FBC Male Chorus: “100 Men Singing!”

On September 20, 2009, we the Friendship Baptist Male Chorus will celebrate our 25^th Anniversary. 

For this year’s anniversary we are asking your male choir and musicians to come together with us in CONCERT. 

Our goal is “100 Men Singing” praises to our Lord Jesus Christ.  We feel this will make a great impact on the body of Christ with God’s men uniting with harmony and love-glorifying Jesus Christ. 

This is what we need from you as soon as possible.  Give us the name of one song selection that you would like to include in the concert.  

You may give us a tape, CD, artist, or title of the song.  We will place your selection with other songs on a CD.  The CD will be given to you to listen and to rehearse during your choir rehearsal.  We will have a joint rehearsal. The “100 Men singing” rehearsal will be announced at a later date. 

For further information contact:

Evangeline           803-48-9290 ch.  Or 803-564-5290 or

 Flip                         803-640-1420

 

Please come and support this effort.  Also please announce this concert to your Church.  Encouraging everyone to come and be a witness and to praise our Lord and Savior.

 

Thank you so very much for your cooperation.  Continue to be blessed.

 

The Attire for this Event:

Dark Suits

Shirt & Tie

 

For His Glory,

Rev. T.C.Edwards, Pastor

Evangeline Muldrow-Petress, Min/Music

Flip Quiller, President

Baptist teens take closer look at hip-hop

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

After showing a music video by T-Pain with suggestive lyrics, the pastor posed a question to the group of Baptist teenagers:

“Is it all right to be a Christian and listen to this?” asked the Rev. Tracy Samuel from South Carolina.

The response was varied, reflecting the lively discussion Tuesday on the second day of the annual Congress of Christian Education of the National Baptist Convention USA, the oldest and biggest black religious group in the nation.

The workshop, Hip-Hop Culture and Christianity, was among the forums held Tuesday in Detroit’s Cobo Center aimed at young Baptists. They’re an attempt, say organizers, to keep youngsters in the church and to deal with the influence of pop culture.

In Samuel’s session, the group discussed a wide range of issues, from how to dress in church to how to spread the gospel.

“You and I got to get out and be real” in order to spread the Christian message, Samuel said.

Kedryck James, an 18-year-old Baptist from Charleston, S.C., who attended the session, said he is an active member of his church; this is the sixth Baptist convention he’s been to.

But because he has dreadlocks, he said he sometimes gets looks inside his church from some parishioners who don’t think his hair is appropriate. Still, he said that didn’t prevent him from being part of his church choir.

“I dare you to keep me from praising the Lord,” James said.

Noelle Washington, 16, also of Charleston, goes to a Baptist church but says she likes nondenominational churches because they focus more on the youth.

With Baptist churches, “they’re like tradition, tradition” and not as willing to try new things, Washington said. Still, she and other teens said they liked the closeness of Baptist churches.

“It’s like you’re with family,” said John Miller, 16, of Charleston.

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO: 313-223-4792 or warikoo@freepress.com

Athlete, Musician Wayman Tisdale Dead at 44

National Basketball Association star, three-time All-American at the University of Oklahoma and jazz musician Wayman Tisdale died in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma today, Friday, May 15. Tisdale was 44.

The 6 foot-9 inch hoopster played for Indiana, Sacramento and Phoenix, and earned a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team.

Tisdale also made a career as a popular smooth jazz bass guitarist. Among his eight-CD musical legacy is a gospel/sacred album he recorded in 2003, called Wayman Tisdale Presents 21 Days.

Photo: Brad Barket/Getty Images

Break Through – True Believers (Malaco 2008)

True Believers
Break Through
Malaco Records 2008
www.malaco.com

Here’s another young quartet with an old soul.

Earlier in the decade, McComb, Mississippi’s True Believers recorded for the Blackberry label under the guidance of the Williams Brothers, then signed with Malaco, releasing their first project for the imprint in 2007. The group unveiled Break Through, its second Malaco project, in the winter of 2008.

While the first few songs on Break Through are fairly standard quartet fare, when the group charges into “Here Comes your Breakthrough” (track five), it’s as if someone pushed the Turbo button. From here to the end of the CD, True Believers packs punch after punch of muscular traditional gospel quartet singing with just enough contemporary flavor to broaden its appeal.

“Here Comes Your Breakthrough” is a supercharged, high-energy quartet performance and a song destined to become the group’s signature. Other “drive” songs on the CD include the kick-beat, hip-slapping “I Know (Somebody Touched Me)” and “When I Rise.” The quartet gets bluesy on a variation of a quartet favorite, “Get Right Church,” known here by the title “Jesus is Coming.”

