Grant Green - Feelin' The Spirit - UHQCD

2024

Grant Green was Feelin' The Spirit on this deeply soulful 1962 date that is a sibling of sorts to the great guitarist's sanctified 1961 album Sunday Mornin'. Feelin' The Spirit, which was the 13th album the remarkably prolific artist recorded during his first two years on the label, found Green interpreting a set of five African-American spirituals - "Just A Closer Walk With Thee," "Joshua Fit De Battle Ob Jericho," "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen," "Go Down Moses," and "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child."

Joining him was a state-of-the-art modern jazz lineup featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, with Garvin Masseaux on tambourine. In the original liner notes, writer Joe Goldberg notes that Green approaches these songs "with affection, but as music to be played in his style. The result is a fascinating combination: the techniques of modern jazz, blues, and gospel, all applied to the spiritual."

    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....Green, Hancock, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Billy Higgins keep the grooves flowing throughout, making Feelin' the Spirit a rousingly successful experiment.
    -Steve Huey, AllMusic.com, 4/5 stars