Word2Soul
The Word2Soul Project
© 2005 Amy Mintzer (634479079382)
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Our music is soulful and spiritual with an occasional peppering of secular pieces. In this package, you'll discover an eclectic mixture of talent, experience and genre combined for an uplifting experience.
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The Story Behind Word 2 Soul
Williamsport is known as the home of Little League Baseball. It is also the source of a musical vision called The Word 2 Soul Project. The modus operandi of W2S recalls spacious concept albums produced by the likes of Quincy Jones or the Alan Parsons Project-where the producers write the songs and a panel of singers interpret the songs-but Johnny J. Blair and Amy Mintzer (the creators of W2S) are on a "soul train" with its own track.
Says Mintzer, "Actually, the term 'songwriting' is a bit formal for of W2S. Song-groovin' or 'groove design' might fit more suitably. In conjunction with my good friend and talent extraordinaire, Johnny J. Blair, the results are form and flow that hopefully others will enjoy and find uplifting. God puts an idea in my head. I make a rough sketch with John. He takes that and, with his masterful arranging and experience, molds something amazing and wonderful."
"Amy tagged me to set up some demos with the goal of shopping for a publishing deal," says Blair. "The recordings turned out so good I couldn't stop some disc jockeys from airing them. We took it to another level and ended up with an entire concept album."
Known as "Singer at Large," Blair was born in PA "but I became a bi-coastal urban gypsy, ending up in San Francisco. As a bicycle messenger there, I rode around on the hilly streets, seeing the cruelty and the kindness in human kind all at once. I called it 'the asphalt ballet.'"
Blair has been recording since the 1970s and issuing solo albums since 1983. His sunny brand of innovative pop and world beat rhythms, layered with gospel and "American-roots music," has reached a global audience. He's worked with a "who's who" of showbiz and has a string of releases with Davy Jones (The Monkees).
Blair's admirers include surf-guitar hero Dick Dale, British pop music legend Cliff Richard, Christian-rock godfather Larry Norman and Brian Wilson (Beach Boys)-who called Blair "a virtuoso." He says, "Here's my job description: Play songs that fill the soul and play them with conviction. Working with Amy is a natural extension of my original mission."
Mintzer grew up in the small town of McVeytown, PA (next to Lewistown PA-once profiled in Rolling Stone magazine as an all-American city). Growing up, her musical influences included The Blue Ridge Quartet, Marvin Gaye and The Jackson Five. She sang in high school and church choirs, took piano lessons and played flute in marching band.
Dance was Mintzer's point of release."My intimacy with music is not necessarily in notes and theory, but in the rhythm and flow. Dancing was more than my forte, and it was who I was. Very seldom had I felt so complete than when I was dancing. It is the marriage of music and soul within the human body." Her love of artistic expression eventually segued into writing prose and poetry.
Mintzer says, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. In my forty years of living, no one has approached me with such prejudice. Okay, so there were no run-way model, centerfold days before or after my fourteen years of marriage-which include the raising of four children (age 23, 20, 13, and 10).
"Yet Someone made me and called me beautiful- God, Who planted the idea in the myopic head of my husband Dean (whose prescription lenses will never be allowed to strengthen just in case) also in my kids, whom I adore and they will be taught that a round face on a stick figure can strut her stuff and reflect the light of Jesus. Maybe not on MTV but certainly into the eyes of a myopic world.
At least, behind the mask, hat and scrubs of Operating Room garb, badgering surgeons and other OR personnel I can find fodder for my favorite past-time (surprise, it isn't folding clothes, cutting oranges for soccer, sorting socks or scavenging lost essentials that should've been put away where they belong in the first place-although I've improved over the years). No. No. No. It would be songwriting."
Brought up in a United Methodist home, Mintzer was taught to put Jesus and God ahead of the church because He is the Head of the church. She learned that a Christian's goal is not heaven, but to become Christlike-heaven is the reward.
This perspective informs Mintzer's lyrics. The music of Word 2 Soul, meanwhile, references Caribbean music, classic rock (Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Steely Dan, Toto), disco (Donna Summer), Euro-pop, funk and all kinds of soul/r'n'b. Since neither Mintzer or Blair could cover the vocal ranges in all of the songs, singers were hired. Each singer brought a special dynamic to the material. "Different singers bring different colors," notes Blair, who played most of the instruments. Guitarists Tim Breon (Martha Reeves and other Motown artists) and Chris Bovard (Blind Chitlin Kahunas) contributed sizzling lead guitar parts.
Blair says, "Even though the sessions were spread out over months and we had so many players, the end results are amazingly unified."
Mintzer concludes, "'Word 2 Soul'" became the goal: 'To Improve the Groove For His Kingdom.' Can we? Do we? You decide."