanishment”) and concludes his musical memoir with the clash of the social classes manifested in the Occupy Wall Street movement (“Occupy!”). Belden has concocted a powerful, provocative suite of music that is charged by the intensely driving, highly intuitive playing of his young energetic Animationband mates. 
“This record is not a jazz record, it’s about my life in Manhattan,” says the Grammy Award-winning composer-arranger-producer in a news release. “In essence, the music on Transparent Heart is a reflection of the lingering tension since 9/11. It’s an honest look at Manhattan through music.”
The concept for Transparent Heart has been in the making for more than 30 years. “I first visited Manhattan in 1979 when I was with Woody Herman’s band. I’ll never forget seeing the dark shadows, steam rising from the streets, crowds of strange people lingering in Times Square well past midnight, all the tall buildings and how they created a post-gothic canyon effect,” Belden said. “That’s ‘Terra Incognito,’ a term used by local residents to describe Central Park above 96th street. Darwinistic Urban Gentrification. The uncertain outcome of riding the subway late at night. Alphabet City. Bonfire of the Vanities. AIDS. Subway Gunman. Guardian Angels. Central Park jogger. Preppie murder. Sparks Steakhouse. That’s ‘Urbanoia.'”
“Cry in the Wind,” with Clagett’s muted trumpet carrying the melancholy theme reflects another Manhattan experience, “One night from inside my ground-floor studio apartment I heard the voice of a woman crying for help faintly mixed with the sound of the wind and rustling tree leaves. Bringing my phone outside, I saw this woman who had just been stabbed, and called 911. She reached up, grabbed my hand, and didn’t let go until the ambulance got there. I helped this woman live because I cared. This tune is about hearing the cries in the wind of extreme loneliness and helplessness that are heard all the time throughout the city.”
The darkly propulsive title track echoes the hard-hitting production that Bill Laswell brought to Herbie Hancock’s 1983 hit single “Rock It.” To listen to Transparent Heart is to think about Manhattan’s self-reflective nature exemplified by extreme conflicts between physical/corporatist and social/humanist structures and the perpetual sense of energy that is created and dissipated illogically in light and shadow. 
“Seven Towers” is Belden’s reaction to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As Belden reflects, “9/11 is a reaction to the power and influence that capital, centered in Manhattan and symbolically the World Trade Center, has on parts of the world, in the form of abject terrorism. I watched it happen from Chambers street in Lower Manhattan. This tune recreates my own autobiographical timeline of 9/11. It starts with the NORAD radio broadcast finding out a plane hit the North Tower; followed by the NYPD and NYFD responding. It’s very haunting. I believe that this moment has defined the course of history for Manhattan as well as the world at large. This album is offered in deep respect to those who lost their lives that morning of September 11, 2001, and to the families that have to live with this loss forever.”
“Provocatism” reflects the immediate aftermath of 9/11. “People fled the city as companies anticipated an economic downturn, laying off thousands upon thousands of workers. For years there were constant alerts, color-coded like a crayon book. Many small business, dependent on the World Trade Center complex, died after 9/11-replaced by the ubiquitous chain store, coffee shop, and branch-bank. The intense build up of the New York Police Department to the point of having one of the largest standing armies in the world, placing citizens under surveillance on the streets and in the subways-‘stop and frisk’ developed from this Quasi-military policing initiative.”
  
The musicians on Transparent Heart are the most talented of their generation, performing complex operatic improvisations, sounds, and textures. They are serious musicians deep into the subtle and not-so-subtle nature of this music. That they are virtually unknown to the jazz public is a blessing, as you will hear them tabula rasa, with no conditions on what to expect. From this point on you will expect greatness from each one of them.
For Belden, Transparent Heart is a musical tool to get people to think about social issues. “Music must be returned to its place as a social engineer; provoking thought amongst society. This record is not about tunes, solos, and arrangements, it’s a way of telling a story that has something to do with my life, OUR lives, and for anyone who has ever landed with excitement, wonder, fear, and hope on this tiny island off of the coast of the United States. It’s not being a musician, but rather a citizen.”  For more information on Animation, go to rarenoiserecords.com.

