The Upper Room is Playing My Songs!

The Upper Room: A Gospel Jazz Band is where I perform as a drummer working together with Curtis Price (guitar), John White (bass), Marco Munoz(sax) and Deron Hutchinson (keys) to create some of the hottest Gospel Jazz.

I contributed three original songs (I.T.N.O.J., I.T.N.O.J.2: The Suffering and L.I.G.H.T.) to Faith Walk, our debut album. I also co-wrote, arranged and co-produced most of the remaining tracks on the project. Release Pending.

The Upper Room: a gospel jazz band

All songs � 2004 Taurus M. James (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved.

I.T.N.O.J.

You can listen to the original version of I.T.N.O.J. here on this site and compare it to The Upper Room version. I changed the arrangement to fit the character of T.U.R., which is a five-piece band. I kept the simplistic theme and melody of the original, but livened the track up with changes in the bass pattern in the second verse and the addition of marimba phrasings.

I.T.N.O.J.2: The Suffering

I literally composed this song on the spot during a rehearsal session using The Upper Room as my live instruments. I started with the idea of a complete remix of the original song, but I only wanted a tiny hint of the original to come through near the end. I intentionally developed the song with longer and slower movements to progressively build up to the voicing of the original chorus as the climax. I developed the dramatic and emotional ending with the Passion of The Christ in mind (before the movie).

L.I.G.H.T.

This song originated from a letter I wrote expressing my gratefulness for the relationship I have with Christ. I developed the letter into lyrics, originally for someone else to sing. I didn't find a singer to voice the words like I wanted, so I decided to do the lyrics myself.

I was very reluctant to contribute this song, because of lot of personal reasons. For one, it is a very personal/intimate song for me, and it means more to me than any song I've written. Nonetheless, the members of T.U.R. convinced me to add L.I.G.H.T. to the Faith Walk project.

Chatter To Change.

I co-wrote this song with Curtis and John of T.U.R. This songs originated from a 'jam session' in which I just started playing a drum rhythm and John picked up a bass line. Curtis joined in with some guitar riffs to set up the foundation of the song. The story I had in mind for this song was a dialog between two people about the need for change. The story stuck.

Wade

I came up with the arrangement of this old Negro spiritual to contrast the original and reflect the creativeness and musicianship of T.U.R.

Amazing

The Upper Room's interpolation of the gospel hymn, Amazing Grace, is one that I arranged.

Jesus Loves Me

Another track on the Faith Walk project that I helped in arranging.

Listen and enjoy!