Having shared some gospel space on parts of
Gene Harris'
In His Hands,
Harris and
Brother Jack McDuff take the next step and move heavily into the blues on this one, assisted by
Ron Eschete on guitar,
Luther Hughes on bass, and savvy veteran
Paul Humphrey on drums.
Harris clearly has the edge on vitality on these sessions; while he can still build up the blues rhetoric to a convincingly shouting climax,
McDuff frankly sounds tired and out of gas on "J&G Blues" and several other numbers. Quite often, though, it is
Eschete who comes up with the tastiest solos on this disc, and
Gene's daughter Niki and
Curtis Stigers help out on soul vocals on several tracks. There are also a couple of non-blues standards, "Time After Time" and "You Don't Know What Love Is";
McDuff's mellow, Leslie-treated Hammond B-3 lead on the latter tune is his most soulful contribution on the album. ~ Richard S. Ginell