Categories
Bobby Hutcherson jazz Kind of Blue Records music new releases New York New York City United States

NEA Jazz Master Bobby Hutcherson returns with “Somewhere in the Night”

New York City is the jazz capital of the world and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in Jazz at Lincoln Center is one of the music’s greatest venues. On October 10, 2009, over the course of two sold-out sets, legendary vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson recorded what would become Somewhere in the Night. The album, which is being released on Kind of Blue Records on Sept. 25, 2012, also features the Joey DeFrancesco Trio — guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Byron Landham as well as its organist namesake.
Of the organist, Hutcherson says in a news release, “One thing about Joey, he knows how to play. He doesn’t play at the same volume all the time. He can play very soft and then he can increase his volume a lot. Because of that, he’s very aware of what volume to play with the vibraphone. Even while he’s soloing, he plays at different volumes. It makes it really good, you know.” 

He continues, “Although he’s full of ideas, he never gets in the way because he sure is very good at tempo. And I don’t mean tempo as speed … I mean tempo as being able to understand what he’s playing at any speed, you know, the tempo of life. He paces his notes, so they don’t come out cluttered. He understands how to deliver a certain thing, and that’s an important thing to do.”
Somewhere in the Night manages to capture the live energy of a band in top form. The opening track “Teddy”, written for Hutcherson’s youngest son, sees the vibes master build a mammoth improvisation that builds in intensity and tempo, while “Little B’s Poem”, written for Hutcherson’s oldest son and the composer’s most famous work, is given new life nearly fifty years later by rephrasing the melody into a vamp that leads into a spectacular group improv.
Hutcherson pays tribute to his late mentor, Milt Jackson, on the legend’s “SKJ”, and displays his virtuosity on Duke Ellington’s “Take the Coltrane”. Coltrane’s “Wise One” was the title track of a previous Kind of Blue release by Hutcherson and is reinterpreted here thanks to DeFrancesco’s accompaniment. The organist leads with an improvisation before Bernstein and Hutcherson contribute their touching statements on the melody.
Hutcherson says of the title track of the album, “every time I play with Joey, we play that. I always love to hear Joey and listen to his bass line. Yeah, and that tempo, there’s a longing feeling in it.” Both Hutcherson and DeFrancesco showcase their ballad chops on Ned Washington and Victor Young’s “My Foolish Heart”. The vibraphonist says, “it’s good to think about the song, singing the lyric, because you know the instrument should be something of a voice. It should be an extension of it. The things that you listen to that really grab you right away are things that make you feel like it’s human.” 

Hutcherson, a California native and long time resident of Half Moon Bay, spent his formative years in New York, arriving there more than 50 years ago. Hutcherson has put his stamp on jazz both as a leader and as a sideman on classic records such as Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch and Jackie McLean’s One Step Beyond. Among the constant gigging and studio sessions, Hutcherson recorded two albums in the mid-sixties pairing vibes with the Hammond organ, a popular combination of the era. Grant Green’s Street of Dreams (1964) and Big John Patton’s Let ‘Em Roll (1965) went largely overlooked but saw Hutcherson’s melodious sound combine with the Hammond to produce a blanket of silky resonance. Forty years would pass before the vibraphonist reteamed with the B3 on Joey DeFrancesco’s Organic Vibes. Somewhere in the Night continues the relationship between the two musicians. 

Categories
Eternity Records Genita Pugh gospel new releases releases United States

Rising gospel star Genita Pugh clocks new hit “God Can”

Genita Pugh

Over the last three years, Genita Pugh has emerged as one of the gospel world’s brightest new luminaries. She’s turned in national Top 30 hits such as “You Made It Possible”,  “Can’t Live” and “Holy to the Lamb” that made it all the way up to No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart. Now, Pugh returns to the airwaves with “God Can”, a song of faith with a  ’70s throwback R&B groove that’s guaranteed to take her back to the top. 
 
“The song challenges the believer to take an introspective look at their belief and faith in The Most High to provide, restore, create and deliver in the time of need,” says Terry Woods who wrote the song that was originally recorded by his brother, Jerard Woods, in 2007. “It also points us to the One who can be everything when all else has failed.”
 
It’s a message that resonates well with Pugh who grew up in the church thanks to her grandmother, Willavry Glen, taking she and her siblings every Sunday when they were kids. She’s lived in Laurel, Miss., all of her life and spent years as a hairdresser before her husband, Donald Pugh, nudged her to launch a musical career. Although, she had always sung in the church choir, Pugh says, “I never had that confidence in myself to think my voice was good enough to ever be [national].”
 
