Greetings humble readers, today’s selection is a fine piece of gospel funk conceived and orchestrated by heavyweght gospel group The Mighty Gospel Giants. I picked up this copy of The Mighty Gospel Giants full length LP “Let There Be Peace” on a recent dig while visiting my folks in Houston at a near by thrift shop, sitting lonely in a dusty stack of unloved lounge and Lawrence Welk styled big band records. The featured cut, Lift Jesus, is a nice amalgamation of funky gospel soul, released on the Minit gospel label in 1970. Lift Jesus features a searing B3 organ and a snare heavy drum pattern leading the rhythm at a steady mid tempo pace layered on a mouthful of fervent tamborine shakes.

Bandleader Bishop Charles Edward Cook, who sadly passed away in January of this year, provided the lovely shout-singing gospel vocals carried by the backups of his fellow Giants. Lucky for us, The Mighty Gospel Giants cut a handful of excellent soul-tinged gospel records throughout their expansive recording career. The Giants garnered their chops performing within New York’s burgeoning gospel quartet scene during the late 1950’s and continued to successfully record and perform throughout the 60’s and early 70’s, even releasing material on Gospel and Soul label giants Savoy and Veep amongst a few others before moving to Minit for their late career releases. Though I wasn’t able to find finer details about the group’s career and apparent regional popularity, I did find that legendary jazz producer George Butler produced this particular record sometime during his heavy production heyday at Blue Note, Columbia, and United Artists. Mr. Butler, well known as a heavy weight producer in early bebop and the later jazz fusion movement, put his magic touch on this record to put a funky twist on the traditional Gospel arrangement. Enjoy!

LISTEN: The Mighty Gospel Giants – Lift Jesus