Spirit In The Dark: Now Is The Time

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Audun Erlien (b)
David Wallumrød (p)
Anders Engen (d, perc)

Label:

Jazzland Recordings Norway

September/2016

Catalogue Number:

3778978

RecordDate:

date not stated

Organ Club nights at Oslo's Cosmopolite Scene let these Norwegian session veterans hone their Hammond trio craft. The result moves beyond mod Soho, soul-jazz cliché for something more restrained and deeply felt. James Cleveland's ‘He Shall Feed His Flock’ starts with churchy Hammond fanfare, but enters prayerful contemplation before its affirmative gospel conclusion. ‘Su Blu’ is skeletal funk, barely shifting off a spare, halting motif while somehow staying on the good foot. Even ‘Switch’ – which, like ‘The Strut’, suggests some dreamed Oslo dance craze – has a groove that's propulsive yet also hitched and held-back. David Wallumrød teases out the emotional associations and potential of his Hammond and associated keyboards, sinking into black American traditions, from the full-blooded, rousing gospel climaxes of ‘With My Whole Heart’ and ‘I Don’t Know What I Would Do Without The Lord' to stuttering wah-wah. Now Is The Time celebrates and meditates on Hammond love.

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