CD Review
Jessy Dixon, Geraldine Gay and Nash Shaffer Jr.
In The Right Hands
(The Sirens SR-5010)
by Gordon Baxter
Review date: November 2005
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The names of Jessy Dixon, Geraldine Gay and Nash Shaffer Jr will be familiar to aficionados of Gospel music. The Sirens Records managed to get all three together to record an album in 2004. Jessy Dixon, perhaps best known for his singing and songwriting, focuses here on his piano playing. Geraldine Gay, most notable for her involvement in the Gay Sisters in the late 1940s and early 1950s, teams up with a couple of male members of the family on vocals. Nash Shaffer also joins in with the Gays, as well as having a couple of tracks on his own.
Jessy Dixon bookends the album with four original tunes. The first, "The Wicked Shall Cease From Their Troubling," is an instrumental, featuring Dixon's very strong piano playing and D'Artagnon Gunn on drums. This is followed by "Hold On," which is more of a ballad, focusing on Dixon's excellent voice. Two more Dixon numbers round off the album. "God is Standing By," sounds like it was an impromptu performance in the studio. This is a fun song, written for Mahalia Jackson--it was the last thing she ever recorded. Dixon sets the ball rolling, and Gunn soon picks up the beat on drums. The final track, "He'll Fight My Blues," opens with some dramatic piano, before Dixon's voice adds a lighter touch to take things home.
Geraldine Gay's piano introduces the steady rolling "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away." The excellent harmony vocals are courtesy of Pastor Donald Gay and his son Gregory Gay Jr, whilst the engine room is populated by the ever-present Dunn (drums) and John Whitfield (bass). Things are then slowed down for "I Have A Friend," where the piano is more intense initially, but the mood lightens as the song builds, and you can hear Geraldine Gay vocalising in the background as brother Pastor Donald sings.
Nash Shaffer joins the Gays for a couple of tracks, and the blend of organ and piano strikes a nice balance on "That's What I Like About Jesus," another steady rolling number. This is followed by the instrumental "How I Got Over" before the Gays leave Shaffer (and Dunn) to it. Shaffer starts with a nice instrumental rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In," before signing off with the slower
"King Jesus Will Roll All of My Burdens Away." Then it is back to the Gays for one last hurrah with
"I've Done My Work," where both Geraldine and Pastor Donald are in top form, with the latter coming close to sounding like one of the great crooners.
All of the artists on "In The Right Hands" have been around the Gospel scene for many years. This album shows that they are all in fine form, and still sound fresh and vibrant today. The album was recorded in just two days, which is testament to the quality of the musicianship on show. Gospel music lovers will probably already have this one on their wants list; novices could do a lot worse than check out "In The Right Hands" to find out what really good Gospel music should sound like.
www.thesirensrecords.com
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