New Direction | Destiny
New Direction – Destiny
When Jeral Gray Sr. was laid off his day job back in the mid-nineties, it turned out to be no really big deal. In fact, this gesture from his former employer turned out be to the birth of something giant for gospel music. Jeral, who was already active in the music on a part-time basis, was already envisioning forming a choir of young voices who could relate to their own age appropriate group but devote themselves to praise and worship focus. Along with his brother Percy Gray Jr., the vision came to fruition as New Direction. The group was birthed out of a city which has bore much fruit in gospel music with torchbearers such as The Chicago Mass Choir, Clay Evans& AARC Mass Choir and Ricky Dillard & New G (New Generation). While pursuing a musical career for himself, the father of contemporary gospel – Thomas Dorsey – studied music formally in Chicago. His stirring composition, “If You See My Savior” was played at the 1930 National Baptist Convention in Chicago, the period which gospel music started spreading like wildfire. On top of that,the windy city’s strong roots in other forms of urban music, was extremely strong, thanks to soul and blues themed record labels from Chess to Chi Sound. Besides its legendary blues festival, Chicago recently celebrated twenty-five years for their gospel festival equivalent, which showcases some of the finest talent the region has to offer.
Jeral was an avid fan of numerous urban musical tastes from James Brown to
Earth,Wind & Fire. There was no doubt, however, that their choice of musical direction swayed towards gospel. Once New Direction was established in 1992, Jeral started the quest to find the best young talent from various church denominations. The ongoing task was sometimes like pulling teeth as crime tends to run rabid in the streets of Chicago. That never stopped Jeral’s willingness to stay the course in encouraging the youth into music ministry to keep them from straying from the temptations of the streets. A few years down the road, Jeral’s vision finally paid off eventually leading ND to start their recording career in 1998.
A wealth of homegrown talents including renowned musician/producer Daniel Weatherspoon jumped on board in making ND’s debut happen. Once the self-titled disc broke out of the gate, Jeral and company were already setting a new standard for youth choirs in staying true to the worship traditions of their elder role models while spicing up some edges of hip-hop, classic soul, funk and jazz. ND’s versatility and their commitment to worship have garnered them with several opportunities to share a platform with high profile gospel music ministers including Pastor Shirley Caesar. To this day, they continue to attract audiences who may not set foot in church regularly at first, but then eventually plug into the choir’s no-nonsense biblical messages. They also kept raising the gospel music bar further as evidenced on their latest disc, Destiny.
Like their previous three projects, much of this New Haven Records release is well worth the listening pleasure because of the way ND faithfully mix various elements of musical tastes with fresh energetic praise. Percy Gray Jr. takes the lead microphone on “Lord You’re Worthy” with his husky blues textures that enhance the choir’s trademark sound. “Start All Over Again” rubs off with a neo-soul vibe, especially from Kymar Carter’s cool jazzy lead vocals. For something in a slightly different direction for ND, “Mighty Is The Lord” crosses over into pop territory but with successful results because of Maurice Anderson’s vocal manner. “Holy” weaves the best of old school worship with the lyrics incorporating the classic hymn”Holy Holy Holy” and best of contemporary worship in ND’s stylish harmonies. There are also a few tracks recalling Chicago’s rich traditional gospel history. “Heaven”composed by one of Chicago gospel’s top-notch composers Anthony Tidwell, pushes the praise accelerator throughout with lead vocalist Alisa Gray (Jeral’s wife)’s animated performance taking charge.
In essence, Destiny is another assuring body of work that should keep ND on track as one of the top mass choirs in the current contemporary gospel scene. I am also sure the day Jeral was laid off his ‘day’ job long ago was simply meant to be another blessing to the greater Chicago gospel community.
Peggy Oliver
The Urban Music Scene