How Sweet the Sound: Spirituals & Traditional Gospel Music

 (12 customer reviews)

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...Read more

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...Read more

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.