Style: Soul-stirring jazz with gospel roots; compare to Coltrane, Dolphy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Love, Peace, And Soul
February 21, 2012
Love, Peace, And Soul
February 21, 2012
Top tracks: “Himm,” “I’ve Got to Live the Life I Sing About,” “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”
The phrase “joyful noise” was surely coined with this album in mind. Byron is a reed man and a bit of a jazz chameleon, his albums typically offering thematic tributes to the music he loves—standards, funk, even klezmer. He says gospel is the music that moves him the deepest, and one listen to this album confirms it. Byron’s New Gospel Quintet, including soulful singer D. K. Dyson, has fervor and conviction to spare as they give spirited readings of Thomas A. Dorsey and Sister Rosetta Tharpe classics. They stretch out into pure, spontaneous jazz, but never lose sight of the material’s gospel foundations.
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