Feelin' the Spirit in Bloomington, MN

Broadening his musical palette,
Grant Green
detoured into a number of "theme" sessions in 1962 -- the light
Latin jazz
of
The Latin Bit
; the
country & western
standards
Goin' West
; and the best of the bunch, the old-time
gospel
album
Feelin' the Spirit
. For
,
Green
takes five
traditional
, public-domain African-American
spirituals
(plus the CD bonus track
"Deep River"
) and gives them convincing
jazz
treatments in a quartet-plus-tambourine setting.
's light touch and clear tone match very well with the reverent material, and pianist
Herbie Hancock
is tremendous in support, serving the needs of the music and nailing the bright
style perfectly. Similarly,
's playing never gets too complicated or loses sight of the melodies, yet he never runs short of ideas -- which goes to show that
is indeed a labor of love. Opening with a jaunty
"Just a Closer Walk With Thee,"
and
Hancock
work up an impassioned
fervor on
"Go Down Moses,"
which is loaded with soulful, bluesy tradeoffs. Yet overall, the mood is fairly reflective, with
's interpretations of
"Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho,"
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen,"
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
pointing up the suffering and sorrow behind these
-- with the implication that suffering still continued into 1962. That's not to say
is a depressing album, though; it's simply infused with the spirit of the
blues
, which is part of the reason these songs translate so surprisingly well despite their harmonic simplicity.
, bassist
Butch Warren
, and drummer
Billy Higgins
keep the grooves flowing throughout, making
a rousingly successful experiment. ~ Steve Huey