From His Head to His Heart to His Hands

A Chicago-based vocalist whose music was steeped in Southern gospel and deep soul, Otis Clay never had a major pop hit, but he was a periodic visitor to the R&B charts and an enduring presence in the world of blues and vintage soul, while also enjoying a long career in spiritual music. Clay was born on February 11, 1942 in Waxhaw, Mississippi, where the church was a vital part of his family's life. In 1953, Clay's family moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he began performing with a local gospel group. In 1957, Clay and his family relocated to Chicago, where he joined the Golden Jubilaires, the first of many gospel groups he would work with in the Windy City.

This is a wondrous disc. Yevgeny Sudbin has not been alone in championing the piano music of Nikolay Medtner: in recent times Marc-André Hamelin, Steven Osborne and Hamish Milne have all brought their special insights into a composer who can perhaps on occasion seem problematic and somehow remote. Sudbin, however, seems to have an exceptional affinity with Medtner’s language. He brings both his heart and his head into play when performing these pieces. His head tackles and illuminates textures and harmonies that might seem opaque and knotty on a first study of the scores; his heart is then harnessed to convey the extraordinary sensibility, passion and thoroughly individual cast of melody that courses through the music. As usual with Sudbin’s series of BIS discs, he also writes his own booklet-notes in a lucid way that testifies both to his enthusiasm and to his understanding.

It is a hefty box in every sense: 13 CDs, supplemented with two DVDs, accompanied by a gorgeous hardcover book and a variety of tchotchkes, including a poster that traces the twisted family trees and time lines of the band and, just as helpfully, replicas of legal documents that explain why the group didn't retain rights to its recordings for years…