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Writer's pictureJoel Caballero

Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration (1992)


Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration is a compilation project album released in the fall of 1992 by Reprise/Warner Bros. Records and Warner Alliance Records. Norman Miller, who oversaw the original 1990 project Handel's Young Messiah, returns as executive producer along with Gail Hamilton and Mervyn Warren as co-executive producers.


The project is a modernized updating of Georg Friedrich Händel's classic oratorio and features the top artists and musicians in the Gospel and R&B fields. The album has been widely praised for its use of multiple genres of African-American music including spirituals, blues, ragtime, big band, jazz fusion, R&B and hip hop. A majority of the tracks were produced by Warren and others by various producers.


Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration charted and peaked at the following Billboard album charts:


#3 Top Gospel Albums

#11 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums

#13 Top Christian Albums

#82 Billboard 200 Albums


In 1993, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album at the 35th Grammy Awards and a Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year at the 24th GMA Dove Awards. The awards were awarded to Warren, who oversaw the project, and the participating artists.


Track listing

All songs are composed by Georg Friedrich Händel.


1. Overture: A Partial History of Black Music -5:14

African (arranged by Mervyn Warren)

Negro Spiritual (arranged by Mervyn Warren and Shelton Kilby)

Ragtime (arranged by Dwayne Adell)

Big Band (arranged by Mervyn Warren)

Gospel (arranged by Mervyn Warren)

Blues (arranged by Mervyn Warren)

The 70's (arranged by Mervyn Warren)

Jazz Fusion (arranged by Cedric Dent)

Hip Hop (arranged by Joe Hogue)

House (arranged by Joe Hogue)

2. Comfort Ye My People (Vanessa Bell Armstrong and Daryl Coley) -5:48

3. Every Valley Shall Be Exalted (Lizz Lee and Chris Willis; rap by Mike E.) -3:43

4. And the Glory of the Lord (Dianne Reeves) -3:57

5. But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming (Patti Austin) -6:41

6. And He Shall Purify (Tramaine Hawkins) -4:37

7. Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive (Howard Hewitt) -3:59

8. O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion (Stevie Wonder and Take 6) -3:54

9. For Unto Us a Child Is Born (Core Cotton, Jamecia Bennett, James Wright,

Carrie Harrington, Pat Lacy and Sounds of Blackness) -3:53

10. Glory to God (The Boys Choir of Harlem; rap by Leaders of the New School;

lead vocals by Michelle Weeks) -4:54

11. Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion (The Richard Smallwood Singers) -5:11

12. Behold the Lamb of God (instrumental) (The Yellowjackets) -4:36

13. Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates (Commissioned and The Clark Sisters) -5:14

14. Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage? (Al Jarreau) -2:40

15. I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (Tevin Campbell) -6:01

16 Hallelujah (Choir: Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Patti Austin, Bernie K.,

Commissioned, Andraé Crouch, Sandra Crouch, Clifton Davis, Charles S. Dutton,

Kim Fields, Larnelle Harris, Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Linda Hopkins, Al

Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Lizz Lee, Dawnn Lewis, Babbie Mason,

Johnny Mathis, Marilyn McCoo, Mike E., Stephanie Mills, Jeffrey Osborne, David

Pack, Phylicia Rashad, Joe Sample, Richard Smallwood, Sounds of Blackness,

Take 6, Darryl Tookes, Mervyn Warren, Thomas Whitfield, Vanessa Williams, Chris

Willis; solo ad libs by Daryl Coley; conducted by Quincy Jones) -5:54


Production credits and arrangers


Mervyn Warren -producer (tracks 1 -3, 6, 14 -16)

George Duke -producer (tracks 4 and 7)

David Pack and Patti Austin -producers (track 5)

Take 6 -producers (track 8)

Gary Hines -producer (track 9)

Robert Sadin -producer (track 10)

Richard Smallwood -producer (track 11)

The Yellowjackets -producers (track 12)

Fred Hammond -producer (track 13)


Accolades

Grammy Award -Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album (awarded to the

participating artists and Mervyn Warren)

Dove Award -Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year (awarded to the

                                          participating artists and Mervyn Warren)


Watch the music video of "Hallelujah" by the Soulful Celebration Choir here:


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