Grant Green - Feelin' The Spirit
Grant Green - electric guitar [click here to see more vinyl featuring Grant Green]
Herbie Hancock - piano [click here to see more vinyl featuring Herbie Hancock]
Butch Warren - bass
Billy Higgins - drums
Garvin Masseaux - tambourine
1 LP, Gatefold jacket
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : Blue Note Tone Poet
Original Label : Blue Note
Recorded December 21, 1962 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder
Original release produced by Alfred Lion
Reissue produced by Joe Harley
Remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Originally released in October 1963
Reissued in October 2022
Tracks :
Side A:
- Just A Closer Walk With Thee
- Joshua Fit De Battle Ob Jericho
- Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
Side B:
- Go Down Moses
- Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Reviews :
“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 of Goin' West; and the best of the bunch, the old-time gospel album Feelin' the Spirit. For Feelin' the Spirit, 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. Green'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 gospel style perfectly. Similarly, Green's playing never gets too complicated or loses sight of the melodies, yet he never runs short of ideas -- which goes to show that Feelin' the Spirit is indeed a labor of love. Opening with a jaunty "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," Green and Hancock work up an impassioned gospel fervor on "Go Down Moses," which is loaded with soulful, bluesy tradeoffs. Yet overall, the mood is fairly reflective, with Green's interpretations of "Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" pointing up the suffering and sorrow behind these standards -- with the implication that suffering still continued into 1962. That's not to say Feelin' the Spirit 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. Green, Hancock, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Billy Higgins keep the grooves flowing throughout, making Feelin' the Spirit a rousingly successful experiment.” AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
Ratings:
AllMusic 4 / 5 , Discogs 4.59/5