Break Through closes with the classic hymn “At the Cross,” which features high harmonies a la the Violinaires. The lead singer embroiders the song with Sam Cooke-style yodels, which sound good but make even more sense as the group moves into Cooke’s Soul Stirrers outing, “Build a Fence Around Me.” It’s an appropriate conclusion to a project that, like the Stirrers of Cooke’s era, combines youthful energy with timeless male quartet harmony.

Four of Five Stars

TBGB Pick of the Week: May 12, 2009

“Till the Morning Comes”
Sylvester Burks
C&W Records 2009
www.C-N-WRecords.com

Talk about a crossroads.

As an eighteen year-old, Sylvester Burks had to choose between a request from Rev. James Cleveland to go on tour or finish his studies. At his mother’s request, Burks obediently chose the books, but the poignant “Till the Morning Comes,” arranged and produced by Burks, demonstrates that if you have the talent, music will find you, no matter what.

Ironically, the cry in Derick Hughes’ voice is reminiscent of James Cleveland. Ashling Cole delivers a marvelous second lead on this song of encouragement and hope in the darkest hours. Here, Jesus is depicted as a loving parent, “a light till the morning comes.” Passionately delivered and heartfelt.

While the mainstream gospel music audience may not know Sylvester Burks, ask top gospel musicians and singers such as Tramaine Hawkins, Yolanda Adams, and Donnie McClurkin, and they’ll know him because they have worked with him. Burks also teaches keyboards, provides music for a whole circuit of churches in the Bay Area, and is finishing the full-length album on which this single will be included.

Burks is a recording artist for Herman Williams, Jr.’s C&W Records imprint, founded in 2007 in Memphis, TN.

Legendary Gospel Singer Eugene Smith Dead at 88

TBGB learned today from both Joseph Middleton and David Jones that Eugene Smith of the Roberta Martin Singers died today, May 9, at his home in Chicago.

The senior living apartments where Smith was a resident confirmed his passing. They found his body in his apartment this morning.

Eugene Smith just recently celebrated his 88th birthday; “Gospel Memories” dedicated its April 6 program to him.

Smith was a charter member of the Roberta Martin Singers, joining in 1933 when it was known as the Martin & Frye Quartette. He became the group’s manager when Martin decided to leave the road and concentrate on her publishing business.

I had the great pleasure to have known Smith these past few years and considered him a friend. He was one of the last of the living gospel pioneers. We were planning to go out to Burr Oak this Memorial Day weekend to visit Roberta’s grave and tidy it up a bit. It was a trip Eugene made many a Memorial Day to pay tribute to the woman who was so much a part of his life.

What Eugene once said about Roberta I want to paraphrase about Eugene: “There never has been, and never will be, another Eugene Smith. Uh-uh. No sir.”

Here is an article from the New York Times. Scholar and author Anthony Heilbut, a friend of Smith’s for 50 years, is quoted in this piece.

The Chicago Tribune’s Sara Olkon contributes this remembrance: Eugene Smith.

Visit Joseph Middleton’s tribute to Eugene on YouTube.

This Saturday morning’s “Gospel Memories” program will pay tribute to Eugene Smith, the celebrated singer, manager and announcer for the Roberta Martin Singers.

Here are the homegoing details, courtesy of President Dennis Cole of the Chicago Area Gospel Announcers Guild:

ORDER OF SERVICE:

VISITATION & CELEBRATION
Monday, May 18, 2009
6pm-10pm

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
HOME GOING SERVICE
10am-11am Visitation
11:00 Service

All services will be held at:

CHRISTIAN TABERNACLE CHURCH
4712 South Prairie Avenue
Chicago, IL
Pastor Maceo L. Woods, Officiating

Pastor Joseph Jackson
of Mount Pisgah Church
Will Deliver Eulogy

Please join me in remembering this special man and praying for those whom he touched so deeply over the years with his singing, his personality and his abiding faith.

Photo: Eugene Smith in front of Ebenezer M.B. Church, where he met Roberta Martin in 1933 and became a member of the church’s Junior Choir the same year.

“Close to You” – BeBe and CeCe Winans

“Close to You”
BeBe & Cece Winans
Malaco/B & C Records 2009
www.myspace.com/bebeandcecewinans

Not to be confused with the Carpenters’ 1970s hit of the same name, this “Close to You” is a sweet, melodic gospel-pop ballad from the pen of BeBe Winans.

BeBe and CeCe trade leads with ease, and harmonize as only longtime singing siblings can. Their individual popularity, and the fact that they haven’t sung together on record for fifteen years, will propel this single up the charts.

