O Magnify The Lord is treated to a straight-ahead 4/4 swing groove by the supporting players, over which Smith works a bit of jazz harmony into her highly syncopated keyboard attack.
Smith and her rhythm section (organ, bass, drums) begin Leaning On The Everlasting Arms at two-beat swing temp with pronounced backbeat before kicking into a faster, highly spirited shout beat. The Sirens Records, a Highland Park, Illinois, label devoted to documenting blues, boogie, jazz, and gospel pianists, now showcases the traditional gospel sounds of Shirley Smith, Minister of Music at Potter’s House Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville, Florida. Piano, long the principal musical instrument in African American worship, can be heard on countless gospel recordings, though seldom outside its primary role of accompanying vocal performances.
You can find Shirley Smith in Jacksonville, Florida, where she serves as Minister of Music for the Potter’s House Christian Fellowship, pastored by Bishop Vaughn McLaughlin. The music has an almost three-dimensional effect, as if the concert or program is happening right in your living room, car, back porch, office, iPod, or wherever you may be listening. Dwayne Mason, e.g.) know that the imprint delivers consistently crystal clear sound, especially when it comes to recording the intricasies of the keyboards. Those familiar with other projects from Steve Dolins’ The Sirens label (Donald and Geraldine Gay, Rev. Throughout the project, she is supported amply by a combo of polished musicians, including jazz bassist Yosef Ben Israel. “He’s Sweet I Know” finds Smith swinging on the everlasting piano keys. Smith also breaks into some up-tempo congregational “handclapping” songs, such as “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus,” on which she harmonizes with herself and the introductory classic, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” The latter, which is entirely instrumental, sounds like the opening of a prayer service, during which the musicians get happy prematurely and launch into a praise break. Songs such as “Because He Lives” and “Something About that Name” get a more reverent, old-line Protestant church treatment. For example, she gives “O Magnify the Lord” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” a smidgen of a jazz lilt while maintaining the simple beauty of the original melodies. Raised in Detroit, Smith can play and sing in a variety of shades. In Hymn I Trust, singer-pianist Shirley Smith’s debut recording for The Sirens Records, is a sweet album of sing-along hymns and congregational gospel songs straight from the proverbial little wooden church on the hill.
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