Artist: Philip Bailey
Album: Love Will Find a Way
Genre: Funk, Soul, R&B
Label: Verve Records
Released: 2019
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Billy Jack (6:57)
- You're Everything (4:50)
- We're a Winner (feat. Bilal) (5:32)
- Stairway to the Stars (4:56)
- Brooklyn Blues (2:56)
- Once in a Lifetime (5:53)
- Just to Keep You Satisfied (5:17)
- Sacred Sounds (8:16)
- Long as You're Living (4:40)
- Love Will Find a Way (feat. Casey Benjamin) (6:31)
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- Personnel:
- Philip Bailey - vocals, kalimba
- Kamasi Washington - tenor saxophone
- Casey Benjamin - tenor saxophone, vocoder
- Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - trumpet
- Lionel Loueke - guitar
- Kenny Barron - piano
- Chick Corea, Robert Glasper - keyboards
- Christian McBride, Derrick Hodge - bass
- Steve Gadd, Kendrick Scott - drums
- will.i.am - vocals, drums
- Bilal - vocals
Synchronized with the 50th anniversary of the active Earth, Wind & Fire, Love Will Find a Way is Philip Bailey's first solo album in 17 years. That's a mighty long time -- longer than the time span between "Keep Your Head to the Sky" and "System of Survival." Nonetheless, this continues in the direction Bailey was headed on his 1999 and 2002 efforts for the Heads Up label, though the singer and percussionist goes deeper and farther out with a presumably larger recording budget. Like Dreams and Soul on Jazz, this release mixes originals and a greater percentage of interpretations, and above all else is a jazz LP. Moved by the younger generation of musicians who know their history and how to recontextualize it with skill and invention, Bailey places himself at the center of a gathering that welcomes keyboardist and co-producer Robert Glasper, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and bassists Christian McBride and Derrick Hodge. He makes it multi-generational with Chick Corea and Kenny Barron also on keys, and Steve Gadd on drums. Even the group of background vocalists, from Valerie Bailey (née Davis) to Bilal, bridges generations. The full ensemble numbers over 30 and, much like the material itself, changes shape significantly from cut to cut (which could explain the lack of track-specific credits). There are updates of two songs by fellow falsetto colossus Curtis Mayfield. Cautionary narrative "Billy Jack" begins the album in startling fashion, transmuting the original's lean and choppy reggae-funk into a tightly wound groove synthesizing Afro-beat and blaxploitation. The Impressions' black pride anthem "We're a Winner" is easier going. Bailey sings with a little more swagger than usual, true to Mayfield. Rather surprisingly, there are only two one-on-one love songs, but Bailey makes them count. In the case of Marvin Gaye's anguished "Just to Keep You Satisfied," treated like a standard with a fuller arrangement, Bailey gives one of his most stirring performances. It starts impressively enough, but around the moment he hits the final note of "My one desire was to love you," all other versions have been left in the dust. The three originals, primarily instrumental, are subtle grooving knockouts. "Sacred Sounds," written by Bailey, his son, and Glasper, is the finest, evoking the spirit of mid-'70s EWF while grounded more in jazz-funk -- somewhat akin to what Eddie Russ did with "See the Light." It takes off when Washington's piquant sax strays from a joyous group vocal. Bailey finishes by teasing out the EWF from one of Washington's key influences. "Love Will Find a Way" closely echoes the levitating version on Pharoah Sanders' like-titled album, all the while seeming to inch toward "Love's Holiday." It ends this invigorating album just as effectively as the blueprint began its parent release.
Review by Andy Kellman