Music Notes by John Branston and Mark Jordan Jazzing up the Square Rumors still persist that someone will come into Overton Square and reopen the old Lafayette's Music Room, once the city's premier music venue. But while that may or may not ever happen, anyone who misses the presence of music in the square will be glad to hear that live jazz is returning to the area. Palm Court, adjacent to Le Chardonnay and the Bayou Bar and Grill, will host a fall jazz series that kicks off this Sunday with the René Koopman Trio, featuring vocalist Reni Simone. The trio will alternate Sundays in September with the Beale Street Jazz Band, an eight-piece group specializing in an eclectic mix of jazz styles. Joyce Cobb will make a special appearance during the Beale Street Jazz Band's shows on September 14th and 28th. All shows are from 3 to 6 p.m., with an open-mike jam session following. Cover charge is $4, with food and beverages available from Bayou Bar and Grill. Song Pitch Few music organizations in town give local musicians as much practical help or as much exposure to big-time music industry types as the Memphis Songwriters' Association. And this weekend, the group is at it again with their first Publisher's Pitch Seminar. The seminar will bring together several music publishers from around the country to review material and answer questions from local songwriters. Among the music publishers scheduled to send representatives is the Forerunner Music Group, which has published material from Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, 10,000 Maniacs, and Neil Diamond. Publisher Pitch '97 will be held this Saturday at the Bel-Air Club (6195 Macon) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The registration fee is $35, payable by check or money order made out to the Memphis Songwriters' Association. Participants wishing to have their songs reviewed by publishers must bring a cassette demo of one song, cued and ready to play on side A, with the artist's name, telephone number, the date, and a copyright notice written on the tape's label; and three typed lyric sheets with name, address, telephone number, and copyright notice on each sheet. For more information, call the MSA at 577-0906. Thank God It's Friday Okay, it's going to be kind of a hectic music weekend but with a little planning everything should be all right. First and foremost should be Friday's free George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars concert at the University of Memphis. Quite frankly, we remember when the U of M didn't exactly book the hippest entertainment (if we had to see that damn hypnotist make one more person cluck like a chicken someone was going to hurt). But lately somebody's been doing the student body right, with free concerts by the likes of the Gin Blossoms and Jackopierce. And now, Clinton and crew promise to be the best show the school's ever had. Of course, Clinton is known for his marathon-long shows, but even if he goes longer than his longest, the 7:30 p.m. start time should mean you can still head over to nearby Newby's and catch Blue Mountain after the concert. Sort of an adopted local band, this Oxford, Mississippi, country-rock band has just released Homegrown, their first record for indie powerhouse label Roadrunner.

Keeping the Faith Contemporary gospel artists preach to a hip-hop beat. by Kiva Taylor he King is back on top of the music charts. No, not that king. We mean the King of kings. Perhaps for the first time since the great Mahalia Jackson, gospel music has found a home in the ears of mainstream music fans. New young and talented gospel artists such as Kirk Franklin -- whose current album with his Nu Nation choir, God's Property, topped not only the gospel-album chart but the R&B chart and has moved as high as number five on the Billboard 200 -- have taken a solid gospel base of traditional church hymns and old African-American spirituals and added the savvy sounds of contemporary R&B in a mix that is luring a lot of listeners outside of traditional gospel circles. Franklin is just one of the many purveyors of gospel hip-hop. But his music, aside from BeBe & CeCe Winans, is the first to cross over and receive airplay on major television networks, like BET and MTV, where he has become the first gospel artist to be played in regular rotation. Gospel music has been a big part of the music industry boom that began in the mid-'80s. According to the Gospel Music Association, over the last 10 years sales of gospel recordings have increased 290 percent, with 1996 receipts totalling $538 million. But until recently, if a gospel artist really wanted to reach a wider audience outside of the cloistered gospel scene, he or she had to cross over to pop music like Amy Grant or obscure the religious aspect of the music, as gospel-music veteran Bob Carlisle has done on his current smash "Butterfly Kisses." That's all changed with Franklin's million-selling God's Property, spearheaded by the infectious single "Stomp." Based on (of all things) an old P-Funk tune and featuring a hip-hop beat and rapping (Jesus, your love is so amazing/ It gets me high, up to the sky), "Stomp" has found its way not only onto mainstream radio stations' playlists but onto club dance floors as well. And Franklin is only the most visible such artist. Others such as D.C. Talk, Fred Hammond and Radical For Christ, Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers, and Memphis' own O'Landa Draper and the Associates are also posting impressive album sales and drawing kudos from the non-gospel media. For many of today's mission-oriented gospel artists, however, success is mainly a barometer of how many people they're reaching with their message. While many gospel fans still fondly remember the old giants of gospel music -- Jackson, Rev. James Cleveland, Shirley Caesar, the Mighty Clouds of Joy -- for many younger listeners the very word gospel conjures up antiquated images of the congregation crammed into a tiny country church, clapping hands and stomping feet to a song being cranked out of a old out-of-tune upright piano and driven by a tambourine. But nothing could be further from the truth for contemporary gospel artists such as Franklin. Today's gospel artists utilize the latest high-tech equipment and production techniques to add a fresh flavor to a traditional form. In recent decades, gospel music (not unlike churches themselves) has suffered from the perception of being out of touch with modern listeners, specifically young modern listeners. But by updating gospel with hip-hop beats, raps, and deejays, many national and local gospel artists believe that they can win over young music fans. Five-time Grammy Award nominee O'Landa Draper, for one, says that he felt he could update the huge sound of the gospel choir into the age of MTV, Michael Jackson, and gangsta rap. "At first, we did a lot of movement and rocking and having a lot of fun," says Draper of his choir the Associates. "People would say, `It doesn't take all of that. Church is quiet.' But you have to let them know that, if you do any studying of the works of God, at any celebration they would dance. ... They would shout and holler. And praises and worship are things we display in that fashion." One way to reach young people with a positive spiritual message, Draper says, is through the style of music they listen to the most. "Young people say, `We go to church, we just sit there, we can't move, we just lift our hands, we can't rock, we can't sway.' So what do they do? They go home and turn on Video Soul, MTV, and they see all that energy, all that excitement, all that sexual suggestion, and everything. It's not that easy to say no. You have to have some positive help around you. And that's what's so wonderful about what we do. We show the positiveness. You can praise God and the beauty of the Christian life and have a good time with it." Draper adds that, "We have a testimony that we want to encourage other people that, no matter what, you can make it. You don't have to drop out of school. You don't have to give up. And that's what it's all about."