Now that Pugh’s been successful on the national scene and released two CDs, including her current Top Ten project, “My Purpose” (Eternity Records), Pugh is a testament to the idea that God can do anything and make dreams manifest.


“My prayer has not been for me to be famous, not for me to be rich nor be this great star,” she says in a news release. ”My prayer has been that people’s lives will be changed and that somebody will be saved, healed, delivered, restored and renewed.”
 
The ministry aspect is what’s of the most importance to Pugh who sees herself as an evangelist first and a singer second which is why she spends so much time talking to people about their lives and even ministers to fans on Facebook.


“When I was growing up I wanted to be a teacher, and I wanted to be a movie star not knowing that God had a plan even much greater for my life that I am a teacher – a teacher of the gospel and I’m not a movie star as far as in the limelight, but I am a moving star meaning that I’m a reflection of the light of Jesus,” she said.


Categories
Chicago Illinois kingdom records music new releases releases Shekinah Glory Ministry United States

Shekinah Glory Ministry to “Surrender” up a new CD on Sept. 25

A dozen years in, the Chicago-based ensemble known as Shekinah Glory Ministry (SGM) continues to dominate and set the standard for urban praise and worship music. They’ve made chants such as “Praise is What I Do” and “Jesus” universally known tunes that choirs around the globe sing every Sunday morning. With five RIAA gold and platinum record and video certifications behind them, this coterie of psalmists, minstrels and banner-wavers are poised to strike gold again with their fourth original CD, Surrender (Kingdom Records), scheduled for a September 25, 2012, release.

Recorded this past April at its home church, Valley Kingdom Ministry International near Chicago, SGM delivered another set of soul-stirring original songs that kept the capacity audience on its feet most of the night with hands lifted towards the heavens in praise. The closing tune, “Surrender”, summed up the evening’s theme. SGM’s leader, Phil Tarver, with a heartfelt plea, prayed openly for God to break his spirit and give him a contrite heart prior to launching into the majestic declaration. “Lord, break me again until the tears pour out”, he whispered into his microphone. “Tonight the Lord says don’t throw in the white towel but wave the white flag,” he challenged the congregation as he implored it to look up and, “tell Him [God] I surrender to your purpose, to your plan, to your way.”

The 13 tracks all deal with some variation of concession to God’s will whether by turning one’s trials and tribulations over to Him on the up-tempo, Afro-Cuban seasoned  “By Faith” or yielding to a call to worship on the dance-flavored, “Come On”. Aside from Tarver who leads three songs, there are several new SGM voices such as Brandon Alsberry, Joan Olander, Monique Miller, Jason Robinson and Danielle Nightingale Cargo who leads the new radio single, “Champion.”

Kingdom Records is a leader in African-American praise and worship music with hits such as Shekinah Glory Ministry’s 2001 breakthrough smash, “Praise is What I Do”. The million-selling SGM is not a choir. Instead, it’s a dynamic 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 and their 2010 CD, Refreshed By Fire, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart. For information, go to www.kingdomrecordsinc.com.


Categories
california Donald Vega jazz Los Angeles music new releases Nicaragua releases Resonance Records United States

Pianist/composer Donald Vega blends jazz, classical and Latin influences on “Spiritual Nature”

While pianist Donald Vega is beginning to draw attention in jazz circles as Mulgrew Miller’s successor in the Ron Carter Trio, he makes a bold statement as a composer and bandleader on Spiritual Nature. Joined by the regal rhythm tandem of bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, Vega explores the marriage of jazz, Latin and classical music on his auspicious Resonance Records debut. 

“It’s a dream come true,” says the 37-year-old pianist in a news release regarding the opportunity to record with McBride and Nash. “Spiritually, this is my dream trio.”

 The core trio is augmented by guitarist Anthony Wilson, violinist and label mate Christian Howes, tenor saxophonist Bob Sheppard, trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and trombonist Bob McChesney on Vega’s sophomore outing (following 2008’s self-producedTomorrows, which also featured drummer Nash).
Classically-trained in his native Nicaragua, Vega emigrated to Los Angeles at age 14 and began learning the language of jazz from mentor Billy Higgins at The World Stage and later with bassist John Clayton at the University of Southern California. Bassist Al McKibbon, a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s band of the late 1940s, subsequently took the young pianist under his wing and schooled him on the bandstand on the finer points of bebop. Vega met drummer Nash while working in McKibbon’s trio in Los Angeles. For Spiritual Nature, Vega imagined pairing Nash with bassist McBride, whom he had met in 2007 while attending The Juilliard School in New York. 

