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RICHARD SMALLWOOD & VISION
The story of Richard Smallwood reads like the script to a great movie. It's a struggle for survival—leading to success beyond his wildest imaginings—set against the long odds of poverty and discrimination that were just a routine part of everyday life for most African-American families in the "Old South." The cast of characters includes parents of often diametrically different dispositions: a stern taskmaster/pastor father, and a mother of a gentler, artistic disposition; and a little boy born into the world with prodigious gifts as well as a profound loneliness.

The scene could open with a baby in his crib, humming melodies to hymns before he'd even learned to articulate a word to go with them; and later, as a youngster in his robe, standing before a mirror, "conducting" a choir of Christmas-tree-ornament angels, to whatever music was playing on the radio at the time. Then, as a young man at Washington, D.C.'s renowned Howard University—living a life immersed in both the great classical music of the last several centuries, and the campus radicalism of the late-'60s that raised a loud—and proud—voice, that would not be silenced, demanding that studies of African and black American history, music and all art forms be included in the school's curriculum.

Perhaps, more than anything, it's a love story: the love of a mother for her son, God Almighty's love for all His children, and Richard Smallwood's lifelong love affair with music. And while it's not a movie—at least, not yet—Richard takes a long and loving look over his career...past, present and future...on his new, 25th Anniversary release, aptly titled Journey! Live in New York. With 17 songs spanning the two-disk set, and a dazzling roster of superstar guest artists (including Chaka Khan, Kim Burrell, Kelly Price, The Hawkins Family, and the original Smallwood Singers), Journey! Live in New York plays like a veritable collection of favorites. Still several selections shine with a particular brilliance. "I'll Trust You" resounds with the power of a modern-day anthem. Richard delivers a soul-stirring vocal atop the heavenly harmonies of Vision—his 21-voice choir since the mid '90s—and gorgeous, evocative orchestration; all essential ingredients of the Gospel/classical synthesis known to the masses as the "Smallwood Sound."

To help him celebrate his 25 years of recording, Richard invited both longtime friends and collaborators to join him on several of Journey's other stand-out tracks, as well as artists he's admired but only now found the perfect project on which to share a mike. An airtight, incendiary Vision stirs vocal sparks, which Gospel great Kim Burrell fans into full flame on the album's arresting title cut. Superstar Chaka Khan (who recently gave her life to Christ, and whose '70s and '80s smashes, "Tell Me Something Good," and "I Feel for You" are still radio staples today), turns in a commanding take on the propulsive Gospel/funk of "Precious Is Your Name." Reigning R&B diva, Kelly Price, literally soars on the devastatingly powerful ballad, "Morning's Breaking," with Vision lending a perfectly polished, soul-deep counterpoint.