*SYREETA: THE GABRIE(LE) OF GOSPEL-JAZZ
By Bob Marovich
The only female gospel singer who plays trumpet and sings, SYREETA is turning heads and moving spirits with her new album, In His Presence. The Black Gospel Blog’s Bob Marovich chats with one of gospel music’s rising stars.
*BOB MAROVICH’S GOSPEL PICKS
EDDIE ROBINSON, This Is My Story, This Is My Song--Eddie Robinson and his combo on This is My Story, This is My Song take us back to church for real, with toe-tapping Zion songs that evoke church mothers in their finery, hats perched high on their 'dos, fans waving in time to the music, shouting their troubles over on a Sunday morning.
GI, The Next Dimension--GI's new CD, The Next Dimension, contains a baker's dozen of songs with spit-polished harmonies and passionate vocals atop friendly pop melodies and hard-hitting electronic arrangements. The music and lyrics are aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at a young church-going demographic.
DEITRICK HADDON, Anthology: The Writer And His Music--Deitrick Haddon's urgent rhythms and R&B fusion produce praise and worship with attitude.
J. FRAZE, Brighter Days--On his CD Brighter Days, Johnathan Frazier (aka J. Fraze--the Minister of Praise) provides the first gospel house version of "Amazing Grace" that TBGB has ever heard. But it's an appropriate selection, since the grace of God turning bad days into brighter days is a running theme on the album.
NORMAN THOMAS, Overture (EP)--From Hamden, Connecticut, Norman Thomas is in the category of earnest young male gospel singers (Jack Yates and Todd Dulaney also come to mind) whose genuine feelings for God are audible in the authenticity of their crystal-clear voices and lyric delivery. On his EP Overture, released mid-June, Thomas teamed with co-producers Tye Brown and Cameron Fletcher to combine jazzy instrumentals with electronically-fueled jams.
