God's Anointed People - GAP

Adrian Medearis and God's Anointed People
Standing In The Gap

Texas-based Pearl Records doesn’t release too many projects, but when they do, history shows them to be top-notch. Take Kim Burrell’s Try Me Again for example. That low-profile CD stopped enough Gospel heads in their tracks that she now finds herself legitimately billed as one of Gospel’s top divas (now on Tommy Boy Gospel).

Pearl CEO Sadie Jackson unveils another Texas gem in Adrian Medearis and God’s Anointed People (GAP). Thoroughly contemporary and yet sometimes gilded with classic Gospel and traditional edges, the choir shines throughout the twelve song project, entitled “Standing In The Gap”.

Director and songwriter Medearis brings the maximum out of the GAP's 15 members, with the resulting sound being solid, heavy, and resonating with that unmistakeable East seaboard choir influence (as exemplified by James Hall and WAP or Craig Hayes and United Voices). It's unusual for a Texas-based group to take on the mantle of that sound, but they do it naturally, and they do it well.

Leading the way on the project is the standout urban title track, “Standing In The Gap”. The song brings glorious lyrics in the words of one saint interceding for another, in spiritual warfare: "I’m praying for you. I am standing in the gap". The groove features killer mass vocal heat (with an awesome tenor line), and a steady and recurrent melodic hook that snags instantly.

It comes as no surprise that the song from the pen of V. Michael McKay also makes waves. “You Are Worthy” begins with a nearly unaccompanied solo from Shundon Cooper before moving into a syncopated, tri-beat, piano-propelled, choir drive. Carnell Murrell also adds two songs to the project: “1 + 2” and the catchy, “See His Face”.

Street-worthy innovative vocal and instrumental arrangements make their mark on “No Greater Love” and “My Mind Is Made Up”, both of which carry song credits from Luke Austin. Newcomer Austin also makes a credible producer’s mark on the project, showing that he can handle the slow, the upbeat, the urban and the rootsy with equal gusto and with good result.

Catch Shawn McLemore taking cameo lead vocals on the album-ender, “The Blood”. The former Verity artist pushes his patented urban call & response vibe onto the bouncing choir cut, making the number an enduring master cut.

With nary a forgettable track, and a good dose of stylistic mixes, Adrian Medearis and GAP easily makes this year’s list of four-star CDs. GospelFlava.com goes on record in calling Adrian Medearis and God's Anointed People an 'artist to watch'.



Producer: Luke Austin
Album release date: late 1999
Pearl Records
- Stan North

ADRIAN MEDEARIS & GAP

Thoroughly contemporary and yet sometimes gilded with classic Gospel and traditional edges, Adrian Medearis & GAP shine throughout their newly released album "The Journey". Director and songwriter Adrian Medearis brings the maximum out of the GAP's 15 members, with the resulting sound being solid, heavy, and resonating with that unmistakeable East seaboard choir influence (as exemplified by James Hall and WAP or Craig Hayes and United Voices). It's unusual for a Texas-based group to take on the mantle of that sound, but they do it naturally, and they do it well. - Louis Williams

Adrian Medearis. The name may not be instantly recognizable to you now, but judging from the ministerial company he keeps, it may be wise to remember Adrian Medearis & God’s Anointed People. As an artist on Texas-based Pearl Records, whose claim to fame was Kim Burrell’s Try Me Again, Adrian Medearis effortlessly embarks upon his sophomore project with renewed assurance that God has anointed The Journey.

Songwriter, choir director and project visionary Adrian Medearis produced nine of the thirteen tracks on the album which speaks to his poetic prowess with a pen. The spirit of a preacher is revealed from the onset as Adrian Medearis proclaims that God is Worthy while God’s Anointed People sing their acquiescence with “every fiber” of their “body…soul and mind”

“I’ve gotta feelin everything is gonna be alright”. The words are familiar but the urban psaltery of rapper, Allegro adds a modern twist to Gotta Feelin’ while lead singer Lataisha Skinner-Lang rains her conviction alongside the choir, as they vamp into “it’s a brighter day”. Deep Blue Sea’s caramelized baritone continues the tradition of urban spoken word with his lyrical rendition on Searched all over the World.

There is a hint of another Texas native in the throwback vibe of Joy. Very reminiscent of Kirk Franklin in the mid 90s, and featuring Dezra Nauls and Shamira White on leads, this is a soulful flavored song of thankfulness and praise.

Inspired by a sermon, Broken is my favorite form of Gospel music; Simple yet poignant in both musicality and poetry where the piano envelops the choral harmonies in satin ebony and ivory sheets. Bishop G. Emerson Scott‘s smooth tenor punctuates the soulful ministrations of God’s Anointed People as they whisper these words in humble corporate worship:

Broken in the spirit
Saved by His blood
Kept by his mercy
Thank God I’m filled with his love
Protected by his power
He gives me strength in my weakest hour
I’m broken
Broken to mend again
Hallelujah
Broken to mend again

Something in the introduction of ­ God Will brought to mind the classic choral sounds of Patrick Lundy & The Ministers of Music. Nakitta Clegg-Foxx of the eminent Kurt Carr Singers lends her powerhouse jazzy soprano to the traditional song, reminding us of the miracles recounted in the canonized Gospels. Recounting in brevity the miraculous freeing of Paul & Silas while shackled in prison, the miraculous healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and the miraculous feeding of a multitude with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish - this is a song to listen to in moments of forgetfulness, where your spirit needs to be reminded that God will always come through no matter how dire a situation may seem.

Master of the remix, producer Luke Austin revisits praise & worship mainstay Da Blood (Nothing But The Blood of Jesus) in an urban mid-tempo beat. Remaking classics is always a risky proposition however Austin maintains the integrity of Holy Holy Holy while Nikki Ross’ adept soprano adds a zesty easy-listening twist to the classic hymn.

That same vivacious languor is threaded into the fervent plea for the revelation of God’s glory in Oh The Glory which features the seasoned mezzo soprano styling's of Kim McFarland, whose voice has graced more than one Thompson Community Singers ballad, as well as the more recent recordings of Donald Lawrence.

This homegrown Texas choir has been said to reverberate with a sound that is “… solid, heavy, and resonating with that unmistakable East seaboard choir influence” My Story is a continuation of that signature sound and brings to mind such classic flag-bearers of that style as James Hall & WAP or Craig Hayes & United Voices, as well as the emerging profiles of fellow Texas contemporaries, Myron Butler & Levi and James Fortune & FIYA.

After thirteen years together in the ministry, the road traveled has undoubtedly been long and arduous but as the maxim says; sometimes the journey is just as important as the final destination. Adrian Medearis & God’s Anointed People continue their musical journey on the peaks of praise, traveling to the despondent valleys of prayer, traversing the calming sea of worship and ending up once again on the assured peaks of praise. Take The Journey with them and be blessed.
- Jennifer Belot