SR5030: Just for Me   -- Richard Gibbs

Available October 7, 2022

  

Richard Gibbs is a virtuoso musician who truly can do it all; he adeptly testifies and grooves on the organ, piano, and bass. This recording pays tribute to Richard's mother Inez Andrews and to Aretha Franklin. On many levels, Richard's musical career is inextricably tied to these two music icons. His first professional job was accompanying his mother in New York City when he was 13 years old, and he had twenty-year tenure with Aretha Franklin. Richard has performed the songs on this disc many times in concert with his mother and Miss Franklin. He knows exactly how these classics are meant to be played, how these giants wanted them to be played. On this disc, The Sirens Records honors and shares precious memories of Inez Andrews and Aretha Franklin while focusing on Richard's playing. Richard is a humble man who shies away from the limelight, but The Sirens Records hopes this recording captures his immense talent for posterity and brings him the attention he deserves.

 SR5007

 SR5010

 SR5012

 SR5016

 SR5017

 SR5019

 SR5023

 SR5026

 SR5027

 SR5029

 SR5031

 SR5033

Press / Music CD Reviews

If Richard Gibbs' "Just for Me" evokes Aretha Franklin's 1972 "Amazing Grace", it's no coincidence. Aretha's accompanist for 20 years, Gibbs infuses his collection of classic hymns and gospels with echoes of that double album (and documentary).

Playing piano, organ, and bass, Gibbs pays homage not only to Aretha but also to his parents. Songs like the title track and "The Healer" come from the repertory of his mother, Inez Andrews. Known as the High Priestess of Gospel, she was a member of the best-known iteration of the Caravans and an incendiary soloist in her own right. Richard Sr. was in the Soul Stirrers and often accompanied Andrews on her solo albums.

Among the arrangements drawn from "Amazing Grace" are the gentle "God Will Take Care of You" and "Precious Memories", both of which Gibbs renders with fidelity to the Aretha versions. "The Old Landmark", also from "Amazing Grace", recalls Aretha's energetic delivery as much as that of the song's originator's, the Ward Singers. Gospel enthusiasts will delight in hearing the familiar intros to these songs, as well as Gibbs' jazzy but reverent keyboard work. Not a glitzy player who goes for crowd-pleasing acrobatic riffs and runs. Gibbs sells each of the songs by giving them the Sunday morning worship service treatment.

"I Am on the Battlefield for My Lord" is one of the album's most inventive tracks. Instead of delivering the congregational favorite in the typical up-tempo manner. Gibbs interprets it by coaxing languorous and bluesy riffs from the Hammond organ.

Not all of the tracks are instrumentals. The group Just Friends handles background harmonies for "Mary, Don't You Weep", recorded by both Inez and Aretha. Since attempting to mimic the High Priestess of Gospel or the Queen of Soul is a fool's errand, lead singer Denise Rutledge of the Rutledge Sisters stays true to her own style. James Cleveland Singers alumnus Clyde Brown leads "Whisper a Prayer", the album's most contemporary-sounding selection.

"Hold Up the Light", the concluding cut on this captivating collection, introduces the next generation. Richard Gibbs Jr. slides off the organ bench to make room for his son, Richard Gibbs III, who takes over the organ and bass. The circle is unbroken.

Multi-instrumentalist Richard Gibbs plays on all three of these releases; he plays bass on the preceding album [SR-5029] and on Cliff DuBose's album [SR-5031], but for his own album he also plays piano and organ, and much of the set is instrumental. Richard's mother was gospel legend Inez Andrews and he played for twenty years for Aretha Franklin, and he pays tribute to both. The set opens with what in other circumstances would be defined as a blues (shades of Ray Charles), and much of this set merits a similar description - try "Precious Memories" for a rather unexpected example. "Mary, Don't You Weep" is a straight-ahead gospel with fine vocals, and "You are Going to Need Somebody On Your Side" has a fine jazzy swing. If you are coming to gospel from a blues perspective, this is the one of this trio of releases you should consider beginning with.

