William McDowell - Arise: The Live Worship Experience

The Black Gospel Blog: William McDowell - Arise: The Live Worship Experience http://www.theblackgospelblog.com/2012/01/william-mcdowell-arise-live-worship.html?spref=tw

William McDowell

Arise: The Live Worship Experience

Light Records/eOne Entertainment (2011)

www.williammcdowellmusic.com

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

From musician and studio "steward" to worship leader, accidental Internet sensation and Billboard charting artist, to performer on the stage of the Stellars, the last several years have been an amazing ride for William McDowell. But as Martha Munizzi told TBGB, it’s time the rest of the world knew about McDowell.

Light Records has done its part to make that happen. Recorded in December 2010 at Christian Life Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, McDowell’s two-CD Arise: The Live Worship Experience is exactly as billed. It is a two-hour worship experience, a continuous praise jam session that builds in intensity on Disc One and incrementally drops the blood pressure throughout Disc 2.

McDowell works squarely within the P&W subgenre, best known for songs with uncomplicated major key melodies, gentle arrangements, and the capacity to be extended for so long that even legendary jam groups such as the Grateful Dead and Phish would pause in admiration. Still, some of McDowell’s pieces possess melodies somewhat outside of traditional P&W fare. His talent for songwriting is particularly evident on “All I Want is You,” which is a better and potentially longer-lasting composition than the gentle and hypnotic Internet sensation, “I Give Myself Away,” reprised here in a medley with “Yes.”

Perhaps the most distinctive part of Arise is its opening, which eschews the typical bouncy praise song for a dramatic narration of the world’s major problems, including illiteracy, poverty, hunger and the impact of natural disasters. The notion of praying for the world, not one’s self, is reinforced later in the project. By concluding the experience with “I Won’t Go Back,” McDowell recapitulates the CD set’s overarching theme of belief in God's ability to solve even the largest problems.

The guest vocalists pay tribute to the multiculturalism of P&W music. Sisters Martha Munizzi and Mary Alessi, Josh Dufrene, and David and Nicole Binion all make appearances. McDowell sings one of Munizzi’s songs, “Wait,” which features a lovely vocal lead by Stacey Joseph, a solo artist in her own right.

The musicians on Arise are top-notch and the backing vocalists are so tight and professional as a chorus they could make money singing television commercials and jingles. 

Down the road, historians may argue whether Texas (Houghton, Binion, Dufrene) or Florida (Munizzi, Alessi, McDowell) is the Praise & Worship capitol. Regardless, William McDowell gathered the team together in sunny Fort Lauderdale for two hours of no-nonsense worship, and the result is available to everyone.