Dixie Hummingbirds – Diamond Jubilation
With the success of the Blind Boys Of Alabama’s recent albums for the RealWorld label and Fairfield Four member Isaac Freeman’s 2002 disc Beautiful Stars, it’s no overstatement to say that we’re in the midst of about as big a gospel quartet revival as we’re likely to see. It’s hard to imagine a more welcome addition to that revival than Diamond Jubilation.
Group founder James B. Davis retired in 1984, but baritone Ira Tucker still remains as the group’s vocal and spiritual leader. Though the quartet has a history of pop crossover (they’ve sung with Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon), the Hummingbirds stick to traditional or traditional-sounding material here.
Backed by Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, and several members of Bob Dylan’s touring band (including multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell), the group sounds absolutely contemporary without diluting the church-based core of their sound. The band’s playing is propulsive and inventive, especially on the Cajun-flavored versions of “God’s Radar” and Dorothy Love Coates’ “I’ve Been Born Again”, as well as on Buddy & Julie Miller’s “Too Many Troubles”.
The real highlights, though, come on the standards. “Rasslin’ Jacob” finds the group bridging the gap between the traditions of black and white gospel quartets, with swooping, leaping unison vocals that sound more than a little like the Statesmen. Then there’s the foot-stomping (literally) take on “Nobody’s Fault”, accompanied only by Campbell’s acoustic slide guitar.