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gospel music releases United States

Earnest Pugh’s “The W.I.N. Experience” debuts at top of gospel chart

Earnest Pugh. Photo provided.
Earnest Pugh. Photo provided.

Stellar Award nominated balladeer Earnest Pugh  has returned to the top of the music chart with his new, highly anticipated The W.I.N. (Worship In Nassau) Experience.  The CD debuts at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart, and the radio single “More of You” climbs to #14 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart.

“It’s impossible to articulate in words what I am feeling right now,” says Pugh in a news release. “Though it’s my sixth CD release, my heart leaps with joy and appreciation today just as it did 15 years ago when I released my very first CD. I am blown away by the response, love, and support of the W.I.N. Project. I cannot take all the credit. I have been blessed with an amazing team of people to create and push this project. There are so many people to thank such as my personal staff, radio promoter Damon Stewart, TKO Marketing, Central South Distribution, plus, all of the great guest artists and singers. They all put their hands to the plow and we never looked back.”

Recorded live in Nassau, Bahamas, in the Grand Ballroom of the Atlantis Hotel, the album commemorates Pugh’s 20-15 Celebration -20 years in ministry and 15 years in the music industry. The full-length concert boasted cameos by gospel icon Shirley Caesar, Bishop Rance Allen, LeJuene Thompson and the energetic choir, Vincent Tharpe & Kenosis. The companion DVD video will soon hit retail shelves as well. For more information, visit www.earnestpugh.com.

 

Categories
arts gospel jazz music releases United States

Saxophonist/Composer Tim Green to release “Songs from this Season” on Feb.12

Whether your source is the Bible or the Byrds, the notion is the same: “To everything there is a season.” On his debut as a leader, Songs From This Season, alto saxophonist and composer Tim Green recounts the many seasons of his own life on a stylistically diverse set featuring a host of established and rising jazz stars.

Released via Green’s own True Melody Music label, Songs From This Season surveys a broad swath of the jazz landscape, from deftly swinging hard bop to fluid modernity to soulful gospel. The impressive list of sidemen on the session includes pianist Orrin Evans, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, drummers Rodney Green and Obed Calvaire, and several of Green’s collaborators in the thriving Baltimore/Washington D.C. jazz scene.

The disc marks not only the emergence of a strong new voice on the saxophone, already established by Green’s second-place showing in the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, but of a confident and versatile composer. Each piece on the album, Green says, reflects a certain period in his life and the emotion attached to it.

“I can never force a piece of music,” he explains via a news release. “It has to be inspired by a mood or emotion I’m feeling at that moment.”

While his compositions display the influence of many different genres, the common thread among them is a direct emotionality, a vivid communication with the listener. This quality was inspired by some of Green’s mentors, most prominently Dick Oatts, with whom he studied at the Manhattan School of Music, and Terence Blanchard, one of the guiding lights of the Monk Institute.

“Dick Oatts really introduced me to writing,” Green says, “and Terence Blanchard encouraged me to not just write music but to write an actual song. So many jazz records are just about the solos, but I wanted mine to be more about the songs and the melodies.”

While Green was raised in the church, gospel was not a significant aspect of his musical upbringing. He grew up in Baltimore surrounded by music; his father and uncle are singers and his older brother was a trumpet player who Green emulated. “My brother was one of my first influences because I just wanted to be around him and do whatever he was doing.”

Still, a song like “Shift” shows a distinct gospel influence, albeit one that entered Green’s vocabulary later in his career. Upon moving to New York to study at the Manhattan School, he was enlisted by fellow Baltimorean Marvin Thompson for his Mo’Horns brass section, which backed gospel stars like Fred Hammond and Richard Smallwood.

“I never planned on playing gospel music,” Green admits. “But all of a sudden, I was playing with all of these gospel artists and it started having an influence on my music.”

“Shift” takes the most traditional approach to that influence, with New York gospel organist Loren Dawson, Baltimore electric bassist Adam Jonson and vocalists Micah Smith and Iyana Wakefield joining in.

On “Dedication,” Green pays homage to two more of his influences, pianists Mulgrew Miller (one of Green’s mentors) and Kenny Kirkland. Miller has called Green “a talented, committed, and accomplished young artist. And most importantly to me, he has a song in his heart.” The endorsement of such elders spotlights Green’s role as a torchbearer for the modern jazz tradition.