Israel & New Breed (A Timeless Christmas) - Reviews

Israel & New Breed
A Timeless Christmas

For their first Christmas offering, Israel & New Breed dig into a collection of classics, ranging from carols, festive songs and several originals, giving them all that New Breed zing.

Add in a list of guest artists that will make you gasp, and you have the makings of a classic project.

Produced jointly by Israel Houghton and Luther “Mano” Hanes, A Timeless Christmas starts with the jazzy “Nutcracker Overture”. With a nod to Tchaikovsky, New Breed turns to the Beijing Symphony Orchestra as well as some of Gospel’s finest Levites, including Maurice Fitzgerald (bass), Johnny Najera (guitar), Hanes (keyboard), Dan Needham (drums), Javier Solis (percussion) and Lloyd Barry’s seasoned crew on brass. These players set the stage with their excellence and continue on for the entire project.

On “Hark”, a hefty instrumental backdrop drives this newly arranged carol, with Matthew Ward up front on vocals. Things are then followed with “O Come”, with Leanne Palmore joining Houghton on vocals, as percussion and guitar percolate underneath.

Hanes on keyboard joins with the esteemed Marcus Miller (bass) and Gerald Albright (sax) to gear Houghton and Lalah Hathaway into a soft jazz rework of “Silent Night”, retitled “Silent Nocturne”. Contrasting is “Go Tell”, a fast-paced, funk-driven directive to tell the Good News of Christ’s birth.

On all of this material, Israel and New Breed inject vigor and new life into old tunes, nicely avoiding the pitfall of sameness that can so often plague Christmas albums. Superb vocals and instrumentals don’t hurt either!

A Timeless Christmas

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The originals also sizzle, beginning with “Least Of These (with Put A Little Love In Your Heart)”, which is put into the hands of Jonathan Butler. Butler is fast developing a connection with New Breed, having also guested on their Alive From South Africa project. Here, amidst a South African musical vibe, Butler works his vocals with Houghton’s as 10-year old Mariah Houghton adds to the whole in this plea for generosity.

“By Christmas Day” is a gentler ride, a prayerful duet featuring Houghton and Pastor Marvin Winans. The two vocalists trade lines over a dreamy, midtempo, musical soundscape that includes flute, cello and shimmering violin, before increasing the intensity towards the song’s end with impassioned singing.

Joining in on the perennial favourite, “We Wish You A Timeless Christmas” is CeCe Winans. Israel and New Breed and Winans use the traditional melody and words as their base to launch into ad lib to make sure there’s no doubt about the meaning of the season.

Marvin Winans steps in with sister CeCe and Houghton on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” to conclude the project.

Houghton has said that he’s wanted to do this album for years. In his own words, “We waited until we could do the perfectly crafted Christmas record and this is it.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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Production: Israel Houghton, Luther Hanes album release date: September 26, 2006
Integrity Gospel

— reviewed by Stan North —