CRENSHAW : Retro Sound With a ‘Soulful’ Message

His eyes shut tight in rapturous concentration, Daryl Harvey croons an up-tempo ballad with a soaring falsetto that would give Luther Vandross pause.

His musical testimony of once being among the walking wounded until his eyes opened to true love is the standard fare of R&B; tunes. But this Friday, the 31-year-old Harvey is singing in front of a church pulpit, not a concert stage, and the Wisdom Gospel Singers, infectious though their sound is, looks to provide more than entertainment.

Simply put, the seven-member group, based at Praise Sanctuary church in the Crenshaw district, is on a mission. “We’re out to tell people, especially young people, that achieving success through drinking, drugs and gangbanging is a big lie,” said singer James Edmonds.

Wisdom takes its spiritual message on the road every weekend to churches, prisons, special events--any place that will have the group, particularly venues that afford audiences of young people. With its fluid harmonies, choreography and spare instrumental backup, it is easy to see why teen-agers would take to Wisdom’s hip “retro” sound. But Edmonds and his fellow musicians, who range in age from 31 to 42, hope they’ll give the music a deeper listen.

Wisdom’s running theme of strong religious faith and belief in self, Edmonds said, is especially crucial for young black men who are being lost to the streets in alarming numbers: “We recognize so much of ourselves in these guys doing time. Too many brothers our age don’t talk to the younger generation. It’s easy to be sucked in. We got lucky.”

Edmonds and five other members were converted the hard way. For years they were alcoholics, drug abusers and gang members, some of them Skid Row transients. Now some have found employment (Edmonds as a sales representative for a video distributor, Herb Fregia is in the Postal Service), while others continue to look for jobs.

Charles Veal, 36, remembers walking the same two Downtown blocks over and over during his years on Skid Row. “A lot of people I knew had died,” he said. “I got sick of being sick.”

In 1991, Veal checked himself into the Royal Palms, a Westlake detox center. It was there that he met Harvey, Fregia, Ray Cowan and Louis Russell, all of whom had musical backgrounds. Veal, a keyboardist and singer, said he saw how he and the others could best support one another through recovery: by making music again. Bassist Thomas Matthews, a longtime friend of Veal, agreed to join the group at Veal’s request.

The members of Wisdom persisted, and mounted a Christmas show in 1991 at the Royal Palms that received overwhelming response.

Counselor Arthur Scott, who said he reluctantly broke house rules by letting Veal use the piano during practice at Royal Palms, was amazed by what he saw.

“I had no idea they were so talented,” said Scott, who has promoted the group to organizations throughout the city. “One 15-year-old kid stood up and said his goal was to become a Wisdom singer because they were badder than Michael Jackson. These guys are like beacons in the fog. I knew them when they were homeless and beat down. I feel like a proud parent.”

Since its inaugural triumph, Wisdom has gone on the performance circuit. In the year the members have sung together, the group has recorded a collection of original songs that sells for $5 at its concerts and other events. But collectively, Wisdom’s primary focus remains the musical ministry of personal and spiritual redemption.

For Russell, simply picking up a guitar again was salvation. “At one point, I had sold my instrument, the thing I loved most, for money,” he said softly. “Just being able to play again is enough.”