Tenor saxist Noah Preminger emphasizes his nimbus cloud tone as he toes deep into the blues and gospel on this latest release. He teams up with the spacious Kim Cass/b and Ian Froman/dr with occasional front line partnership with Jason Palmer on material usually associated with acoustic guitar.
With heavy sighs, Preminger relaxes over Froman’s brushes on Willie Johnson’s title track and creates arm spanned wide vibrato on the spacious “Trouble In Mind.” With Palmer’s easy swing, the two pair up on Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Black Snake Man” and create tensile long tones with Froman’s pulsed drumming on Skip James’ “Hard Times Killin’ Floor Blues” while the quartet gets a bit free and New Orleanish on “I Am The Heavenly Way.” Both the blues and spirituals show that the sounds came from the same building, just some stayed in the church and others went out into the cotton field. Premnger and company blow new life into the blues.