Hezekiah Walker Azusa the Next Generation

HEZEKIAH WALKER AZUSA THE NEXT GENERATION

In the often-egomaniacal world of music it’s rare to find an iconic artist who is as altruistic as he is talented, but Grammy Award winning choir director and church pastor Hezekiah Walker is such an exception. Over an almost three decades long career, Walker has collaborated with Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy and Whitney Houston; recorded more than a dozen chart-topping albums and become the face of the black Gospel choir with his classic hits “Souled Out,” “Grateful” and “I Need You To Survive.” In speaking of his forthcoming 14th CD, “Azusa The Next Generation,” Walker is philosophically pondering the past generations of believers who influenced his life - like the late Bishop Kenneth Moales (to whom the CD is dedicated) - while also imparting the wisdom of those elders to the next Azusa generation through his music and mentoring.

The first Azusa generation was that pioneering multi-racial sect that gathered at a rundown horse stable at 312 Azusa Street in the heart of a Los Angeles ghetto in spring 1906. There one-eyed preacher William J. Seymour kicked off a Pentecostal revival that lingered for almost 10 years and gave birth to a national Pentecostal Movement espousing a holiness lifestyle, speaking in tongues, faith healing and admonitions of an impending Rapture. In a manner, Walker is repackaging this faith that kept him during his adolescence and making it relatable to today’s youth.

The seed for this CD had been on Walker’s mind for a while but it really germinated when he was discussing his plans with longtime friend and Grammy Award winner Donald Lawrence, who ended up producing the 10-song set. “He comes from that Pentecostal background as well,” Walker explains. “I think it’s a great tragedy for our young people - even in Gospel music - to experience the new sound in Gospel, or what we call the new swag in Gospel, and not know where all of it comes from. So after having that conversation, Donald said ` I really want to be down with this project because I think people need to know that we can still be relevant and still hold on to some of the traditions that we were taught.’”

“I remember Carlton Pearson doing his Azusa conference [a huge annual revival-styled conference that drew thousands to Tulsa, OK in the 1980s],” Walker recalls. “He eventually decided to do some other things and did away with the conference, and I picked the name back up to keep what he started going and to keep the spirit of Azusa going. I was always intrigued about how, originally, this black man (William Seymour) landed in California and started this movement up for the first time since the actual Pentecost revival that started in the Book of Acts, Chapter Two. Thousands of people came from around the world to see what was going on. That was just remarkable.”

Walker hopes “Azusa The Next Generation” creates a similar global response among today’s faithful and he unselfishly allowed both seasoned and rising songwriters to contribute to the project in order to craft the right songs to convey this message. Many of the choir members attend the Brooklyn, NY-based Love Fellowship Church he founded in the early 1990s. Once the songs were chosen and taught to the choir that now numbers close to five hundred members, they went into the studio to lay the tracks. “We did it live inside of the studio, he laughs. “We went to one of the largest studios in New York City. We had about 100 choir members in a room with a live band and it was great. We went old school on them. We just kind of sang like we were at rehearsal, and it came out fabulous.”

The album opens with “Every Praise,” an exhilarating and uplifting anthem. “I was raised to almost believe that if you didn’t praise the way I praised then it was wrong,” Walker explains. “Over the years I’ve traveled to many places including London, Africa, and Germany; but when I went to Japan and performed in Tokyo and Osaka I saw people praising God in a way that was totally different from the way I was trained to do it. Even when I traveled to the Bahamas it was different. I was amazed by how all of us praised differently but all of the praises are going to this one God. So, when David Bratton presented the song, it immediately spoke the sentiments of my heart because there are so many people around the world who give God praise but everyone’s praise is different.”

Walker recruited a diverse group of Gospel artists such as Deitrick Haddon; Donnie McClurkin; Brian Courtney Wilson, and John P. Kee to help create this universal sound. “These guys bring an element that is relevant but they also bring something to the table from each of their unique foundations,” Walker adds. Haddon leads the rousing, rock music fervor on “Break Every Chain,” a song that Walker first heard by the Jesus Culture youth ministry. “It’s a song I feel needs to be heard in Gospel music because that’s really what the Azusa revival was all about in 1906 - breaking down chains - and that’s what we’ve been taught in the Pentecostal church. We were big on breaking chains of poverty, breaking chains of sickness and big on the name of Jesus being the chain breaker.”

Donnie McClurkin’s urgent vocals sweep over the acoustic sing-a-long “Breakthrough” that was born in the midst of a service at Walker’s church. “I wanted a certain anointing on that song, and knew he would bring it,” says Walker. “Donnie can sing anything.” Brian Courtney Wilson brings his smooth rasp to the mid-tempo “Grace” that boasts a warm adult R&B flavor. “He’s a crooner and I love hearing him sing. He brings the best ouf of the song,” Walker says of Wilson. John P. Kee brings his special sermonizing style of singing to the track “Work in Your Favor.” “That song has a New York groove that Kee loves, so I knew he would be perfect,” says Walker. “He kind of put the icing on the cake for me with that song.”

