I Speak Life (CD - 2004)

Personnel: Donald Lawrence (vocals); Jovaun Woods, Annette "Queenie" Lennox, Dakri Brown, Vernard Burton, D.J. Rogers, Donnie McClurkin, Jason Nelson, Floyd Wilkinson, Angela Crawford, Michael M. Smith, Faith Evans, Sherita Freeman, Pastor Hezekiah Walker, Jerard Woods, Lalah Hathaway, Melonie Daniels, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Dewayne Woods, The Murrills, LeAnne Palmore, Carl Thomas (vocals); Joey Woolfalk (guitar); Jonathan DuBose, Jr., Tommy Sims (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Nashville String Machine (strings); Jeff Coffin, Mark Douthit (tenor saxophone); Doug Moffet, Jimmy Bowland (baritone saxophone); Quentin Ware, Mike Haynes , Steve Patrick (trumpet); Beth Beeson, Jennifer Kummer (French horn); Roy Agee, Barry Green (trombone); Andy Selby (horns, programming); Daniel Weatherspoon (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, keyboards, programming, drum programming); Justin Savage, Tim Carpenter, Cedric Thompson (piano); Rick Robinson (Fender Rhodes piano); Ramsey Lewis (keyboards); Calvin Rodgers (drums); Javier Solís (percussion); Richard Smallwood (piano).

Audio Mixers: Donald Lawrence ; Craig Bauer; Kevin Jackson; Michael Modesto.

Recording information: Battery Studios, New York, NY; C 4 Studios, Charlotte, NC; Dark Horse Studios, Franklin, TN; Eclectic Studio, Nashville, TN; Enterprise Recording Studios, Burbank, CA; HINGE, Chicago, IL; Hollywood Sound, Los Angeles, CA; Platinum Lab Recording, Nashville, TN; The Supe Kitchen, Mount Vernon, NY; The Tracking Room, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Robert Ascroft.

Arrangers: Donald Lawrence ; Steve "Supe" White.

Donald Lawrence opens I SPEAK LIFE, his first record without the Tri-City Singers, with "Healed," a song where he delivers, in the most welcoming and relaxed tone, a universal sermon of finding recovery in a return to salvation. In the middle of the song, Lawrence unguardedly remarks "I like this part." It's that sense of openness that permeates the album, embodying the joy that makes Lawrence's gospel so markedly appealing.

This particular sense of joy has attracted, in addition to a legion of fans, many leading lights from both the inspirational and secular musical worlds to collaborate with Lawrence here. Like-minded preacher Hezekiah Walker joins Lawrence on a self-proclaimed "simple song," the funk-infused "You Covered Me." Faith Evans provides most of the vocals on the light R&B ballad "Say a Prayer," and Carl Thomas offers a more rousing presence on the hip-hop-flecked "Angels." Elsewhere, jazz notable Ramsey Lewis and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway present a lush interpretation of the skillful Lawrence composition "Don't Forget to Remember." Through it all, Lawrence pops in with observations and gospel, always earnest, always passionate, always speaking with the voice of a soul constantly seeking, yet ever at rest. minimize