“Close to You,” the first single from the brother and sister’s forthcoming project, is as much a love song to Jesus as it is a love song between two people. Engaged couples seeking a gospel song for the wedding will want to invite this single to their service.

NPR: Armen Boladian, Westbound Records & Sound of Gospel

Click on the link below to hear a seven and a half minute NPR “Fresh Air” feature on Detroit label owner Armen Boladian. Boladian started Westbound Records, where the Clark Sisters hit it big with their surprise club hit, “You Brought the Sunshine.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103775879

In addition to Westbound, Boladian also launched the Sound of Gospel imprint. His extended foray into gospel music is given a brief footnote in the story, and Sound of Gospel is not even mentioned by name, but it should have been. Many great artists, including the Clark Sisters, Mattie Moss Clark, Voices of Tabernacle, Jerry Q. Parries, Thomas Whitfield, the St. James Choir and others have had Sound of Gospel releases. And the label’s Detroit Remembers retrospective collection? Off the hook.

To TBGB’s ears, Sound of Gospel LPs are worth picking up even if you are unfamiliar with the artist, because the production quality is consistently top-notch.

Verity Gospel Music Group Makes Chart History

From a press release:

New York, NY – May 4, 2009- Verity Gospel Music Group is the first label in Gospel music history to hold the top four song positions on the R&R Gospel charts:

#1 – “Souled Out” (Hezekiah Walker & LFC)
#2 – “Back II Eden” (Donald Lawrence & Co)
#3 – “Praise Him In Advance” (Marvin Sapp)
#4 – “Peace & Favor Rest On Us” (Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers)

Jeff Grant, Vice President of Promotions at Verity Gospel Music Group, says: “It’s both exciting and humbling to be a part of history. This achievement speaks to the great artists and songs at Verity Gospel Music Group as well as the continued support of radio.”

The slots are held by a superfecta of top Gospel music artists. Christianity Today calls Hezekiah Walker & LFC “one of the most covered choral ensembles on Sunday mornings;” and describes Kurt Carr and The Kurt Carr Singers as “a pure example of high-octane contemporary Gospel.” Additionally, Billboard Magazine says Donald Lawrence is a producer who delivers songs “with complex ideas and in a feat of songwriting prowess, boils them into catchy lyrics,” and Marvin Sapp creates music that is “designed to quench those looking for uplifting contemporary praise songs with traditional themes of worship.”

A division of Jive Label Group, Verity Gospel Music Group is comprised of Gospocentric Records; Kirk Franklin’s Fo-Yo Soul Entertainment; Quiet Water Entertainment; F. Hammond Music and New Life Records. Verity Gospel Music Group is based in New York.

The Supreme Angels – Reloaded (Malaco 2009)

The Supreme Angels
Reloaded
Malaco 2009
www.malaco.com

When legendary quartet leader Rev. Howard “Slim” Hunt of Slim and the Supreme Angels made his transition from labor to reward in 2007, the inevitable question was: what will happen to the Supreme Angels? Hunt was the heart and soul of a group that was active for more than a half-century.

Hunt solved that problem in advance by grooming his son, Quincy King, to be his vocal successor. On the quartet’s latest project, the appropriately titled Reloaded, King — nicknamed Slim, Jr. — is in the mix along with stalwart members Robert “Sugar” Hightower (remember him as the sassy-confident child lead of the Hightower Brothers?), Maurice Robinson and Michael Kimpson.

King gives the Supreme Angels a more youthful vocal sound, and the retro soul seventies feel the musicians cultivate throughout Reloaded is, if not timeless, still very much in vogue. The songs (save one) are new but lyrically they traverse quartet holy ground: shelter in a time of storm, thanksgiving for blessings, holding on against all odds, surviving in a tough world with lots of questionable choices, Mother, and the need for spiritual healing.

The CD opens and (almost) closes with quartet handclappers. “Wicked Land,” a take on “My Lord’s Gonna Move this Wicked Race;” and “What’s the Matter with Jesus” are 100 percent pure Supreme Angels fare. “How Long” showcases superb lead vocals and a music riff reminiscent of English pub band Ace’s opening salvo in its seventies hit of the same name, but it is not the same song. “Hold On and Never Give Up” is bouncy and bright Northern Soul. In the receeding seconds of “Your Touch is All We Need,” the quartet beseeches the Lord to watch over and protect a litany of their quartet bretheren, such as the Canton Spirituals.

Listen for Sugar’s biting guitar solo on “Don’t Let the Devil Steal your Joy” and the Supreme Angels’ performance of the reverential hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour,” which closes out the project.

Slim Hunt may be gone, but his legacy lives on in the Supreme Angels.

Four of Five Stars

Next Page »