If you were at Marvin Sapp’s live recording (or at www.VerityRecords.com) on Friday night, you heard the great music that he plans to put on his new project, tentatively titled Here I Am, expected in the first quarter of 2010.

My wife and I were fortunate enough to make it to Grand Rapids for the event.  Once we got there, we met up with Gerard Bonner (Bonnerfide Radio, GospelFlava.com), Jawn Murray (AOL Black Voices, Tom Joyner Morning Show, etc.) and Sheilah Belle (The Belle Report) before heading to the venue.  Once there, we got settled in the front row along with Neechy (RocSpace) and the folks from Verity before the recording began.  When I tell you we were cutting up from JUMP… let’s just say we were a rowdy group.

Before the recording, Aaron Lindsey’s wife, Adrian, surprised him with an award to recognize him for his commitment to the gospel/Christian industry, and for writing and producing such GREAT music.  It was kinda awesome of her… wanna point it out cuz you wouldn’t know it if you weren’t there.

Next, Marvin Sapp’s brother, Henry Sapp, performed a stand-up routine to get the crowd ready.  I’m not a huge fan of stand-up, but he had the crowd laughing a bit.  Finally, drummer extraordinaire and MC-for-the-night Ray Bady came to the stage to introduce Marvin Sapp.

With lights and energy at level 10, Marvin Sapp took to the stage and performed some reeeeaaally great music.  For me, it got even better as the recording progressed.  Aaron Lindsey served as musical director/producer while Myron Butler worked the vocal production with some of the tightest background vocals you’ll find in the game (shout out to Candy & Peaches West and Deonis Cook).

My favorites of the night: “Fresh Wind,” a song with a churchy/quartet feel to it, the vamp of which we stayed on for a good while; “Comfort Zone,” an encouraging ballad penned by Ted Winn (who was in the house); and, of course, ”He Saw The Best In Me,” written by Sapp and Lindsey, which reminds me of “Never Would Have Made It” in terms of its lyrical simplicity but easy-to-relate-to sentiment.  I also enjoyed “Wait On Him,” “I’m In His Hands,” and “I Came.”  It was just an evening of really good music.

He capped off the night by thanking and acknowledging various people in the audience, which included Commissioned mastermind Michael Brooks (and, of course, his lovely wife Lisa Page Brooks!).  Almost as if unable to help himself, Sapp went into a quick impromptu medley of classic Commissioned songs written by Brooks– “City,” “Will You Be Ready,” “Giving My Problems To You”… it was tons of fun.  I got several tweets that the live feed was cut, probably because of licensing issues for those songs.  Sorry ya missed it!

Other folks of note in the crowd– Deborah Smith Pollard (Detroit radio DJ, author, speaker, professor and gospel historian), Michael Williams (drummer and former member of Commissioned) and Ken Reynolds (Integrity Music worship artist).

Pastor Sapp ended the entire evening by singing a small bit of “Never Would Have Made It,” like I’ve NEVER heard him sing in my life.  His range was limitless and he made me feel like it was the first time I heard the song, which is a very tough task given how much it’s been played.

Special shout-out to Kymberlee Norsworthy, Jazzy Jordan, Jeff Grant and Joseph Burney of Verity Gospel Music Group– you were fantastic hosts and you made the weekend great for us.  Plus, it was just good to see ya!

I’ve got a few photos for you below, but I urge you to check out Gerard Bonner’s website (http://www.GetBonnerfide.com, in the “In Concert” section) for a full collection of great shots.  And I also got a chance to chat with Marvin Sapp, Aaron Lindsey and Myron Butler after the recording.  I’ll tell you what they had to say later this week, so stay tuned.

Who else was in the house in Grand Rapids?  Who heard the recording online?  Which songs were your faves?

TALK TO ME!