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Soul Full

One of Seattle Men's Chorus' most powerful concerts to date, this two-disc recording captures the essence of what many consider to be the chorus' finest hour. Joined by Northwest Girlchoir, Total Experience Gospel Choir, and Urban Rhythms - three of the nation's finest gospel and singing ensembles - the recording brings some of the greatest inspirational favorites to life including: We Shall Not Be Moved, There's a Man Goin' Round, Still I Rise and a medley from the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin'.

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Format: Compact Disc
Category: Gospel
Price: $20
Released: 1998
Availability: Currently in-stock

LINER NOTES

CD cover: Soul Full

Soul Full

Released: 1998
2-disc set

The power of choral music can bring different communities of people together. In March of 1998 the Seattle Men's Chorus, joined by the Northwest Girlchoir, Total Experience Gospel Choir and Urban Rhythms shifted the earth a bit for all who participated in the concert called Soul Full. There were 350 singers — black & white, gay & straight, young & old — singing together…  singing about their lives. The energy of Soul Full was so electric that this live recording has captured the emotion as the boundaries between stage and audience disappeared. The improvisations, the clapping and the shouts of encouragement and "Hallelujah" are all there. But most of all, this music is from our hearts to yours!
Allow yourself to be changed…  we were. And may we never be the same!

SEATTLE MEN'S CHORUS
The Seattle Men's Chorus was founded in 1979, as the nation's third gay men's chorus. Now, in 1998, SMC is internationally recognized as an innovator in choral performance, and continues its commitment to building bridges of understanding between the gay and lesbian community and society. An active recording program has yielded eight recordings. The ensemble has been featured in two PBS (Public Broadcasting System) television specials including 1993's Swellegant Elegance: The Music of Cole Porter with Harvey Fierstein and Diane Schuur. An active commissioning program has led to many new works for men's chorus including 1995's one-act opera Night Passage by the Houston Grand Opera team of Robert Moran and James Skofield. American tours have included performances in some of the nation's most prestigious halls including Carnegie Hall in New York City, Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas and Symphony Hall in Boston. The Seattle Men's Chorus is the proud recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission, Washington State Arts Commission, PONCHO, Corporate Council for the Arts and corporate sponsorships from American Airlines and The Boeing Company.
URBAN RHYTHMS
Dedicated to positive social change, Urban Rhythms, a multi-ethnic, intergenerational performance chorus organized in 1994 by music director Kent Stevenson, celebrates ethnic, cultural and spiritual diversity through gospel, jazz, a cappella spirituals, R&B, pop, peace and freedom songs, Brazilian and African-language works. Urban Rhythms has sung on national TV, radio, on ships, airplanes, at festivals, highway rest stops, restaurants, hotels, motels, churches, schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, bars and in some of Europe's grandest cathedrals.
NORTHWEST GIRLCHOIR
Northwest Girlchoir celebrates 26 years of musical excellence this year. The choir's mission to develop a community of young musicians is realized through encounters with great music in an environment that nourishes personal growth and which provides exciting performance opportunities. Through an annual performance schedule which includes six mainstage concerts, numerous informal community performances, and frequent national and international tours, Northwest Girlchoir fulfills its mission and reaches out to audiences in ways that are inclusive, educational and enjoyable for everyone.

The Northwest Girlchoir has consistently distinguished itself as a model of the highest standards of artistry and performance, and it is a valued participant in national and international choral festivals. Among the Choir's credits are invitational performances at the Regional/National conventions of the American Choral Directors Association; 1992 triple-award winners at Hungary's Bela Bartok International Choral Festival, and second place (Vicace Choir) in the Des Moines International Children's Choral Festival. Northwest Girlchoir was the Honor Choir at Disneyland in the summer of 1996. The consistently strong artistic and management standards are implicit in the selection of NWGC as one of three U.S. children's choirs to receive continuing National Endowment for the Arts funding. Equally important, the Choir's increasingly sold-out mainstage performances attest to the Puget Sound area's regard for the Northwest Girlchoir.