“The idea of having this tasty drummer with this killing bass player was so interesting,” he says. “But for them to get together in one place, it’s very rare because they’re both so busy. And when we finally got together, the music just played itself, like magic.”
Throughout Spiritual Nature, Vega shifts the configuration from trio to quartet to quintet, providing plenty of scintillating moments along the way. He kicks it off with the aggressively swinging, hard boppish “Scorpion,” which showcases his voicings for trumpet and sax on the frontline and also features an outstanding drum solo from Nash.

 “I love writing harmonies,” says Vega, “but most important to me is the melody. I always want it to be singable.”

 Ron Carter’s “First Trip,” which originally appeared on Herbie Hancock’s 1968 Blue Note classic, Speak Like a Child, is rendered here as a jaunty swinger underscored by Nash’s brushwork, McBride’s walking bass lines and featuring Wilson on guitar. “My attitude here was, ‘OK, Herbie’s version was so incredible, nobody’s going to do it better than that. So let’s just have some fun with it.'”
The album concludes with a loose, highly interactive trio rendition of Benny Golson’s classic ballad “I Remember Clifford” that is underscored by Nash’s signature brushwork and McBride’s contrapuntal approach to the bass. “All the other tunes on the album were heavily arranged,” says Vega, “so we wanted just one tune where we don’t have to read, we don’t have any arrangement, we just play. Benny Golson’s writing is great and we all knew this tune, so the idea was, ‘Let’s just go in and play.’ And you can hear that kind of looseness on this track.”
Backed by such a formidable lineup, Vega makes a giant leap as a composer-arranger and bandleader in his own right on Spiritual Nature.

Categories
Billie Holiday Canada education jazz Justin Time Records music new releases Ranee Lee releases vocals

Ranee Lee presents “Deep Song: A Tribute to Billie Holiday” via remastered CD

Ranee Lee is a true Renaissance woman. In addition to a career as a jazz singer that has taken her to stages in front of her fans around the globe, Lee is also a songwriter, award-winning actress, children’s book author, and jazz educator. Despite that resume, Lee actually got her start as a dancer. In an interview with Peter Kerr of The Montrealer, she said, “I was dancing with an Afro-Cuban touring dance troupe. We were in a small town in Ontario, and had to extend the length of our performance to fill the time allotted for the show. I was chosen to sing some songs with the band to fill that time, and the audience loved it!”
In the ’60’s Lee worked as a singer in Toronto while also taking up the drums and saxophone to make herself more marketable. She eventually moved to Montreal and got her on-stage big-break portraying Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. Lee won a Dora Mavo Moore Award for her portrayal of the jazz legend, and thus the recording of Deep Song soon followed; “the mystique that is Billie Holiday is akin to the free spirit of a summer breeze blowing in many directions, sometimes disturbing, often refreshing, always beguiling. 

