Indirectly introduced to a wider secular audience through her non-vocal appearances on the 2006 season of
American Idol
(her granddaughter, pixie-like
jazz
singer
Paris Bennett
, was a finalist) and a supporting role in the gospel-set film
The Fighting Temptations
,
Ann Nesby
could have gone for the cynical
pop
-oriented cash-in. Instead, the career high point
In the Spirit
is
Nesby
's first album of
traditional gospel
tunes, and it's one of
's finest sets. Inspired by
Aretha Franklin
's 1972
gospel
set
Amazing Grace
has a similar feel: the songs are mostly
standards
, arranged in a contemporary style in keeping with the current
R&B
marketplace. Like
Franklin
, however,
doesn't stoop to trend-chasing; the synths and electronic beats that underpin many of the songs are subtle and mixed with organ, grand piano, and other old-school sounds. At all times, the focus is on the vocal arrangements, featuring
and her backing vocal trio led by daughter
Jamecia Bennett
, which are among the most impassioned and rich
has ever sung. Even the pair of familiar
covers fit the devotional theme;
Stevie Wonder
's
"Heaven Is Ten Zillion Light Years Away"
is transformed from its original spacy
jazz-funk
into something considerably more disarming, and
does the near-impossible by outdoing
Bill Withers
with her proud, resilient take on his classic
"Grandma's Hands."
~ Stewart Mason