Electrical Field of Love documents the inspiring collaboration between the New York-based, long-running trio Harriet Tubman (named after the Afro-American slavery abolitionist and social activist) of guitarist Brandon Ross, bassist Melvin Gibbs, and drummer JT Lewis, and kindred spirit – soul vocalist, keyboard player, and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow (daughter of Ronald Muldrow, who was saxophonist Eddie Harris’s long-time guitarist, and singer Rickie Byars-Beckwith, who worked with Pharoah Sanders and Sir Roland Hanna), known for her collaborative work with Yasin Bey (Mos Def), J Dilla, Madlib, Robert Glasper, and Erykah Badu.
Harriet Tubman and Muldrow connected when they were scheduled to play at the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2022, and Muldrow asked Harriet Tubman to perform with her. This successful performance led to the recording of Electrical Field of Love, which produced twelve songs that were organically, collectively, and spontaneously improvised and instantly composed in the studio—a practice used in Muldrow’s own work. Ross explained that all four musicians were aware of the architecture of form, so they can «go anywhere in space and create structure out of nothing». The album was recorded in a two-day session at Duro of Brooklyn in October 2023.
The album was produced by Scotty Hard, who also worked on Harriet Tubman’s two previous albums and is a protégé of the great producer Teo Macero. Hard distilled and edited more than six hours of material, assembled disparate parts of the session similarly to Miles Davis’ seminal albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew (both produced by Macero), and On the Corner, and created twelve songs, faithfully capturing and reflecting the emotional vibe of the two-day recording session.
These songs address issues of connection and solidarity—visceral and spiritual, musical, personal, and to the ultimate unity of black music. They sound as if Harriet Tubman and Muldrew melted into one, rich, inclusive, and life-affirming, multidimensional musical mind. Harriet Tubman’s heavy jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and avant-rock sonic sensibilities are now charged with layers of psychedelic, soul, and dub colors. Muldrow’s commanding, urgent vocal delivery adds to the exploratory mix of Electrical Field of Love incantatory, declarative, and spectral dimensions.
Eyal Hareuveni
Georgia Anne Muldrow (vocals, keyboards, Brandon Ross (electric guitar, banjo, soprano guitar), Melvin Gibbs (electric bass), JT Lewis (drums)
