A professor has knowledge that draws students willing to learn. To be honored with the title "Professor" in Gospel music, well, that means you have an ability in the technique or creativity in the genre that sets you apart.

While New York choir genius Professor James Hall says that the origins of his bestowed title are shrouded in the mists of time, there is no doubt that he merits the moniker.

With his pen responsible for modern classics that include "God Is In Control", "King of Glory" and "Blessed Be The Name", 'the James Hall school of choir sound' is distinct, with roots in the traditional East coast Gospel choir structures plus that heavy extra dose of jazz, Broadway and that undefined 'something else' layered on top. If you hear James Hall & Worship and Praise once, you're hard pressed to ever forget them.

With his sixth album, We Are At War hot off the presses, we asked the professor to school us in some of his theories, and tell us of his experiences.

GospelFlava.com: With all that innovation going on with your music, from the smallest of turns of phrase to the biggest splash of unexpected chords, do you have times where the musical idea in your head cannot be put into practice?

James Hall: I've always felt, that if I could hear it in my head, then it's possible. It's just a matter of getting it out of them. I've gotten a little discouraged at times when I'd bring something to the choir, and they'd say, 'Oh no, James. We can't sing that. We can't do it.' I'd be like, 'What are you saying to me? That's crazy!'

For example, when we wrote 'God is in Control', back then, that was just so far fetched. When I brought it to the choir, they just laughed at me! They said, 'Are you serious? You mean you just want us to sing, —God is control, God is in control, God is in control, God is in control...' "I said, 'Yeah!'. Today, it's still one of my best songs.

If people would actually hear the words that we use to describe some of the sounds that we try to get from the choir. I mean, for example, Melvin Crispell has some crazy descriptions. He'll say, 'Sing as if you were sleepy', or I'll say, 'It's almost as if you were yawning. Put a yawn in there when you sing this note.' When we did "The Blood" on the new album, [starts singing], I told the choir to 'lay back on the note, then just blurt out with crazy vibrato'. So we do a lot of different things to get the sound.

We Are At War

It's classic James Hall & Worship and Praise. The new project has hit-bound cuts that include "The Blood" and "I Want To Be There". There's also some of that hyper choir drive stuff such as is heard on the title cut and more. You can read the review of the album by clicking on the image above.

Technically, there have been songs that I have written and brought to the choir, and I 've said, 'Ok, it's gotta be sung like this.' And we've tried for weeks and weeks and we don't get there. Usually I'll put the song on the shelf at that point.

If God gives me something, I try to make it happen. It might not be the right time, and maybe I'll come back and pull it out later. For example, one of the songs on the new album We Are At War is "I Owe You So Much". Pastor Kevin Bond sings it, but that song, it's like 12 years old. We sung it back then, and then we just stopped doing it. Then when it came time to pick songs, [we chose it], because you know, I always like to pick out one or two songs from when we first began. Melvin Crispell and I have been writing songs for so many years.

GospelFlava.com: How does that collaboration work? Obviously you and Melvin Crispell connect together very strongly, both in songwriting and production. But take us through the process of how you write and put together your material.

James Hall: Melvin is my organist and has been my right hand for 13 years. Actually we grew up together, and there's just unbelievable anointing that God has laid upon the both of us to work together. It's like peas and rice, or macaroni and cheese. It's even to the point that people often can't tell the difference between our writing (because between us, we do all the writing for Worship and Praise.) We have a good ear, a lot of our ideas match, so when it comes to picking the songs for an album, it's he and I who make the decisions.

Now on this latest album, we also have Reggie Young producing. He's a new addition [on the production side], but he's being playing bass with me for about three years now, and he recently produced Craig Hayes and United Voices latest CD (see album review). Having Reggie in my band, it's great to have his [production] input.

In fact, all the members of my band truly have some production input. Ideas that were brought up in rehearsal helped us bring out this project. Really, it was a team effort, every idea taken into consideration. At times Melvin would say, "I got the intro to this song", then John Peters would say a few weeks later, 'Melvin your intro was really nice, but check this....' No one would get upset, it was just a whole team effort.

John Peters, he is the man. He's with me all the time, His ideas, wow, we always tease him and say to him, 'What exactly are you taking?!' He's so original, that's something I really look for today. A lot of Gospel artists take something from the world and put it in their songs.

GospelFlava.com: You've mentioned some well-known names from your group...Pastor Kevin Bond, Melvin Crispell, Reggie Young, John Peters. What about some of the so-called 'unsung heroes' from Worship and Praise?

James Hall: You're going to get me in trouble, huh!? [laughing] Well, let me mention two that have been here from the beginning. That's from 14 years ago, and they've been there through thick and through thin. You can never forget the pillars of the choir, the original members, which would be Hadya Williams and Marlene Lee. They never left the ministry because of attitude or anything like that. I would say they are heroes. Now the majority of my choir members, they've been there for about 10 years. Pastor Bond and Melvin came on in the first year.

GospelFlava.com: What is it that you look for in a choir member, both vocally and spiritually?

James Hall: Well, I really just look for potential. Not everyone who comes to my ministry really can sing a solo, but they must have the potential to hold their note, the tone, be able to modulate, have a good range, then there's that certain quality of vibrato I look. Anyone who knows Worship and Praise knows we have a real heavy vibrato. I don't look for it to be that heavy in the beginning, but if they have something that I can work with or nurture to get that Worship and Prasie sound, then that's great.

