1. Andrae Crouch & The Disciple Reunion

    Posted in: Videos on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

    Andrae Crouch & The Disciple Reunion

    The original members of Andrae Crouch & The Disciples got together one afternoon in April of 2011 for the first time in more than 35 years.  By original, I mean the version of the group that finally broke through to great success in Gospel music.  It was Andrae, his twin sister Sandra, Bili Thedford, and Perry Morgan.  The idea of the reunion began when I told Andrae I wanted to get some video of him sitting at the piano and playing some of his old songs.  Of course scheduling anything in advance with Andrae is always short on specifics, so his former drummer and co-producer Bill Maxwell was essential in making sure this came together the week I was in L.A.

    After I arrived Bill & I decided to call Perry and invite him just to come up and hangout and visit.  That’s when Bill said, “Thedford and Sandra are in the area, why don’t we see if they’ll also show up tomorrow and maybe sing together  one more time.”  This would never have happened if we had tried to plan it.  Schedules would have needed to be coordinated, and then people would have said they needed rehearsals before they could sing again as a group.  But since it was all so spur of the moment, everyone just showed up, mainly because we all wanted to see each other after so many years.

    As for the music, I wanted to capture a moment like the old days when they would just stand around Andrae at the piano and sing.  Of course Andrae immediately, like the old days, started writing a new song on the spot and assigning parts.  Eventually we got him do a couple of the old Disciples numbers and this video is of the group singing, “The Blood.”  Bili took the first solo because Andrae had a sore throat, but it was an afternoon of fond memories of a time in the 70’s when Andrae Crouch & The Disciples changed the sound of Gospel music.

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