After our adventure on Stone Mountain, we ventured to Fayetteville, GA to watch Jason at work with his amazing Praise Team, Higher Standard (HS), in their weekly rehearsal. They were preparing a few selections for Sunday's worship experience at Fellowship of Love Church. After introductions to the members of HS, Jason got right to work, taking the team through their paces, highlighting points and tips for our young artists. He put Jahroy on drums to keep the pace, Dylan and Chiante were asked to watch Bro Dell Phillips (Minister of Music) on keys, and he had Delijah assist with the Alto part in one song. They got to see how Jason conducts his team, allowing them to mess up, but pushing them past their own limits. It was a good lesson for our group.
Here are a few video clips from our time with Higher Standard:
After a bite of lunch, (Subway, any one? - lol), we went back to Orange Room Studios to relax and review the track. When we arrived, we were greeted by Guitarist Kyle Williams. Kyle has performed with numerous artists in the Atlanta area and is a regular key player for Open Mics at Apache and Creative Live events. Here is a clip of Kyle introducing himself to the group:
Kyle provided some excellent guitar tips for Emma as well as vocal tips for our singers. We were unable to record his vocal performance for our group, but he was amazing!! He jammed a little with Dylan and Emma (see video clip above) before we left to prepare for the evening's event - Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint - - the John Beal Collective!
After everyone was prepared and ready to go, we ventured out in the weather to Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint in the heart of Atlanta to see the John Beal Collective perform. The jazz band consists of John Beal on keys, Kyle Williams on guitar, Tommy Why on Bass guitar, with guest artists on drums, vocals, and horns (these members change based on availability, etc.). We were seated and were treated to an amazing performance by the band. We watched them perform some wonderful songs including "Ribbon in the Sky" with Kyle floating on his sweet falsetto - it was a truly fantastic performance!
We were feeling our wounds as we had started our day quite early (4:45 am) to be exact, so we decided to leave after the first set and return to the house to get some much needed rest. Our final full day would start at 8:30 am as we prepared for worship at FOLC.