The Way I Feel
Modern Harmonic, 2021
8/10
The American poet, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni is seeing her first 3 albums reissued by the Modern Harmonic label. 1975’s The Way I Feel shifts a bit in direction from the albums before it, where funk leanings by the legendary Arif Mardin make for 13 tracks of powerful, stylish and iconoclastic ideas.
The title track opens the listen with no shortage of grooves, where playful guitars weave in and out of proficient drumming and light key work as Giovanni’s captivating spoken word enters, and “Seduction/Kidnap Poem” follows with a much calmer tone of romantic song craft.
Near to the middle, the warm keys and soothing climate of “Luxury Poem” welcomes eloquent wordplay and soulful brass, while “My House” offers a dreamy landscape of graceful strings and majestic piano. “The Life I Led”, perhaps the album’s best, then heads straight into gospel territory with its powerful voices aligning with Giovanni’s strategic poetry.
“Winter Poem” arrives near the end and showcases airy flute amid the twinkling demeanor that carries an irresistible charm, and “A Certain Peace/When I Nap” exits the listen aglow with a firm intimacy that’s also fiercely independent.
An artist who has been named one of Oprah’s 25 Living Legends, Giovanni is one of the world’s most known African-American poets, and here the music is equally inviting as the prose, and it certainly deserves to live again as it's not only an important piece of Giovanni’s work, but also the Civil Rights Movement from which she drew much inspiration.
Travels well with: Pamela Z- A Secret Code; Jaki Shelton Green- The River Speaks Of Thirst