Howard Roberts Chorale – Let My People Go: Black Spirituals / African Drums

Not to be confused with the outstanding West Coast jazz guitarist Howard (M) Roberts, the versatile Howard (A) Roberts, who was based in Queens, brought years of experience as an musician, producer and arranger to this 1968 Columbia Records release which boldly blends traditional African-American spirituals with Pan-African percussion. Roberts, who first made his name in the industry by playing trumpet for vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, went on to produce or co-produce albums for giants like Miles Davis, Diahann Carroll and Tony Bennett along with overlooked singles from the likes of Webster’s New Word and Rhetta Hughes. Released in the formative years of world music, Let My People Go sounds like something that might have been released on Lyrichord or World Pacific Records as this was not the usual fare for Columbia’s Masterworks classical division. Credit is due to Columbia Records for being quite musically adventurous during one of their financial peak periods which spanned from the mid-to-late ‘60s.

The album’s opener “Let My People Go” commences with the sound of drums played in an inviting triplet pattern-musically complementing and contrasting the oscillating vocals of the chorale. In his insightful liner notes, Roberts mentions his deliberate arrangement of the drum choir having “the same spectrum as the vocal choir, that is soprano, alto, tenor and bass.” With Roberts’ stirring lead vocals, “Wade in the Water” surfaces as the defining moment of the album. While many listeners of the era might have been familiar with this traditional spiritual from the 1966 hit instrumental version by Ramsey Lewis, the copious percussion combined with the sweeping and coruscating chorale vocals takes Roberts’ rendition to new heights. Built upon an Afro-Cuban rhythmic pattern and call-and-response cadence, “Hold On” offers an undeterred statement that the foundational spirit will not be broken in the face of adversity and oppression. Roberts would go on to compose the highly-regarded Lord Shango soundtrack which accompanied the 1975 cult classic film and was reissued by Tidal Waves Music in 2021. In fact, Let My People Go is said to be a direct precursor to the Lord Shango soundtrack. Initially billed as the African Explosion, Let My People Go anticipates the ardent embracement of Pan-Africanism, while being a nascent expression of the ongoing movement heightened by the liberating powers of spirit and sound.