Dwight Trible has history, and it is good history. He sings with the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and acts as vocal director for the Horace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. He has collaborated with Bobby Hutcherson, Kamasi Washington, Oscar Brown and many others and sang with experimental jazz musicians, and R&B with L.A. Reid and Patrice Rushen. He has recorded with electronica and hip-hop outfits including Carlos Nino.
He moved from Cincinnati to Los Angeles where he was embraced by the thriving jazz scene. His first album released in 2001 was Horace (Elephant Records), which was followed by Living Water in 2004 (PassinTheVibe) which earned him a BBC nomination as album of the year. With his Life Force Trio, Dwight Trible released 2005’s Love is the Answer (Ninja Tune). He featured on Paul Zauner’s Blue Brass album Venus of Harlem, and then released Cosmic in 2011. He sang lead vocals on Kamasai Washington’s 2015 release The Epic and in 2017 signed to Gondwana, releasing Inspirations in 2017 with Matthew Halsall and Colors in August 2018, which showed his spiritual side as it was a re-visiting of Sanders-inspired tracks and ideas.
He has played festivals including the Joy of Jazz Festival in South Africa in 2015. Now Gearbox Records has released Dwight Trible’s latest project, Mothership, and not only does Trible have a great moniker but he also has a voice which outpaces many other vocalists. Kamasi Washington plays on the opening track.
The title track, written by Horace Tapscott and Linda Hill, opens Mothership with a bass entree setting the mood for this track. It’s deep, velvety and sensual. Trible has one of those voices in which you can hear and feel intensity and depth. His range span is wide, crossing the tenor/baritone line and his diction is crystal clear. His delivery is something of a cross between Barry White in the lower notes, Paul Robeson in his phrasing and a touch of entrenched funk – and he can scream, too. Comparisons are for mindful reference only; his style is unique and special.
The backline provided by the percussion is continual with a dance-groove, and the piano solo is imaginative. Also included is a sax solo from Kamasi Washington, which will blow your socks off. The vocals are wonderfully rich and contain emotive redolence from deep soulful depths to lighter, soufflés of sound: Dwight Trible has the range to encompass it all. This song feels like several because it has different sections, and the narrative is expressed right the way through.
“It’s All About Love,” a Trible original, follows and is completely different in rhythm patterns, references and atmosphere, but the vocal quality remains the same. An interesting flip in the rhythm, just six or seven seconds in, is brilliant because it makes your ears take notice. A Calypso pattern is infused through the track, and Dwight delivers his take on love and what it means over the top of a solid and supportive rhythm section. The power in the vocals almost belies the subject matter, but is impressive and engaging. Dwight shows he can scat well, too.
The entrance on “Mother,” by Nate Morgan and Kamau Daaood, is proclaimed by a chordal set from the piano onto which is dropped the warmest of vocals, telling a story of the pervading spirit of a mother and her child. The emotions come through the vocals, which are moving and evocative. The track includes a lovely piano solo from Mark De Clive-Lowe.
Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brother” opens with just the drums setting up the rhythm from the lower keyed toms and bass drum, and the vocals come in on the same note as the drum key, as Dwight Trible conveys the story of a boy and his adventures searching for his lost brother. His emotive, sensual vocals carry the tale perfectly, and the soaring notes which Dwight intersperses at times actually emphasize at just the right time.
The traditional “Spiritual” is a mixture of many rhythms and blends cultures in a sweeping, atmospheric opening, working to provide a platform onto which the wonderful vocals float, buoyed the entire track by some stalwart support from the band. Trible lets loose on this one, soaring, swooping low and wailing his feelings. Scooping to the notes, floaty flute underneath and piano providing the perfect, chaotic link before the vocals again enter, in full force. This is an in-the-now, Pharoah Sanders-influenced jazz track and the vocals are as much part of the instrumentation as they are there to provide lyrics. Wonderful.
