Gospel Music Joel Ross

• 1 Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris) 04:31
• 2 Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) 07:28
• 3 Protoevangelium (The First Gospel) 08:15
• 4 Hostile 07:23
• 5 The Shadowlands 05:10
• 6 Nevertheless 03:21
• 7 Word for Word 05:03
• 8 Repentance 07:03
• 9 The Sacred Place 03:07
• 10 A Little Love Goes A Long Way 01:24
• 11 Praise To You, Lord Jesus Christ 03:19
• 12 Calvary 05:56
• 13 The Giver 02:57
• 14 To The Throne (The Mercy Seat) 04:20
• 15 Be Patient 03:46
• 16 The New Man 02:26
• 17 Now & Forevermore 02:57
• Total Runtime 01:18:26

Info for Gospel Music

Vibraphonist Joel Ross will release his 5th Blue Note album Gospel Music, a sonic interpretation of the biblical story and an exploration of his faith that delivers a message of hope and love.

An homage to an array of influences, Gospel Music follows the arc of the grand biblical story. Each composition carries the emotional weight of the story of creation, the fall, and salvation, corresponding to biblical texts that Ross includes in the liner notes. At the center of it is the desire that we meditate on the meaning of the ultimate sacrifice that defines a faith in Christ that calls on its practitioners to love God and others. Playing in this band mirrors that very attitude.

Ross wants us to listen for the ways that the band practices what some of our best minds have preached. He wants us to achieve the kind of clarity he has achieved in his sound, where the music remains “technically difficult.” But with the lessons of The Parable of the Poet and nublues in tow, Good Vibes has moved into a place where the complex can be offered more clearly. The complex can offer sound as meditative space for us to reconsider ourselves as we relate to others. Ross’ message is reflected in the way he leads a band and creates space for them sonically. “If there’s anything I do talk to the band about, it’s about that, making sure we’re making space for everyone and supporting everyone. Because that’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Gospel Music revisits the intricacy of the vibraphonist’s earlier records and the directness and accessibility of the later, producing a sound that is unmistakably Joel Ross while reintroducing himself and the good news simultaneously. It is released in a moment where he has been deepening his study and exploration into the theological and historical depths of his faith over the last several years. Returning to some of his older unreleased compositions and seeing them in light of new experiences, he has created an album which reveals more of his person. “This is probably the boldest example of trying to share what I believe is the good news as well as in homage to where I’m coming from,” he explains.

This identity is equally grounded in the world of jazz pedagogy as it is in the sounds of the Black church in Chicago. While he gravitated toward the former, Chicago gospel was an inescapable element of the sonic community that shaped him. “I’m coming from the Black church in Chicago, playing gospel music,” Ross reminds us.

Joel Ross, vibraphone
Josh Johnson, alto saxophone
Maria Grand, tenor saxophone
Jeremy Corren, piano
Kanoa Mendenhall, bass
Jeremy Dutton, drums

Joel Ross
Chicago native Joel Ross has performed with historic and seasoned artists - Herbie Hancock, Louis Hayes, Christian McBride, and Stefon Harris - as well as with cutting-edge contemporaries like Ambrose Akinmusire, Gerald Clayton, Jon Batiste and many more. Twice selected as a Thelonious Monk Institute National All-Star and a 2013 YoungArts Jazz Finalist - he's also had the opportunity to perform at the Brubeck, Monterey, Seattle, and Chicago Jazz Festivals -and- at internationally-celebrated venues like Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York, SF Jazz in San Francisco, and Club Vibrato in Los Angeles.

Playing the drum kit as early as three years of age, Ross learned other percussion instruments & approaches beginning in grade five, in his tenth year. When starting his work on Vibes, he engaged both classical and jazz works, and did so throughout high school. In his last year there, Ross also began playing the piano in a more serious way.

Ross recently completed a two year fellowship with the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet in California. Winning first place at the 2016 BIAMP PDX Jazz Festival 'Jazz Forward' Competition, he was also a winner of the Keep an Eye International Jazz Award, in Amsterdam. A fitting addition to trumpeter Marquis Hill's wonderful group - before their 2016 European tour - He performs with his newly minted Joel Ross’ Good Vibes ensemble, among other ensembles he leads.

“...Ross’ precocious creativity, facility, and confidence were downright shocking. His style is so unique and developed that it changed my image of the vibraphone itself. Though his musicality [shone] through brightly, I was most impressed by the revolutionary way in which he approached the physicality of the instrument, reworking classic limitations as creative allowances. In contrast to the metallic sustain of players like Gary Burton, Ross’ tone was brittle, percussive and woody; instead of letting his notes ring out and wash over each other indefinitely he exploited the relatively sharp decay of each hit. This allowed him to throw down precise flurries while sounding neither muddy nor blunted.” — Asher Wolf, All About Jazz

“Ross swings effortlessly on the vibraphone, sometimes opting for a brittle sound reminiscent of Lionel Hampton, other times creating smooth and expressive lines in the vein of Milt Jackson. Yet while Ross’s sound is grounded in tradition, his rhythmic approach is very contemporary—intensely syncopated and excitingly abstract.” — Kevin Laskey, The Jazz Gallery

“[Ross is a] bright young vibraphonist on his own rocket-like trajectory,...he’s somebody I’ll keep my eye on in the coming months.” — Nate Chinen, The New York Times

This album contains no booklet.