Gospel Without Words: Two New CDs Highlight Gospel’s Instrumental Side

Heavenly Keys
Leonard Maddox, Rev. Dwayne Mason, Willie Jones, with Curtis Fondren
The Sirens Records 2005

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The Willams Brothers presents The Jazz Album: Songs from the Brothers’ Repertoire
Blackberry Records 2005

Recordings of gospel music instrumentals have been a subgenre pretty much since 1954, when Maceo Woods made a hit record out of his interpretation of “Amazing Grace,” performed on the Hammond organ and originally intended as theme music for Vee Jay Records owner Vivian Carter Bracken’s radio program. Since then, Woods as well as Alfred Bolden, Billy Preston, and a host of other organ giants have released instrumental interpretations of gospel songs and hymns.

In this spirit, The Sirens Records brings us Heavenly Keys. This new release from the Highland Park, Illinois-based label that released the spectacular and beautifully produced showcase of gospel piano artistry from the fingers of Geraldine Gay, Jesse Dixon and Nash Shaffer spotlights the keyboard talents of a combo called the “Gospel Keyboard Trio.” The Trio is organist Leonard Maddox, pianist Rev. Dwayne Mason (whose solo project was recently released by The Sirens) and Willie Jones on electric keyboard, with Curtis Fondren handling percussion. (Might Jones be related to the Willie Jones who recorded “My Thing” for Vee Jay in 1954 and whose single was one catalog number away from Maceo Woods’ “Amazing Grace”?)

The project’s first track, “Church House Rock,” is archetypal gospel music, the joyous, double-time sound you hear as interlude music at church or when the Holy Ghost enters the room. This track could easily have become Ms. Carter’s radio theme music, were she still with us and broadcasting.

“Pray for Me” and “We’ve Come a Long Way” emphasize the bluesier sound of gospel, while “Cavalry” and “It is no Secret” tend toward a smoky late-night-jazz-club feeling. A nice medley of gospel songs is also worth repeated listening.

Whether your musical tastes tend toward the sanctified sound or not, you will enjoy the deft musicianship on Heavenly Keys and marvel at the not-so-subtle ways in which jazz, blues, and gospel blend together to demonstrate their common parentage.

Another mostly-instrumental release is The Jazz Album, presented by quartet legends The Williams Brothers. The project reworks Williams Brothers’ hits into jazz compositions. When I first heard about this concept at the Gospel Music Workshop of America, I was intrigued, expecting to hear jazz on the level of Ellington, Basie, or Marsalis. Not so: it is commercial-sounding smooth jazz that dominates the project. While it is a lovely and relaxing CD, and Rhonda Richman’s velvety vocals on “After the Storm” are marvelous, I wish the jazz was less commercial and more sophisticated, complex and thought-provoking.

Regardless of your taste in instrumental music, these CDs prove that you don’t need lyrics to feel the electrifying spirit of the gospel sound.