“Song For My Mother,” by James Leary, is rather beautiful, gentle in 3/4 time, and talks again of the presence and love of a mother. The track holds within it some great bass lines and a solo from John B. Williams. The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” sets out its intentions with a massive drum roll, followed by a full-on drum introduction packed with power and energy. Over this enter the vocals, higher and atmospheric and there goes the track – off, away, veering on free jazz in places, sheets of sounds created by the combination of throbbing, brain-storming drums, dis-harmonic piano and electronic mayhem kept at bay all the while by the sheer power of the steadfast drumming. This track is nigh on the best antidote for anyone doubting whether jazz vocalists and instrumentalists work perfectly together. Wonderful, period.
“Thank You Master,” originally by Donny Hathaway, is slow, strong and oh-so-soulful, with vocals eventually finding a huge range from deep sonorous baritone sounds up to screaming tenor inflections. Steady blues piano, bass and percussion provide the background wall onto which, brick by brick, the vocals attach themselves before falling off part way through. That leaves the instruments to mark out a rich middle section, before the vocals climb back up, echoing their thanks to the master and extolling the listener to do the same.
“Desert Fairy Princess,” which was co-written by Jesse Sharps and Trible, is whimsical, dainty and set off with a gorgeous viola solo under which the vocals tell the story of love, fascination and desire. Trible weaves in and out with the viola, which tells its own narrative. Additional electronic sounds increase the atmosphere of this track, emphasizing the other worldliness of both the music and lyrics. The timbre in Dwight Trible’s extended notes is body tingling and works in a delicious contrast with the viola, which totally steals the middle section.
Trible’s original “Walking to Paradise” is swingy, rhythmic and jazzy in the extreme. Everything walks on this track, from the vocals with their rise and fall, to the backline of the percussion and the bass (which is walking, of course). The middle section contains a lovely walk-and-talk between piano and percussion, where the tempo and volume increase exponentially – it’s unexpected and wonderful – before the devolution into the walking-down-freedom’s-road-to-paradise groove again. This track as a whole is entirely enjoyable and very groovy.
“These Things You Are to Me,” by Carmen Lundy, is thematic, a musical narrative created from the offset with the introduction. That creates the scene, then the vocals add deep, luxurious textures – including some interesting intakes of breath which sound like some great bellows filling with air. Trible then transforms them into wonderful sounds on the exhale. This is followed by Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time,” a lyrical, full-textured track with the narrative in the lyrics clearly stated. There is a melancholy over the folky, jazzy feel to this track and the buzzing, soaring viola solo is lovely.
What is really creative about Mothership is the use of the voice as an instrument in places, taking the alto or baritone line. Dwight Trible has also chosen stellar musicians for Mothership, including pianist Mark de Clive-Lowe (Omar, Shirley Horn); bassist John B. Williams (Hugh Masekela, Horace Silver, Count Basie); drummer Ramses Rodriguez; viola player Miguel Atwood Ferguson (Flying Lotus, Dr Dre); percussionist Derf Raklaw; harpist Maia; and Carlos Nino, an internationally known composer, arranger and producer DJ, radio host and previous collaborator.
Because range is not a problem for Trible, his vocals blend work with the other instruments on Mothership and fill in any gaps in the texture like a well-oiled tooth fitting into a cog. The vocal style has a soulfulness about it, yet is so strongly jazz-influenced that it feels like something from the past is reaching out and touching the present – entwining with the best of modern touches and presenting something which is almost untouchable the way it combines with the musicality and narrative. “Tomorrow Never Knows” has almost pure jazz in the background, countered by the electric insertions, but it works. At the same time, the stories are real-life possibilities, feelings and human emotions, told clearly and in a way that is unforgettable.
It feels like the vocal talent of Dwight Trible has been one of the best-kept secrets of the more populous world – well, not now, it isn’t. Once heard, Mothership cannot be forgotten, and never should be.
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