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Traditional gospel music gets a real shot in the arm when the songs flow from the pen of artist John P. Kee. His music is ministry and his heartfelt songs stem from a turbulent street lifestyle. "Divine intervention" brought him back to his home in North Carolina and to a ministry as pastor of New Life Fellowship Church.
His dynamic New Life Community Choir creates a young modern gospel music which blends the tradition of gospel choirs with hip-hop and rap grooves involving a "percolating rhythm section".
His dedication to a worship experience is obvious even in this live concert CD format. Kee makes very clear his personal experience with Jesus Christ throughout high energy worship.
Being a choral person with a fascination for traditional gospel choirs, I looked forward to broadening my horizons with this CD. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed that the choir took on more of a backup role in the disc. Rarely did they have opportunity to shine; even the engineering and production of this live CD demoted the choir to an accompaniment role to the soloists and rhythm section.
The New Life Community Choir has a clean sound with an incredible grasp of modern rhythms and hip-hop sound. This style is definitely worth exploring if you are interested in new choral sounds.
Dean Wedel is part-time choir director and assistant worship coordinator at Portage Ave. (Winnipeg) MB Church. He is a member of Richmond (BC) Bethel MB Church
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