Walking Through Heaven’s Gate – Glen David Andrews

Glen David Andrews
Walking Through Heaven’s Gate
Threadhead Records 2009
www.glendavidandrewsband.com

Recipe for an instant gospel celebration? Find a church, invite a brassy Dixieland jazz band with a shouting lead singer in to perform from the weathered hymnbook, ask the choir to provide the background vocals, gather the congregation and voila! Gospel Celebration.

That’s exactly what Walking Through Heaven’s Gate captures. Recorded live at the Zion Hill Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana last November, the album is by the Glen David Andrews Band, a well-known NOLA old-style jazz combo that features Andrews on trumpet and vocals. After an introductory prayer by Rev. Joshua, the group renders spirituals and traditional hymns with non-stop joyous swagger and a bold backbeat. Andrews’ vocals are somewhere between Clarence Fountain and Louis Armstrong, and a duet with Donice Wharton on the ten-minute “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” crackles with electricity.

The trumpet and trombone players deliver thick and explosive harmonies reminiscent of the sanctified sound of the fabled United House of Prayer Brass Band. Andrews in particular plays the trumpet with a muscular sweetness as if heralding Jesus’ coming down Rampart Street.

The title track is the sole original composition on the project. Andrews jokes that he wanted to get the song on the charts alongside Kirk Franklin, and then proves his point by launching into this mid-tempo piece that feels more like the ensemble is skipping and jumping, rather than walking, through Heaven’s Gate.

Other featured artists include Paul Sanchez, John Boutte and Trombone Shorty.

Unlike some live projects, Walking Through Heaven’s Gate makes you feel as if you are present in the church for the taping. Despite the sassy playing and singing, the whole affair has an aura of prayerful humility, a friendly family gathering where everyone is welcome for the program and the meal afterwards.

Walking Through Heaven’s Gate is an aural tribute to the unshakable spirit of New Orleans. It demonstrates the interplay between traditional jazz and sacred hymnody that formed the basis of the modern gospel movement when the sacred and secular shook hands some eighty-five years ago and shared their musical secrets.

Five of Five Stars