As for spiritual aspects, they really have to love God and have a steady prayer life. They shouldn't mind if they sometimes come to rehearsal and we end up praying the whole time, not singing. And they shouldn't have an attitude.

GospelFlava.com: So how do you determine if they have an attitude or not?

James Hall: Sometimes that's really hard to know at the beginning, because people can put on a facade, but pretty soon you see through that, and you know if they can't deal with the pressures of the choir.

GospelFlava.com: How many songs do you have in your repertoire at this point?

James Hall: I guess we have about 100 songs, yeah I would say 100. You know, we also have songs that we haven't recorded. "Teach Me Lord", which is beautiful, has never been recorded. Actually, we did record it for the King of Glory album, but it never made the final cut. So sometimes we pull that one out and sing it.

GospelFlava.com: Back to this new album, We Are At War. In your mind, what distinguishes this one from your previous projects?

James Hall: Maturity in our writing. Every album, I see growth in Melvin's writing and in my writing. I mean, when we wrote "The Blood", people were asking what we were you going through, and I don't even remember. It's really just God, He just does it. When I look back, and when I song that I wrote myself [God can use to] bless me, then that's really something.

Also, I think there's a maturity in the vocals. Our vibrato is starting to match in each section. My sopranos sound like one, my altos sound like one, my tenors sound like one. I was just listening to the album again the other day, and noticing that. I think it comes with singing together for so many years.

GospelFlava.com: You're also newly signed with the new record label, Destiny Music Group. That's got to be a big change for you, since you were previously with a much bigger label, CGI/Platinum?

James Hall: Yes, in fact the president of Destiny Music Group is Mark Moore, who was my manager for 6 years, and worked with me for so long. It's so good that you can have a great relationship like we had, and then that can proceed to where [Mark] can look back and pull you out of something. With CGI, I can't say that I ever spoke to the president, there's just so many channels, you just really couldn't get though to him. So this is more hands on, definitely.

GospelFlava.com: Was there ever a time when you were pressured to maybe change the style of Worship and Praise a bit?

James Hall: Well, when we were with Intersound, there was some suggestion that perhaps we should do something a little more urban. But you know, that wouldn't be Worship and Praise. All I can do is what I know. That's one of the bonuses of being with Destiny Music Group now. They know me from way back. They know me.

GospelFlava.com: I suppose it might be easy to guess what your musical influences are. But let's hear it from you anyway.

James Hall: Everyone knows that my biggest influences is the late Ella Fitzgerald. Her voice was just flawless. In Gospel, I would have to say it is Thomas Whitfield. I've always loved that choir, they didn't have a big choir, maybe about 30 singers, but when they sang, it was such a grand and rich sound. That's actually the sound I based Worship and Praise on. I didn't aim to get the same sound necessarily, but to get that same richness, certainly.

I love Ricky Dillard's choir, I mean, them children can sing! I just love them. I love Donald Lawrence and the TriCity Singers. I love the Kurt Carr Singers. I love groups that can just go out and sing, just all out. The Kurt Carr singers, they go flat out, they just hit those notes no problem. It's never screaming, they really bring it out.

Another one of my favorite artists is Richard Smallwood. I was able to go to the last part of his live recording last month [April 2001, see recording recap and photo shoot).]. I would be honored to work with him, that would be something. He has talent, a musical genius.

GospelFlava.com: And what about that distinctive Broadway influence that you demonstrate in your material?

James Hall: That comes from me growing up listening to a lot of big bands. My father listened to jazz all day long. I didn't like jazz growing up, but now I really love it. If I'm not listening to gospel, I'm listening to jazz.

That's another thing about this album actually, I really tried to bring out that big band sound. We have horns on this project, and we never had that before. You know we had Mike Phillips, who was our horns man, but he was a one-man-band. But I had MOHORNS come in, and they added something really great to the album. For songs like "Take Him At His Word", which is a real Broadway type tune, they added that real big band flavor.

I remember I went to see a play recently called, "Jelly's Last Jam" with Gregory Hines. It was based on old ragtime music. The play itself was good, but the music itself just blew me away. In the future I'm believing God to allow me to do a Broadway music production, all my music, produced by James Hall. I don't know how near future that is, but it's something I look to do.

GospelFlava.com: That leads to a logical next question. What direction do you see yourself going in the next little while?

James Hall: I know there's always room for improvement. I always pray for a greater anointing, and that always comes from fasting and praying. Just this week, I was speaking to one of my members, Teresa Myers, and she was saying that it was on heart to keep on fasting and praying that the new album would really minister to some."

Another thing I'm looking to do is a solo jazz album, with actual jazz musicians, I want to bring in the 'Real McCoy'. It would be Gospel lyrics but it would be a jazz sound...straight up jazz, the whole album, and I would be doing all the singing.

I'll be producing my church choir, The Voices of Citadel, who have an album coming out in the near future. I don't want it to have the same sound as WAP, but it will have my signature on it. Another goal in my personal life is get a Masters degree in music. God gives you a gift, it's up to you to enhance it."

GospelFlava.com: Before you 'dismiss this class', a final point. You've never been one to sample in your music, have you?

James Hall: Oh no!! All original for me. James Hall original.