DEVOTED SPIRITS
Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire

Thump Records

There were many potential ways for Devoted Spirits to go horribly wrong. The notion of several members of Earth Wind and Fire putting together a tribute to the band featuring guest musicians and singers that include Norman Brown, Ronnie Laws, Johnny Graham, Gerald Albright, and Terri Lynn Carrington seems like one of those great ideas on paper that pales upon execution. Even though all three members of Devoted Spirits—Larry Dunn, Morris Pleasure, and Sheldon Reynolds—spent a decade or more each with the band and are consummate musicians, the project still had staggering potential for disaster. I’m really happy to report that the group’s CD, A Tribute to Earth, Wind, and Fire is a really successful album that manages to sidestep nearly every pitfall that might have sabotaged the project.

What Devoted Spirits do here is neither to update the group’s original sound nor to recreate them exactly as they were. The spirit of the performances is the same; indeed the Earth, Wind, and Fire song catalog has held up so well over time that no ‘update’ is necessary. The band was always ahead of its time, a truly unifying musical force that took inspiration from every possible form of black popular music and made it into something whole and genuine. Yet they do tweak the songs, bringing forth elements that may have been less prominent in the original versions in a way that only further highlights the magnificence of the songs in the first place.

Following the brief Intro that starts the disc, the group wastes no time in plunging into the treasure trove of the EWF songbook, begninning with the popular hit “September Song” paired with “Mighty Mighty.” What is amazing is that the entire track, complete with vocalized bass line, synthesizers, drum machine, and layer upon layer of vocal is all performed by one man: Sheldon Reynolds. Reynolds is an incredibly talented musician and producer who, along with his wife Janie Hendrix (the widow of Jimi Hendrix) runs the Experience Hendrix company. That company manages the re-mastering and re-release of classic Hendrix recordings as well as issuing newly discovered recordings of Jimi Hendrix. Reynolds is joined by Morris Pleasure for the next tune, “Sunshine,” along with saxophonist Gerald Albright, who lends his Cannonball Adderley-esque tone to a solo on the track.

“Serpentine Fire” is another showcase for Reynolds, and he is able to let his guitar flag fly on this number. It’s a great example of the way that this group puts its own stamp on the songs while lovingly honoring EWF. There is no intention of making this performance sound just like EWF—it’s the spirit of the music that is honored, and since Maurice White felt there was a considerable spiritual message to the music, that works fantastically on this set. There is no point in going over each individual track here, because the level of musicianship is so high, as are the production values of this recording, that it is a program of music that it is an absolute pleasure to experience.

There are many highlights. The song selection is impeccable, going deep into the EWF catalog to find songs that clearly resonated with the current group as well. There are many shorter tracks, or interludes, but they are by no means filler, providing a link between different groups of songs and different themes. “Smooth/Can’t Hide Love” shows how just the right touches can illuminate these great songs, as Morris Pleasure’s Miles Davis-like trumpet line and the saxophone of Ronnie Laws demonstrate. “Fantasy” is piledriving, crunching rock, showing that EWF was truly a genre-defying band. “That’s the Way of the World,” featuring Pleasure, Reynolds, and a guitar solo from Johnny Graham, is such a perfect groove you’ll never want it to end. “Sunday Morning,” “Rhythm of Love,” “Rock That,” and “Faces” all hit the mark exactly. The great thing, too, is that you know these songs and love them. And Devoted Spirits takes them just that small step higher that gets you thinking—and listening—in a whole new way.