Customer Reviews

How Sweet the Sound: Spirituals & Traditional Gospel Music

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I was a member of Chanticleer when this CD ("How Sweet the Sound") was recorded, I have been away from the group for over a year. When I listened to the advance copy, I was transformed.

The 12 singers of Chanticleer are hyper-critical when it comes to reviewing their work on recording and I'm certainly no exception. Having said that, this recording goes beyond just a casual listen and touches the soul.

Chanticleer is known for its prestine tone and perfect blend and this recording has many moments of that. On the other hand, what this album offers is something rarely recognized on other Chanticleer CD's: life, energy, and, dare I say it, FUN!

Another rarity is the decision to use only arrangements by Chanticleer's music director, Joseph Jennings. Having been with the ensemble for over 20 years, Joe knows each voice intimately and his arrangements are tailor-made for the twelve voices on this recording. Joe's gift is not of this world (even his piano playing is otherworldly) and his heart, soul, and spirit permiate this CD.

Chanticleer is joined by Bishop Yvette Flunder for this album. She is an inspiration and a joy to work with. Her energy, selflessness, and pure love of what she does is infectious. It was a privilege to work with such a consummate performer and spirit.

Not to be forgotten is the producer, Steve Barnett. Steve has produced countless recordings for Chanticleer and this one is, in my opinion, his best work. With engineer Preston Smith at his side, they created a blend that remains faithful to Chanticleer's "sound" and yet pushes the envelope ever so slightly to allow the "soul" of the ensemble to shine.

To end; Joe's original composition "Be still and know" is an anthem for the world! In this age of so much uncertainty and pain, this piece reminds us that there is something greater. Between "Be still" and "Balm in Gilead", well,...you get the idea.

This is a recording for our time. You will not be disappointed whether your a fan of Chanticleer or not. I highly recommend this CD. And, it makes a good stocking stuffer!

Before this recording, I have to admit that I thought Chanticleer was a pleasing though rather pristine choir, a classic case of style over substance, granted a mellifluous group of voices but not all that stirring to my ears. Fortunately that perception has changed with this latest recording, which taps into a rich tapestry of spirituals and traditional gospel music. Recorded live at St. Ignatius Church here in San Francisco, this disc reflects pure and unbridled vocal beauty provided by the twelve men who make up Chanticleer plus an indispensable 13th voice, that of Bishop Yvette Flunder, a member of the fabled Hawkins Family Singers and a solo artist in her own right. No soul shouter, she unearths her power through her commitment to the words, an approach that grounds the fanciful vocal fireworks the men can generate.

What's nice is that this recording has no multiple tracking, no overdubs, just pure singing. Even with such familiar standards such as "Amazing Grace" and "There Is a Balm in Gilead", the combined effect of Chanticleer and Flunder is wondrous. But even by themselves, the sound these men achieve is incredibly full and rich, obviously inspired by the sacred program and nicely complemented by music director Joseph Jennings' expert arrangements. Jennings himself shows off some powerful vocal chops of his own on "You Can't Hide," "Sit Down Servant" and "Plenty Good Room". Even the one number that borders on camp, the opener "Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb" has a nice, doo-wop feel that allows the listener to sidle into the mainly gospel program easily. This is an unexpected surprise. Highly recommended, and I agree with the first review from Mr. White (who does a fine job on "Walk in Jerusalem")...this seems like the ideal holiday gift.

I bought "Where The Sun Will Never Go Down" and found it "nice". Fine singing, nice arrangements, but very concert-like, very correct, and uninspired, except for "Twelve Gates of the City". The possibilities of that cut made me buy this CD, and there is no doubt that the guys got it right this time. This is as fine gospel singing as you will hear. If you think of the Dixie Hummingbirds or the Golden Gate Quartet or the Abyssinian Church Choir or Aretha Franklin and James Cleveland's "Precious Memories", this CD has a place right up there with the recordings of those luminaries.

I've been a Chanticleer fan for many years now and own almost all of their recordings, including "Where the Sun will Never Go Down, but, like another reviewer said, most of the gospel music on that CD was too "concert like"; but this one is just about the best gospel recording they've ever done. My CD arrived yesterday and it hasn't been of the player yet. If you're a gospel music fan, don't miss this CD!