On “I Feel Your Spirit” there’s a tribute to Walker’s spiritual father, Bishop Kenneth H. Moales Sr., who passed away suddenly in 2010. The upbeat hand-clapper segues into Moales’ signature “War Cry” chant that is well known in Pentecostal circles. The song is especially important to Walker because without Moales’ influence he may not have had a musical career or a preaching platform. “He taught me a lot about church, taught me a lot about the Kingdom,” Walker reminisces. “I got my musical start when he brought me as a child to the Thomas Dorsey conventions. I never really knew what I had inside of me until I went to those conventions. From there I just started to move into music and then when I got that down, Bishop taught me about the Word of God and the importance of learning it. He said, “Hezekiah, if you’re going to sing the Word, you’ve got to know

the Word,” not knowing that he was setting me up [to become a pastor]. I went to Bible school and all of a sudden I had this urge to not just sing the Word but to preach it. When I told Bishop Moales, he said that was what he hoped would happen for me.”

Aside from mentoring songwriters, Walker is also mentoring singers. On the soul-stirring “Amazing,” he features Moss Point, MS native C. Ashley Brown. “I’ve been instrumental in getting artists out there,” Walker admits. “She’s someone who I often put on my CDs so that she can eventually become a major artist with great respect in the Gospel industry.” Another artist that he’s been pushing is Timiney Figueroa Caton who has sung with the Love Fellowship Choir for years and is Walker’s favorite singer. Her commanding alto inhabits the triumphant ballad “Conqueror.” The album is rounded out with songs like “Lead Me To That Rock” that takes you to church and forces you to clap your hands and tap your feet.

Walker knows firsthand of the church’s power to transform lives. He was born on Christmas Eve night in Brooklyn, NY where his parents raised him and his three siblings in the notorious crime- ridden Fort Greene projects. In spite of their surroundings, the kids were immersed in church in part to shield them from their environment. From the age of eight, Walker had begun to sing in the church choir. “Going to church and listening to the music was a sense of relief,” he recalls. “It kept my faith up and kept me with a lot of hope believing that one day I really would get away from the neighborhood and not just to get away but to get away in order to go back and to help.”

The church helped him through some rough times like when his father died when Walker was fourteen years old or when his mother died suddenly seven years later, on her way to church. After she passed, a despondent Walker quit his job at Xerox. Two months later he was out of money and facing eviction when he began to pray. When he finished, he started writing his first song. He took the hook of D.J. Rogers’ 1975 R&B song “(It’s Alright Now) I Think I’ll Make It Anyhow,” wrote new verses around his current trials and tribulations and changed the melody a bit to transform it into the Gospel hit “I’ll Make It.”

Walker formed the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir with a dozen members circa 1985 and taught them the song. They recorded the “I’ll Make It” LP live and it rose to #12 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart when Sweet Rain Records released it in 1988. The song was a huge hit that established the choir and led to a recording contract with Benson Records (later folded into The Verity Music Group now known as RCA Inspiration) where they enjoyed early hits “Clean Inside;” “Jesus is My Help;” “Second Chance” and “99 ½.”

Walker’s emphasis on simple, catchy songs has helped him and the choir remain consistent hit makers ever since. The fan favorites have continued to flow, and they include “Lift Him Up;” “God Favored Me;” “Power Belongs To God;” “Jesus is My Help,” and “Let’s Dance” among others. Walker sees no reason for the trend to end now and sees the Azusa stage as an opportunity to expand his musical ministry.

“Azusa is about unity and collaboration in expressions of faith,” says Walker. “When I think back on the revival of 1906, there were all walks of life; every denomination; many nationalities, all under this one roof. In similar fashion, I want Azusa The Next Generation to have a universal appeal.”

HEZEKIAH WALKER AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

GRAMMY AWARDS 2001 Love is Live! Best Album By Choir or Chorus 1994 Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College Best Album By Choir or Chorus

STELLAR AWARDS 2010 Souled Out Artist of the Year 2010 Souled Out CD of the Year 2010 Souled Out Choir of the Year 2010 Souled Out Contemporary CD of the Year 2010 Souled Out Contemporary Choir of the Year 2007 20/85 The Experience Traditional Choir of the Year 2004 Family Affair II Choir of the Year 2004 Family Affair II Contemporary Choir of the Year 2001 Family Affair Choir of the Year 2001 Family Affair Rap/Hip Hop CD of the Year

RADIO SINGLES 2010 God Favored Me #3 2009 Souled Out #1 2008 Grateful #3

ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY 2008 Souled Out/Verity #2 2005 20/85 The Experience/Verity #4 2002 Family Affair II: Live at Radio City Music Hall/Verity #3 2001 Love is Live!/Verity #6 1999 Family Affair/Verity #2 1998 Live at Love Fellowship Taberancle/Verity #5 1997 Live in London at Wembley/Verity #3 1995 Live in New York By Any Means Necessary/Verity #3 1994 Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College/Verity #3 1993 Live in Toronto/Benson #3 1990 Oh, Lord We Praise You/Sweet Rain #11 1989 Crusade Choir/Sweet Rain #17 1988 I’ll Make It/Sweet Rain #12