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  With One Voice Now the renowned Chicago-bred pianist drops a beautifully-rendered full-length Gospel project on Narada Jazz, titled With One Voice. Filled with his impassioned Steinway Concert Piano stylings and accompanied by seasoned sidemen, the album also features the J.W. James Memorial A.M.E. Combined Choirs (from Lewis’ home church) and several renowned guest soloists (hear audio).  With One Voice starts out with an innovative re-arrangment of Edwin Hawkin’s “Oh Happy Day”, with Lewis’ Steinway out front and choir in support. Funky and jazzy all at the same time, this one comes with plenty of brass players too. The cut segues into “Sunday Strut”, an original penned by Lewis and Kevin Randolph, who sits at they keyboard to accompany. Strongly rhythmic, the cut grooves just like it’s title suggests.Donald Lawrence is guest director in front of the combined choir on the redo of his own “Bless Me (Prayer of Jabez)”. Lewis is as effective on slow, meditative songs such as this as he is on the quick-tempoed grooves. Here, as elsewhere on this disc, he knows how to make the piano effective as a solo instrument, taking the role traditionally assigned to the lead vocalist and making the piano ‘sing’ instead. The choir is always supportive, never overwhelming Lewis’ work. “God Can Work It Out” is quickly recognizable, since the song has so recently charted as a hit for Smokie Norful. Lewis brings Norful himself to the stage as guest vocalist, with sax, dual guitar, brass and choir weaving a chorus of jubilation behind this uptempo and glorious contemporary praise romp. On “Healed Heart”, Darius Brooks steps in with a mellow, balladic rendering. Other peaks on this gem include the traditional “Pass Me Not” and “Trees”, both which burst with life and passion under Lewis’ guidance. With the reflective title cut featuring Lewis and Randolph in duet and serving as the closing number on this keeper of a project, the over one hour of music ends by fully and completely satisfying the listener, and then some.  There are song snippets available from the album. If you don't have RealAudio, be sure to obtain your free RealAudio player software first, by clicking on the blue RealAudio icon on the right. To download the song snippets, simply click on the highlighted text below, let stream on RealAudio, and enjoy.
Email This To A Friend Narada Jazz — reviewed by Stan North —
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