The multi-instrumentalist (piano organ and bass guitar) has something to hold on to, his father was a member of the Soul Stirrers while his mother, the late Inez Andrews, was part of The Caravans, one of the leading voices of Gospel. The musical career of Richard Gibbs is laudatory since we find him over the collaborations alongside Albertina Walker, Rance Allen, Mavis Staples, Marvin Winans, but also during twenty years within the formation of Aretha Franklin, also playing well in the White House or many times in Oprah Winfrey's famous television show. The eleven titles offered pay homage to the magnificent repertoires of his mother as well as that of Aretha, including five compositions (like "What A Friend We Have In Jesus") can be found on the diva's famous album "Amazing Grace". To note the splendid participation of the singer Denise Rutledge, a friend of the family, who gives the best of herself on the composition "Mary, Don't You Weep", her interpretation is sumptuous. Richard Gibbs is a virtuoso; from his beginnings alongside his mother at the age of thirteen, to his prestigious collaborations with the greatest, he has definitively established his reputation as a more than gifted musician. We salute the choice of the label to make him record an album which reveals with tact, grace and emotion, a formidable artist.

Originally from Chicago, R. Gibbs enjoys an outstanding reputation in the musical world in general and in that of black gospel in particular. Indeed, he is highly sought after as a umptuous.studio musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist (piano, Hammond organ, bass and drums) and he has a famous pedigree... His father was part of the Soul Stirrers group and his mother is none other than the late Inez Andrews, one of the pillars of the Caravans by Albertina Walker. Richard became interested in the organ from the age of 3, he played in churches in Chicago from the age of 7, then he accompanied his mother from the age of 13, then Albertina Walker and the Caravans, James Cleveland and many other gospel stars, before being Aretha Franklin's regular partner for 20 years, from 1997 to 2017! Little full of himself, he always wanted to highlight singers, himself remaining in the background. Congratulations to Steven Dolins, the boss of The Sirens Records for giving him this opportunity to record an entire album under his name and for which he invited some guests. The opus, eleven titles, is remarkable from start to finish, with a repertoire borrowed from both Inez Andrews and Aretha Franklin (5 compositions which are found on Aretha's emblematic album "Amazing Grace"), the interest never falters. We have 2 sung sides including a version, in slow, of "Mary Don't You Weep" which was Inez Andrews' hobbyhorse and which is admirably sung here by Denise Rutledge, a lifelong friend of the family. There is also "Whisper a Prayer" sung, with emotion by Clyde Brown with the group Just Friends (6 seasoned vocalists), Al Willis (gt) and drummer Kennard Pulliam (present on the 11 tracks). The 9 instrumentals are classics of the gospel repertoire, whereas is the custom in black gospel, organ and piano respond to each other and merge in good harmony, sometimes in slow motion, all in restraint and with devotion like "Precious Memories", "Just for Me", "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", "God Will Take Care of You" sometimes in medium like the superb "The Healer", sometimes up tempo like the unbridled "The Old Landmark" or even a "You Are Going to Need Somebody on Your Side" lifted, exultant and joyful. In conclusion, we have "Hold Up the Light" all in grace and devotion with R. Gibbs (piano), his 18 year old son R. Gibbs III (organ and bass) and K. Pulliam (dms). A total success.

Richard Gibbs' life has always spun around gospel. His father was singer in the group The Soul Stirrers and, during the 50s and 60s, his mother was a gospel singer and member of The Caravans. Only aged three, Richard was completely dazzled by organ when he saw John Green play this instrument at The Redeeming Church Of Christ. When he was seven years old, Richard was already playing in different churches in and around Chicago, as well as regularly backing his mother, and from 1979 up to date he plays every week at Central Baptist Church. From 1997 to 2017 he was member of Aretha Franklin's band. Gibbs usually backs great gospel voices like Smokie Norful, Anita Wilson, Rance Allen, Bishop Marvin Winans, Albertina Walker or Mavis Staples, but this album wants to highlight his skills and taste as a piano and organ player.

The cd is dedicated to the memory of his mother Inez Andrews and Aretha Franklin too. With her he had the great honor of playing at the White House. To do so, Richard has included a selection of songs belonging both to his mother and Aretha. This recording shows the sensitivity, talent and groove he is able to display every time he sits in front of the keyboards.

Eleven passionate gospel cuts that will catch listeners because all the participant musicians really love gospel music and communicate it with passion and an enormous faith. Besides Richard Gibbs on organ, piano and bass in two tracks, you will also find the impressive and wonderful voices of Denise Rutledge, Just Friends and Clyde Brown, drummer Kenard Pulliam, Richard Gibbs III on organ and bass in one cut, Al Willis guitar in one song too and Daniel Weatherspoon on tambourine and strings in two songs.