Groovin’ Soul Live
Bruce Von Stiers
I get quite a bit of material to review from Kari Gaffney at Kari-On Productions. Even though just about all of the albums Kari sends me are good, a few really stand out. One such album is from a group known as Gemini Soul. The band provides an eclectic mix of jazz, soul and fusion that fans just eat up.
Last year Gemini Soul released an album taken from live gigs that were recorded. This album is titled Live: The Liquid Soul Tour. With a dozen songs and a play time of over an hour, this is one great jazz fusion and soul album.
Some of you might know one of the key players in Gemini Soul as Marcel. He recorded and performed under that name for a number of years. Now he goes by Andre Marcel Ajamu Akinyele. Ajamu plays the bass and does some of the programming for the music.
Jon O’Bergh does the keys, piano and the other portion of the music programming. And Andrew Foster kicks out with percussion.
Gypsy is the song that starts out the album. Opening with a vocal clip of the famous “free at last” speech, the song has some great piano. That is backed by some great bass and percussion work.
Fever is one of those songs that jazz vocalists usually add to their repertoires. But not so much with instrumental jazz groups. The band has included the song on this album. And I’m glad they did. There is some very, very good bass. And the piano and percussion is excellent as well.
A couple of original tunes follow. Lili has a nice groove to it. And then there is Pandora’s Boxx “07 Remix”. This one has some interesting fusion and alt jazz movements. Once the groove sets in, you get a toe tapping, hip swaying beat.
The group does a pretty decent cover of the Sade hit, Hang On To Your Love. Then the somewhat moody Gordon Jenkins tune, Goodbye; is nicely covered.
In the Mood is more of a standard slow and easy jazz piece. Then the song Winter moves things to a traditional toe tapping mode.
A more traditional jazz piece is given a nice modern spin. The song is Take Five, the Paul Desmond penned tune that was a major hit for the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Ancestor’s Dub has some very different sounding programming. Although it is interesting and has some tough bass, I really didn’t care for the song.
Supernova “07 Remix” has another bit from the Free At Last speech as well as other spoken words as an intro. The song is a rather cool laid back dance groove.
The album ends with a song called Lake MerritI Traditional jazz meets a bit of modern smooth jazz in this song. It is a great song to end a great album.
I had never heard of Gemini Soul before receiving this album. But I am now a fan for life. Their mix of jazz, fusion and soul is not to be missed.
Live: The Liquid Soul Tour is available at selected retailers and through outlets like amazon.com.
To learn more about Gemini Soul, visit www.geminisoul.net.
© 2008 Bruce E Von Stiers