The allure of her music washes over you and touches your soul,” reflects Lee in a news release.
Deep Song is Ranee Lee’s tour de force-bringing the singer to the attention of jazz fans and concert producers worldwide for the first time. Originally released in 1989, the album has been beautifully re-mastered, and is now re-issued with two bonus tracks, “Fine and Mellow” and “Ill Wind”. Lee is celebrating 40 years in Montreal, where she has become one of Canada’s most popular jazz vocalists.
An extraordinary and captivating performer whether on the stage or on the bandstand, Lee’s sensuous melodic interpretations are complemented by her notable musician friends, including: pianist Oliver Jones, guitarist Richard Ring, drummer Archie Alleyne, and saxophonist/flautist Richard Beaudet. In addition, Lee is joined by Milt Hinton, Billie Holiday’s own bassist. Hinton writes in the liner notes, “ardent fans of Billie and listeners of all generations will enjoy the unique talent of Ranee Lee on Deep Song. It is a radiant listening experience.” The album confirms Ranee Lee as truly among the elite in jazz today.
Deep Song is comprised of jazz standards made famous by Lady Day, such as: “Easy Living” and “Strange Fruit”, (the latter, a Holiday signature protest song against racism), as well as songs Holiday had a hand in writing and have since become classics, including: “God Bless the Child”, “Don’t Explain”, and “Fine and Mellow”. The album opens with Buddy Johnson’s melancholy “I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone” before transitioning to the jaunty step of “When a Woman Loves a Man” and continuing to cover the breadth of Holiday’s landmark career. Throughout, the power and sensuality of Ranee Lee’s perfectly articulated melody lines deftly honor her predecessor.
Preserving Lady Day’s essence while delivering an experience unique to Lee, All Music Guide’s Scott Yanow said of Deep Song that, “Lee manages to recapture Holiday’s spirit without resorting to mimicry. This tasteful effort has among its highlights ‘When a Woman Loves a Man,’ ‘Crazy He Calls Me,’ ‘Easy Living,’ and ‘Them There Eyes.’ Recommended.” Notable Washington City Paper writer Joel E. Siegel, who also won a shared 1993 GRAMMY® Award for “Best Album Notes” on a Billie Holiday box set, has an ear for Lee’s sound-“Brooklyn-born, Montréal based Ranee Lee retains traditional virtues that most contemporary, jazz-oriented singers, have abandoned: professionalism, humor, discipline, unpretentiousness.”
In addition to the accolades of Deep Song, Lee has made strides in all of her endeavors in the subsequent decades. She wrote, produced, and performed in Dark Divas, a musical and double CD release that celebrates several of the most prominent black female singers of the century, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan; has acted alongside Billy Dee Williams in “Giant Steps”; hosted the television show “The Performers” on BET in the U.S. and BRAVO in Canada; and wrote and illustrated the children’s book Nana What Do You Say? Inspired by her song of the same name off of the 1994 album, I Thought About You. That album was also the first to be nominated for a Juno Award in the Best Mainstream Jazz Category.
In recognition of her unparalleled musical talent, Lee won the prestigious Juno Award forBest Jazz Vocal Album of the Year, for 2010’s Lives Upstairs, and continues to accumulate well-revered awards and declarations. She was inducted into The Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor, and was given the ACTRA Award of Excellence for Lifetime Achievement. In 2010, Lee received a MECCA nomination for her performance in the Black Theatre Workshop production of “Swan Song for Maria.”
As an educator, Lee has been on the faculty of The Schulich School of Music of McGill University for nearly 40 years, and has also contributed her expertise and talents at The University of Laval in Quebec City for nearly a decade. McGill honored Lee’s contribution to the development of their jazz program with a prestigious award of appreciation in 2007; she also won the International Association of Jazz Education award in 2004.
Ranee Lee has released 10 albums on Justin Time Records, and throughout her career has performed alongside the likes of: Clark Terry, Terry Clarke, Bill Mayes, Herbie Ellis, and Red Mitchell. Lee and her quartet will be performing Deep Song: A Tribute to Billie Holiday at festivals and various venues beginning in mid June.


Categories
Chrystal Rucker EPM Music Group gospel music new releases releases United States

Stroke survivor Chrystal Rucker recovers to release “You Deserve” – available Aug. 14, 2012

Chrystal Rucker (Photo Provided)

For almost two decades, Chrystal Rucker has been the darling of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination where she’s become known for her own spine-tingling renditions of Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow,” Tramaine Hawkins’ “Changed” and Lecresia Campbell’s classic, “Safety.” Then, in 2007 she suffered a stroke at age 35. If she couldn’t sing, she couldn’t work and over the next two years, she fought hard to get back to full health so that she could sing again and take care of her daughter.


 “When you have someone you have to live for it makes all the difference in the world in your healing process,” Rucker says in a news release.
 
After years of appearing on the albums of other artists, Rucker is back in top form and unveiling her first nationally-distributed solo CD, “You Deserve” (EPM Music Group), a brilliantly fascinating collection of heart-wrenching gospel ballads and pulsating praise tunes that hits retail stores and online portals everywhere on August 14, 2012. The 11-track set features the dynamic radio smash, “You Deserve,” which glistens with Rucker’s cascading high notes and squalls. Rucker also reintroduces Tramaine Hawkins’ 1975 classic, “Changed” and delivers a reverential hymn medley of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “Grateful.”
 
Even though she’s a church girl, Rucker shows she has a flair for urban pop on mid-tempo charmers such as “I Am So Grateful,” the jazzy “Nothing Less” and the infectious hand-clapper, “Make Me Wanna.” She creates a contagious joy on the heart-thumping “Come Bless His Name” while channeling the most poised and refined performance of the album on the soaring anthem, You Will Be My God” that shows off heavenly high notes and a tender sound of praise. For more information on Chrystal Rucker and other EPM Music Group artists, visit www.epmmusicgroup.com or www.chrystalrucker.net.