TOTAL EXPERIENCE GOSPEL CHOIR
Hailed as one of the Northwest's finest soulfull ensembles, the Total Experience Gospel Choir is comprised of young people ranging in ages from 5-24, with a sprinkling of older adults. Beginning as a class in gospel music in a Seattle High School in 1973, the choir has taken on the coloration of the community - socially, economically and religiously.

The choir has received many awards including two Kids Day Salute Awards for outstanding community service, NAMA awards (Northwest Area Music Awards) for Best Gospel Act and Best Religious Recording, Washington Education Association Human Relations Award for student involvement, and the prestigious E.K. and Lillian Bishop Foundation Award, among others.

The choir has engaged in many educational ventures/tours as well as spiritual pilgrimages for the past twenty-five years. They have visited many of the historical landmarks of this country and have sung in some of the largest churches and scholastic institutions in the United States.

Under Pat Wright's leadership the group has toured in Nicaragua, Japan, Australia, Germany, Russia, Siberia, Mexico, the Bahamas, El Salvador and in 40 of 50 states in the United States.

They have performed in countless public spaces, including penal institutions, schools, restaurants, and hotels as well as on the radio and television. Their repertoire consists of spirituals, traditional and contemporary gospel, anthems, message and love songs, jazz and seasonal music.

In addition to their live performances, the group has sung backup vocals for national and international artists including The O'Neal Twins of St. Louis, the late Rev. Cleophus Robinson of St. Louis, Take 6, The Winans, Charlie Daniels, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and many others. Choir Director Pat Wright has performed on the same stage with Dionne Warwick and Melba Moore, and has been the recipient of numerous awards since 1974.

TRACKS

DISC 1

  1. Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around 4:03
    Traditional African-American Spiritual
    Arranged by Kent Stevenson

    Combined Choruses

  2. We Shall Not Be Moved 3:25
    Traditional African-American Spiritual
    Arranged by Kent Stevenson

    Combined Choruses

  3. There's A Man Goin' Round 2:58
    Traditional Spiritual
    Arranged by Dennis Coleman

    Seattle Men's Chorus

  4. A Quiet Place 2:31
    Ralph Carmichael
    Arranged by Jerry Rubino
    Published by Birdwing Music

    Zipper! (Seattle Men's Chorus)

  5. Still I Rise 4:31
    Percy Bady
    Arranged by David Maddux
    Published by Bad Boy Music

    Zipper! (Seattle Men's Chorus)

  6. Betelehemu 6:32
    Via Olatunji, Arr. Wendell Whalum
    Published by Lawson Gould Music Publications

    Seattle Men's Chorus with Northwest Girlchoir

  7. Psalm 23 4:08
    Traditional
    Arranged by Edwin Hawkins

    Urban Rhythms

  8. O Sifuni Mungu 5:15
    (All Creatures of Our God and King)
    From the Bembe Tribe of Zaire, Africa
    Music: David Maddux, Marty McCall, Mmunga Mwenebulongo Molongoy, Asukuly Yunu Mukalay
    Words: David Maddux, Marty McCall, based upon the words of St. Francis of Assisi
    © 1987 by Word Music and Meadowgreen Music Co.

    Urban Rhythms

  9. Don't Get Down on Your Knees to Pray Until You Have Forgiven Everyone 5:34
    (from The Second Sacred Concert)
    Duke Ellington (Ellington Edward Kennedy)
    Arranged by Kent Stevenson
    Published by Music Sales Corp.

    Urban Rhythms

  10. Out of Water, Into Air 12:20
    Stephen Hatfield
    Published by Boosey & Hawkes

    Combined Choruses

DISC 2

  1. Precious Lord, Take My Hand 3:02
    Thomas A. Dorsey
    Arranged by Roy Ringwald
    Published by Warner-Tamerlane Pub. Co.

    Northwest Girlchoir

  2. Thou My Everlasting Portion 4:14
    Traditional Gospel
    Arranged by Barbara Baker

    Northwest Girlchoir

  3. Mood Indigo 3:50
    Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Albany Bigard
    Arranged by Harry Simone Published by EMI Mills Music Inc.

