Do you need some soul-to-soul resuscitation? Then you HAVE to hear the jazz-funk gospel of Jimetta Rose and The Voices of Creation’s How Good It Is.
Available today through London’s Night Dreamer Records, this album is as cathartic as it gets. Rose, a former collaborator with the likes of Angel Bat Dawid and Georgia Anne Muldrow, conceived this project as a way to help people heal themselves through the power of music.
After songwriting herself out of her own hard times, she decided to put together a choir that could bring a similar kind of sunshine into the lives of those who need it. To stay true to her vision, she intentionally chose singers that wish to heal themselves and others. You can really hear that sincere compassion and desire to bring love and joy into their own hearts and the hearts of listeners everywhere in every single track on this LP.
The album kicks off with a stirring rendition of the Sons and Daughters of Lite’s spiritual jazz classic, “Let The Sunshine In.” It becomes immediately apparent that the song’s positive vibes and message are the themes and mantras for the entire record. At one point, one of the singers even pauses to announce, “we are the Voices of Creation, we came to bring you life, love—more abundantly we bring you life,” which the rest of the chorus then echoes before returning to the song. If that doesn’t make your heart grow even a little bit, then you MUST listen to the rest of the record, for your health.
With a sea of swelling voices, cascading piano and organ work that groove with resounding nonstop handclaps, the sound of this LP is firmly rooted in classic gospel. Yet the jangling percussion, soaring vocal solos and occasional strutting rhythms reveal that the DNA of soul, cosmic jazz and deep funk runs through the veins of the group’s style.
“How Good It Is,” for instance, features some dazzling lead singing that could have fit nicely on an early Patti LaBelle record, while their version of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “Spirits Up Above” emphasizes the original’s bluesy melodies and cyclical structure. The jazz giant would surely approve.
Another fine example of the chorus’ vast set of influences is “Answer the Call,” Rose’s reinterpretation of Funkadelic’s “Cosmic Slop.” She took George Clinton and Bernie Worrell’s song about a struggling mother of five turning tricks just to keep her family alive, and transformed it into an exaltation of all mothers. She praises them for discovering what they truly want out of their lives, with the guidance of the mothers that came before them, and for doing everything they can to follow those dreams and keeping them stable. The gritty funk of the original is still present in the swaggering keyboard riffs and ghostly backup vocals, but the lyrics and overall tone of the song are far more benevolent. It makes you wish Rose could retool an entire album of P.Funk hits.
If you love The Staple Singers, The Harlem Gospel Travelers and Rotary Connection, then this is a record you will never want to stop grooving to. Tap here to get your copy today.
-KH
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