(April 7, 2017) -- One of the few singing big bands left in contemporary gospel that both play instruments and sing, the now nine gentlemen of South Florida’s Sensere return with more of their unique “sound of future worship,” this time tackling what has evolved into a modern day gospel standard. Commissioned’s 1984 take of the hymnal “‘Tis So Sweet” is a heavy lift for any act. But, on their third album, Sensere dares to take on the challenge on a cover from their forthcoming Fall 2017 release.
(April 7, 2017) -- One of the few singing big bands left in contemporary gospel that both play instruments and sing, the now nine gentlemen of South Florida’s Sensere return with more of their unique “sound of future worship,” this time tackling what has evolved into a modern day gospel standard. Commissioned’s 1984 take of the hymnal “‘Tis So Sweet” is a heavy lift for any act. But, on their third album, Sensere dares to take on the challenge on a cover from their forthcoming Fall 2017 release.
“Tis So Sweet” is among the seminal tunes from one of the classic debuts in ‘80s gospel, one that revolutionized the genre along with acts like The Winans, The Clark Sisters, and The Hawkins Family by further blurring the lines between the secular and the spiritual, paving the way for such acts as Kirk Franklin and The Sounds of Blackness. Gloriously helmed by the leads of Mitchell Jones and Fred Hammond, long before the Marvin Sapp-era of Commissioned, and held down by the supporting harmonies of Keith Staten and Karl Reid, it was Commissioned’s riffs and original arrangements that caught everyone’s attention. The group’s intricate harmonies and counterpoint on songs like “Tis So Sweet” was completely different from their rivals of the day and would go on to influence two generations of gospel and soul artists.
While recorded in the reverb heavy, echo chamber style of then-modern gospel, the earnest sincerity of Jones’ and Hammond’s tenors blanketed by those harmonies bleed through your speakers and still hold up to this day as powerful vocal performances against the relatively spare musical backdrops provided by Michael Brooks, Scotti Jones, and Michael Williams. Unsurprisingly, Sensere’s vocal skills and the band’s technical abilities are a match for the originals in talent and technique on their new cover. However, the band’s fuller, jazzy soul arrangement makes it less a vocal showcase for its leads and more of a collaborative endeavor of music and vocal performance. The size and power of the band in the mix demands a more dramatic, melisma heavy approach to compete with the addition of blaring horns, electric guitar, and strings in a way the original’s far more minimalist version never required of Jones and Hammond. In response, Sensere ups the stakes by requiring its leads to belt and nail far more difficult run structures right out the gate. Unfortunately, despite the fellows’ ample skill, the decision to use the now popular production technique of auto-tuned to coat all of the background harmonies and the closing vamp out with a robotic sheen strips the song of its humanity as well as the wonder and awe of the original’s worship. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone cares in a homage as technically proficient as this one, but it mightily distracted this soul’s ability to be moved in a way these gentlemen usually have with just voice and music.
By L. Michael Gipson
Sensere - "Tis So Sweet"