Already a respected arranger and pianist who'd contributed to dozens of records (by artists ranging from
the Impressions to
Carla Thomas to
Woody Herman), with this debut LP
Donny Hathaway revealed yet another facet of his genius -- his smoky, pleading voice, one of the best to ever grace a soul record.
Everything Is Everything sounded like nothing before it, based in smooth uptown soul but boasting a set of excellent, open-ended arrangements gained from
Hathaway's background in classical and gospel music. (Before going to Howard University in 1964, his knowledge of popular music was practically non-existent.) After gaining a contract with Atco through
King Curtis,
Hathaway wrote and recorded during 1969 and 1970 with friends including drummer Ric Powell and guitarist
Phil Upchurch, both of whom lent a grooving feel to the album that
Hathaway may not have been able to summon on his own (check out
Upchurch's unforgettable bassline on the opener, "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)"). All of the musical brilliance on display, though, is merely the framework for
Hathaway's rich, emotive voice, testifying to the power of love and religion with few, if any, concessions to pop music. Like none other, he gets to the raw, churchy emotion underlying
Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul" and
Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," the former with a call-and-response horn chart and his own glorious vocal, the latter with his own organ lines. "Thank You Master (For My Soul)" brings the Stax horns onto sanctified ground, while
Hathaway praises God and sneaks in an excellent piano solo.
Everything Is Everything was one of the first soul records to comment directly on an unstable period; "Tryin' Times" speaks to the importance of peace and community with an earthy groove, while the most familiar track here, a swinging jam known as "The Ghetto," places listeners right in the middle of urban America.
Donny Hathaway's debut introduced a brilliant talent into the world of soul, one who promised to take R&B farther than it had been taken since
Ray Charles debuted on Atlantic. ~ John Bush