This is truly an amazing recording from a surperior group--well worth your time and money. Chanticleer sings with inspired precision and makes you want to listen over and over again. On this recording, they sing mostly spirituals with a few gospel music selections at the beginning. The arrangements are solely by Joseph Jennings, the Music Director--every single one of his arrangements is thoroughly excellent.

The true stand out track is "Keep your Hand on the Plow," with a marvelous countertenor solo. A great delight to listen to. Other highlights include "Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb," and "Didn't in Rain." On the latter track, Chanticleer is joined by guest artist Bishop Yvette Flounder, an active member of the Church and powerful singer, who just adds to the great musicianship already assembled. She also sings with Chanticleer on a few other selections including the classics "Amazing Grace" and "There is a Balm in Gilead." On both of these tracks, Jennings' arrangments are very slow. This works against him on "Amazing Grace," a selection that drags on for over seven minutes and is a bit tedious to listen to. However, this works wonderfully for him on "There is a Balm," which goes on for quite a while, but every second is worth the deep passion felt while listening.

In summary, this is not to be missed. Don't think twice.

This is the Best Chanticleer CD yet. I have listened to it dozens of times. Money well spent. I have even given copies to several of my friends.

From "Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb" to "Amazing Grace", this CD is packed with glorius gospel spirituals and terrific talent. Highly recommend to music lovers of all faiths!

On this standard red book 16-bit CD we are offered that rare and special invitation: Come now, pilgrim - take yet another good step forward in gospel praise or supplication. How can we progress in our individual and collective spiritual journeys towards whatever transcendent glories ground us, revive us, and lead us on despite life's challenges, unless we sing?. Are you having set backs? This CD is good medicine, and it is both a worthy addition to the gospel music shelf and perhaps just the sort of musical medicine that turns out to be good for you, on more than one level of body, mind, and soul. Not a bitter root aftertaste, nor a nagging fishy oil payback in any of this welcome elixir. I guess that is why we call it, Good News.

The arrangements of new and old gospel standards have been set by counter-tenor Joseph Jennings - a leading Chanticleer member of long standing - intently drawing upon both the florid improvisations of the soloists and gospel groups climbing ever so dazzlingly into the fiery chariots that sacred texts say carried off the prophet; and yes, rooted as well in the impeccably crafted close harmonies and inwardly solid strength of gospel quartets and ensembles like Fisk University's Jubilee Singers and many other exemplars.

So, when you listen to this one you will be immediately surrounded by that amazing and great, gathering could of witnesses. The messages are familiar: Keep your hands on the plow. Surely God is able. There is a balm in Gilead.

Like the famous vocal work by Ralph Vaughan Williams, his Serenade to Music as written for a star-crossed group of well-known British soloists of the era; so this gospel outing brings the small male ensemble Chanticleer to the fore - both as a vocal group and as a fabulous collection of solo voices who are prodigiously gifted vocal stars in their own rights. Capping off Chanticleer as an embarrassment of riches is a guest turn by San Francisco's own Bishop Yvette Flunder. She is the real deal, too, as both an ordained minister whose leadership in black churches has blazed fireworks in celebration of melding religion with social justice, and a Jen-U-Wine good news singer who can preach and pray and moan with the best of them.

Only the superhumanly perfected intonation of their cappella group singing, as well as the superb blend and polish of the Chanticleer dozen, will remind a listener than this group is as famous for its Flemish medieval polyphony or its unerring Purcellian clarity, as any other ensemble of twelve voices now appearing before us.

So, forget all the categories and musicology boxes which would seal off gospel music from pre-Bach cathedral masters of polyphony. With this CD we can just revel in the mysteries of good music, regardless. Yeah, Josquin, I'm talking bout you - Sit down servant, there's plenty good room.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

The first time I played it I was not sure I liked it - it was not exactly what I expected. But the more I play it the more I like it. I will continue to play it regularly and like it more and more.

I love Yvette Flunder, so I was happy to see another way to listen to her music, but the CD, I think, is uneven. I really like some songs and other songs I have to skip past. The best - Need a Witness (#8) If the whole CD was like the power and energy of this song, I would give it a Five.