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Compassion International

Sunday Edition


30
Apr
2005
Kimberly Allen - Presence


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Producers: Kimberly Allen and Debbie Allen
Website: http://www.one-heart-trio.com
Song Titles: “In The Presence Of Jehovah,” “Day By Day,” “O For A Thousand Tongues,” “He Giveth More Grace,” “Do You Know My Jesus,” “Be Still My Soul,” “Jesus Paid It All,” “There Is A Savior,” “My Wonderful Lord,” and “Near To The Heart Of God”

Aside from the involvement of Milton Smith , who provided orchestrations for Presence , this isn't a CD you'd typically expect to find reviewed on a Southern Gospel website. Kimberly Allen is a solo violinist, joined by her mother Debbie Allen on piano. Most (if not all) of the arrangements are taken from existing choral music books. I recognized the Marty Parks arrangement of “In The Presence Of Jehovah” immediately. It's found in a collection titled Praise and Worship Classics , published by Lillenas . Upon examining the liner notes, I  found that  Allen credited Parks for the arrangement.  P opular choral arrangers like Mosie Lister , Dennis Allen , Tom Fettke , and Steven V. Taylor are a few of the sources  listed for  the arrangments on other track s .

My impression of Kimberly Allen's playing is that she is very competent with her instrument. She doesn't play anything jaw dropping like Mark O'Conner or Yo Yo Ma or even Wanda Vick , but she gets a nice singing tone from her instrument that's generally pleasant to the ear. I noticed a minor misstep here and there, but nothing significant that would make me not want to recommend a track. The only  re al drawback  in the project as a whole is  a lack of variety. There's very little fluctuation in the tempos, and the orchestrations  sound about the same throughout. Essentially, once you hear the first track, only the melodies change. A lmost a nything I could say about one track would apply to them all.

Debbie Allen has a smooth touch at the piano keyboard that doesn't compete with the solo violin. Milton Smith's orchestrations similarly accentuate the featured instrument. The song titles should be familiar to Southern Gospel fans, though they're more likely to hear them at church than a Southern Gospel concert. This project falls somewhere between “mood music” designed to be played in the background, and a full blown violin virtuoso project that demands you listen.

Reader Comments

Kimberly Allen is a gifted musician. David did not mention (and may be unaware) that she is a member of the SG group, The Allens. Her mom Debbie and brother Stephen, are a great group. This CD was recorded several years ago because of requests from their fans. When she plays an instrumental in concert, it is always a crowd pleaser. Great group, great people!


Commented by mark forester On 05/02/2005
Mark,

Thanks so much for the additional info. Based on the website address listed in the CD liner notes, I had assumed Allen was a member of One Heart Trio. There was no date on the project, but I thought it was probably a few years old.

Here's some "backstage pass" info about the review process at Sogospelnews.com. We try to review all the major label SG releases plus as many of the non-major label releases as we can. We can't keep up, though. James, Scot, and I would probably have to quit our day jobs to keep up and since we all like to eat, that ain't likely to happen.

So the result is we have a VERY HUGE pile of several hundred CDs at the main office that's always growing. The reviewers collectively call it "The Box." (We call it "The Box," because Deon sends us a box of 20 or 30 CDs every time we run out.)

So...if you are an artist who turned in a CD for review to SGNews two or three years ago and we never covered it, have hope! As this review shows, we MIGHT get to it someday. :o)


Commented by David Bruce Murray On 05/02/2005
David,

That is interesting! There are that many people brave enough????? ha!

One Heart became The Allens shortly after Stephen & Kimberly joined their mom in the group.


Man, I ought to be their PR guy! (I'm not!)


Commented by mark forester On 05/03/2005
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