::ALBUM REVIEW::

Edwin Hawkins, accredited by many as being the father of the contemporary gospel movement, continues to invigorate the gospel music community with new compositions and ideas years after the stunning gospel outbreak of “Oh, Happy Day” in 1969. The song launched Edwin Hawkins into international prominence and allowed him to condense his group down to a touring group later christened as the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Since his heyday on the Buddah music label, he expanded his franchise with the Music and Arts Seminar in 1982 and yielded a number of best-selling albums including 1985's Angels Will Be Singing and 1987's Give Us Peace. The ‘90s rolled around and the Music and Arts Seminar remained atop as one of the lively annual conventions for gospel music. Albums featuring the talents of Lawrence Matthews, LaShun Pace, Kevin Bond, Richard Smallwood and the Hawkins Family created a world of excitement for the yearly event and matched the rich tradition of the Hawkins’ legacy. Of course as the years begin to pile up, years of album releases from the convention began to slim down and so has the geographical rotation of the convention. Since the 90's releases on the defunct Harmony record label, Edwin Hawkins now shares the convention’s credits with his successful brother Walter and has rechristened the yearly event as the Music & Arts Love Fellowship Conference.

The institution is still vibrant and kicking out their arsenal of synth-friendly contemporary choir music and has since released Testify on the independent My Song label. The album features veteran players David Blakely (keyboards), Derrick Hall (organ), Jerry Jordan (bass), Jonathan Dubose (guitar) and Joel Smith (drums). And with thirteen songs in stock, Testify continues the newfound tradition of bringing upcoming songwriters to the forefront and receiving ample support from celebrated lead vocalists and well capable musicians.

The project opens up with the festive title track; fostered by narrations and ad-libs from Donald Lawrence. While the song is penned by Edwin Hawkins, the song sounds so much like a Lawrence creation with its contemporary “house-meets-gospel” grooves and enchanting dancefloor components. The George Callahan-penned “Fall Fresh on Me” finds a funky rendition of the hymn “Spirit of the Living God” and wanders through moving harmonies and gorgeous inflections from the choir, but later takes off into party territory with LaShun Pace’s soulful belting towards its closing. “His Name Is Jesus” rides a salsa groove and integrates it with impressive welling choral support. The next set of songs are quite appealing but slants towards milky midtempo ballads. Major stand outs include the seven-minute Edwin Hawkins composition “Wait on the Lord” and the modern jazzy styling of “You Can Count on Him” - featuring Melonie Daniels’ predominant riffs and intense squalls.

But the album falters into a mode of quiet, predictable cuts that just doesn’t match the previous selections. “Prayer Song,” contributed by Japan’s Megumi Awano, feels like a cut-and-paste job while “Every Time I Fail” rotates the simple chorus around a bit too much and lacks the big endings of previous Edwin Hawkins’ love ballads. Gabriel Hardeman’s “Is There Anybody Here” is spared and saved by LaShun Pace’s excellent ad-libs and infectious deliveries, but the song suffers still from a lack of lyrical input and guidance. “I Owe You Praise,” penned by longtime Music & Arts contributor Stephen Key, is beautifully rendered and is blessed with Tichina Danielle’s convincing vocals but somehow gets lost in the midst of the so-so cuts. And even when the album starts to picks up speed with Clarence Singleton’s “Thank You Lord,” the song - first performed by the GMWA Youth Mass Choir in 2000 - losses some of the groove’s thickness with its over-polished production efforts.

But the album does end on a good note with the churchy sounds of “Hold On.” Robin Hodge-Williams is a West coast/Bay Area popular singer that has been riding the coattails of surviving as an independent underground gospel artist, but her appearance on this foot-stomping and hand-clapping track is proof of her gospel skills and will certainly expose new listeners to her charismatic personality. When the choir bursts out with the lyric “hold on, just a little while longer” and jumps further into the zesty vamp, Hodge-Williams along with the mesmeric band caps the project on a good note.

While the albums have gotten thin in the last couple of years and doesn’t have the big label support, Edwin Hawkins does deliver a project that matches the production of his previous releases. It’s clean, clear and - even without Carl Wheeler or Kevin Bond - sizzles with bountiful choral work and quality sounds. But a gloomy cloud of judgement does enter into the picture as the absence of both Edwin and Walter Hawkins, or any of the Hawkins family members, rattles observers’ interest. Plus, nearly half of the songs are in some need of reshaping to match up with the earlier exciting entries. But with a good opener and a hearty finisher, Testify is a compelling testament of how Edwin Hawkins has managed to tirelessly work through decades of glorious gospel music. And while the Music & Arts Love Fellowship Conference has showed unstoppable signs of aging and strain, it continues to give audiences a taste of the familiar Hawkins style.