Martha Munizzi - "The Best is Yet to Come"

By Rene Williams

Martha Munizzi Music

Martha Munizzi (mew-NIZ-zee) is a woman whose name is starting to be recognized in the gospel community. Her song, Because of Who You Are, recorded by Vicki Yohe, has been gaining popularity in African-American church choirs and on gospel radio.

A well-known praise and worship leader, Munizzi’s been singing for as long as she can remember. Her father, a Dove Award-winning songwriter, was a strong influence in her life, as were her Southern gospel roots. But it wasn’t until she got her hands on a tape by Andrae Crouch that her ministry changed. Before she knew it, she was writing and singing praise and worship songs with an urban flair and a gospel feel.

But it’s not just her songs that have attracted the African-American community to her music; it’s also her exhortation and preachy style of delivery. Martha is not the type to just step up to a mic and sing a song and sit down. She is a consummate praise and worship leader with a powerful anointing and, dare I say, will sing you (and preach you) under a pew.

That’s exactly what you can expect on her latest project, The Best Is Yet to Come. Martha Munizzi’s most recent effort – a live CD recorded at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas (with a studio version of Because of Who You Are) – opens with the mid-tempo praise song Lift Him Up. The moving song speaks about God being worthy of all the praise and the glory. With each inversion, Martha and her background singers take the listener further and further into festive praise. The song is the ideal anthem for praise teams. Lift Him Up flows right into a song recently recorded by Karen Clark Sheard (and co-written by Munizzi and Israel Houghton of Israel & New Breed) on her latest project, The Heavens Are Telling.

(Glorious) Make the Praise with its calypso and island-influenced rhythms can’t help but make you move. The track also reminds us that we were created to praise the Lord. Martha even provides us with some time to praise God through dance on this cut.

She also provides some funk on the urban-tinged cut Mighty God. The uptempo, uplifting cut is one of the strongest on this project. Her R&B influences are apparent on this track, a song about the power and might of our God. Continuing in the spirit of praise and assisting the listener into the presence of God, the song Sing finds us doing just that –- singing—“a new song unto the Lord” right along with her.

Munizzi not only excels at exalting the Lord through praise, but also through worship. Changing the tempo a bit, she moves into a posture of worship with the tune I Will Always. The pretty, melodic song showcases Munizzi’s vocal abilities while ushering us into the Lord’s presence. Say the Name is one of those breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly memorable songs that leave you speechless. Say the Name is followed by The Jesus Medley, which includes well-known church songs, Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know and There’s Something About That Name.

The atmosphere of deep worship continues with the song God is Here, another song written by Munizzi and Houghton and recorded by Clark-Sheard. The emotive cut is one not to be forgotten. Neither is the song, I Know the Plans. The song based on Jeremiah 29:11, not only finds Munizzi singing her heart out, but encouraging the saints with the spoken word. She also records two songs made popular by Houghton, Your Latter Will Be Greater and New Season, both songs taken from his critically acclaimed CD, New Season. He even joins her for the heaven-shaking renditions of these two songs.

Munizzi’s song Shout is re-done on this CD, too. The song, popular in praise and worship circles, has a Fred Hammond feel to it. Originally recorded on her first project Say the Name, the tune will find you “shouting with a voice of triumph and a voice of praise.” She closes this wonderful project with a remixed version of her song, Because of Who You Are.

The Best is Yet to Come is one of the best projects I have ever heard. Not only is the praise powerful, the band incredible and the music flawless but the lyrics are inspiring and the worship awesome. The sounds and rhythms encourage you to sing right along with Martha. The Best is Yet to Come will find you in one of two postures - hands lifted or feet dancing. This anointed woman of God is just beginning and is prepped to take the gospel music community by storm.

For more information about Martha Munizzi, go to www.MarthaMunizzi.com

Feedback - Rene Williams is a freelance writer for Gospelcity.com, GTM Magazine and Charisma Magazine. She also is the author of the Gospel News Update, a bi-weekly e-zine about what's happening in the Christian music industry, and the D.C. Gospel News Update, a weekly newsletter about gospel events in the Washington, D.C. area.