Chris Jasper - Amazing Love

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    I'll confess that after hearing Chris Jasper's last two albums I began to think that maybe he had gone soft, with seemingly one innocuous ballad after another.  But Amazing Love is a happy reminder that Jasper is one of the great funk keyboardists of all time and is also a fine songwriter.  The disc is chock full of fine compositions, with the strongest writing in Jasper's solo career.  Importantly for Isley Brothers fans, the album has some great upbeat cuts, including the title track, "True Believer" and the disc's best number, "Stand Up." The remainder of the disc is just as solid, especially the Curtis Mayfield-like ballad, "Faith," and the nice mid-tempo numbers "You Answer My Prayer" and "Glorify You."  Like Jasper's other recent album, Amazing Love is a bit overreliant on synthesizers and programmed drums, but the fine songwriting and performance more than make up for that.  There's a funky R&B base to

    I'll confess that after hearing Chris Jasper's last two albums I began to think that maybe he had gone soft, with seemingly one innocuous ballad after another.  But Amazing Love is a happy reminder that Jasper is one of the great funk keyboardists of all time and is also a fine songwriter.  The disc is chock full of fine compositions, with the strongest writing in Jasper's solo career.  Importantly for Isley Brothers fans, the album has some great upbeat cuts, including the title track, "True Believer" and the disc's best number, "Stand Up." The remainder of the disc is just as solid, especially the Curtis Mayfield-like ballad, "Faith," and the nice mid-tempo numbers "You Answer My Prayer" and "Glorify You."  Like Jasper's other recent album, Amazing Love is a bit overreliant on synthesizers and programmed drums, but the fine songwriting and performance more than make up for that.  There's a funky R&B base to Amazing Love that is reminiscent of his with the Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley.  The results in a great listen and one of the pleasant surprises of this year.  Highly recommended.

    By Chris Rizik