Categories
Emtro Gospel Records gospel music new releases releases Troy Sneed United States

Gospel singer Troy Sneed to release “All Is Well” on August 7

Gospel music lovers are waiting with eager-ears for Stellar Award winner Troy Sneed’s highly-anticipated seventh solo CD, “All Is Well” (Emtro Gospel), to hit stores on August 7. Throughout the winter and spring months, the Emtro label has been teasing fans of Sneed’s radio smash “All is Well” by not making the song available as a digital download until the CD drops. Now, Sneed has another radio hit, “Lay It Down,” that also won’t be available until the CD is released.

“I am so proud of this record,” Sneed says in a news release. “I put everything into it. I didn’t want people to just hear the radio singles. I wanted my fans to be nudged into listening to the whole album because I really worked to make every song a statement and I stretched myself vocally and in terms of the style of the music. I think a lot of people will be surprised.”

No one was more surprised than Sneed that the new single “Lay it Down” hit the Billboard Top 30 within the same week that the MP3 was emailed to radio.


“Troy Sneed has made it happen once again with a powerful inspirational message that’s simple and to the point in this season of life,” says Connye Bryant at WHLW in Montgomery, AL.

The new CD features urban-flavored songs of praise and worship ranging from the jazzy “Song for You” to  “I Know You Hear Me” that recalls R. Kelly’s “U Saved Me.” The `70s soul groove “All is Well” peaked at No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart, but “Lay it Down” is destined to go all the way to the Top 10 like Sneed’s past hits “My Heart Says Yes”, “Work It Out”, “Hallelujah” and “The Struggle Is Over” which spent several weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart.
 
“Lay it Down” combines an inspiring message of “laying down” life’s problems and a steady Caribbean drum pattern with Sneed’s spine-tingling high notes for an infectious sing-a-long track that’s perfect for the warm summer months. 


“Troy Sneed’s latest record ‘Lay It Down’ has people calling and asking where they can get it,” says Reggie Baker, program director at WPZZ in Richmond. “It is a great follow-up to ‘My Heart Says Yes’ and will be sung on Sunday mornings [at churches everywhere].” 


Mike Gamble, program director of the The Light:  Sheridan Gospel Network adds that, “”Troy has become the inspirational music stylist that delivers powerful words of encouragement in every song.”
 
A special pre-order $7.99 price tag is available for fans that pre-order “All Is Well” on iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/all-is-well/id544798312.  For more info on Sneed, go to www.troysneed.net or follow him at www.Twitter.com/TroySneed.


Categories
Gerald Scott gospel Habakkuk Music Maryland music new releases releases United States Virginia Washington D.C.

Gerald Scott & Co. fuses disparate musical styles on “Incredible” CD

 
For the last five years, Gerald Scott & Co. has been one of the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area) metroplex’s top local acts. Now, the dynamic ensemble is poised to become one of the nation’s leading gospel acts. Although, the group has released two successful indie projects in the past, they are stepping up their game with their third CD release, “Incredible” (Habakkuk Music) – in stores now.
 
The bouncy radio single, “Alright,” is reminiscent of a new wave Earth Wind & Fire ’70s jam. 

“We’ve been getting amazing feedback from it,” says Scott in a news release. “It’s very uplifting and encouraging. I like to call it a great song you can roll your windows down and ride to, so people are loving it and I’m just glad about that.” 


Many people are glad, and Scott and company are picking up fans in high places. 
 
“Gerald Scott is a phenomenal songwriter,” says Habakkuk CEO, April Washington Essex. “It’s like he writes from the heart of God. What’s more, he’s got the whole package: anointed ministry, great vocals & arrangements, exciting performance and he’s still young!”  


Scott composed and produced all of the ten songs on the “Incredible” CD that ranges from lush, congregational worship tunes such as “Higher” to the ferocious rock vibe of “No Condemnation.”  In between there are down-home church songs like “God Is Good,” the pop-styled ballad “Back with You” and the exhilarating rhythm of the title tune. Each track shows off not only Scott’s warmly earnest tenor but also the rich harmonies of the company.
 
“We’re going up and down the east coast promoting this CD,” says Scott. “We’re going to be everywhere each weekend – from New York to Orlando, Fla.” 


Follow the group on Twitter @gscottco or go online to http://www.habakkukmusic.com/ .




Exit mobile version