    Northwest Girlchoir

  4. Heaven Bound Train 3:38
    Traditional Spiritual
    Arranged by Stephen Hatfield
    Published by Plymouth Music Co. Inc.

    Northwest Girlchoir

  5. Ain't Misbehavin' Medley 9:15
    Ain't Misbehavin
    Thomas Waller
    Arranged by David Maddux,
    Published by The Songwriters Guild, EMI Music Inc.
    Spreadin' Rhythm Around
    Jimmy McHugh, Ted Koehler Published by EMI Robbins Catalog
    Cash For your Trash
    Thomas Waller, Ed Kirkeby
    Published by Anne-Rachel Music Corp., EMI Catalog Inc.
    Your Feets Too Big
    Ada Benson, Fred Fisher Published by Morley Music, Sony Tunes Inc.
    Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do!
    Porter Grainger, Robert Graham Prince, Clarence Williams & James Witherspon, Published by Songwriter's Guild & MCA Music Publishing

    Seattle Men's Chorus

  6. Freeway of Love 3:08
    Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen
    Arranged by David Maddux
    Published by WB Music Corp, See No Evil Music

    Seattle Men's Chorus

  7. Respect 2:53
    Otis Redding, Jr.
    Arranged by David Maddux
    Published by Irving Music Inc. - East Memphis

    Seattle Men's Chorus

  8. The Lord's Prayer 3:32
    Traditional
    Arranged by Patrinell Wright

    Total Experience Gospel Choir

  9. Lean On Me 4:47
    Bill Withers
    Arranged by Patrinell Wright
    Published by Interior Music Corp.

    Total Experience Gospel Choir

  10. Don't Wait 'til the Battle is Over 5:12
    Walter and Edwin Hawkins
    Arranged by Patrinell Wright

    Total Experience Gospel Choir

  11. Hallelujah 4:50
    (from Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)
    © 1992 Warnerbuilt Songs, Inc.
    Winston Kae Music and Mervyn Warren Music. Warnerbuilt Songs, Inc.

    Combined Choruses

  12. Lift Every Voice and Sing 5:48
    (African-American National Anthem)
    Words James Weldon Johnson
    Music J. Rosamond Johnson
    Arranged by Kent Stevenson

    Combined Choruses

  13. We Shall Overcome 2:57
    Traditional
    Arranged by David Maddux

    Combined Choruses




SOLOISTS
There's A Man Goin' Round : Paul Thomasson
Betelehemu : Ben Aguiluz, David Nilsson, Michael Smith
Psalm 23 : Lisa Allen, Danny Ramos
O Sifuni Mungu : Kent Stevenson
Don't Get Down On Your Knees (Until You Have Forgiven Everyone) : Terry Hagen, Paul Riley, Harry Bounds, Lisa Allen
Thou My Everlasting Portion : Mona Johnston
Mood Indigo : Claire Wilmoth
Ain't Misbehavin' : Steven Long
Your Feets Too Big : Roscoe S. Burks
Respect : Pat Wright
Lean On Me : Karma Johnso
Don't Wait 'til The Battle Is Over : Gena Brooks
CONCERT PERSONNEL
song : soloist
Principal Accompanist, SMC : Evan Stults
Piano : Kent Stevenson, Dwight Beckmeyer
Synthesizer : Jason Turner
Bass : Gary Smith
Drums : Jason Turner, Jessica Howard, Jeff "Bongo" Busch
Percussion : Jeff "Bongo" Busch, Gena Brooks, Jaci White
Drummers from SMC : Ron Legters Conductor/Drum Major, Tim Clements, Rodger Fowler, Tony Gilkinson, Jeff Green, Jimmy Harrop,
Dennis Hopkins, Brad Kevelin, Michael Martinez, Cleveland Mack, David Nilsson, Dan Sweer, Steve Wasloff
ASL Interpreter, SMC : Kevin Gallagher

Soul Full was recorded March 27-29, 1998, at Meany Theater in Seattle. Al Swanson, Recording Engineer.