The best-known festival performances of early gospel took place at the Newport Jazz Festival. The event featured some of the day’s notables, including the Ward Singers, Mahalia Jackson, and the Drinkard Singers. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has had a gospel music tent since its inception.

This year marks the first time a gospel collection has been part of the ESSENCE Music Festival CD series, produced by the festival’s official music partner, Mathew Knowles’ Music World Gospel. ESSENCE Music Festival, Volume 5: The Gospel Collection offers six live recordings from the ESSENCE Empowerment Series, held each year at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on Festival Sunday.

Featured on the live CD are CeCe Winans, New Orleans’ hometown sweethearts Trin-i-Tee 5:7, J Moss, Ledisi and Kirk Franklin.

It is refreshing to hear these gospel artists in the organic, laidback festival atmosphere instead of a controlled recording session. While the performances on the ESSENCE collection are fine, with Ledisi sounding the most at ease, the finest selection on the disc is CeCe Winans’ “Oh Holy Place.” It is her trademark worship ballad style with a breathtaking arrangement.

I wish that the songs on the collection that fade out had been allowed to continue, and that more than six tracks had been included. Perhaps next year the set will be more robust, because this series could become an important historic record of live, unadulterated performances by the current top artists, like a live version of WOW Gospel.

Three of Five Stars

Pick: “Oh Holy Place”READ MORE...