Michael Coe Americans

Piano and clarinet duo albums are few and far between within the jazz canon. In the case of Dancing in the Dark, versatile horn player Tony Coe chose to stick to the clarinet as his saxophone case was too heavy, or so that's how pianist John Horler recounts it.

As the lead singer for the Gaither Vocal Band in the late '80s, Michael English helped popularize modern Southern gospel. He'd later leave the group to become one of the biggest stars in Southern gospel and CCM music in the early '90s. He racked up four Dove Awards – including Artist of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year – in 1994, a haul that suggested he'd be one of the decade's biggest stars, but his success was interrupted by news that he fathered a child out of wedlock. English pivoted to pop music, scoring a crossover hit in 1996 when a cover of John Berry's "Your Love Amazes Me" reached number ten on Billboard's adult contemporary chart. English chose to return to Christian music with the aptly titled Gospel in 1998, and from that point forward he worked steadily, performing live regularly and recording on occasion.

"A thorough, long-overdue study of black Americans' contributions during the War of Independence. . . . An important piece of American and African-American history."
—Kirkus Reviews