A band places its faith in a positive message

Joe’s Great American Bar & Grill has been an important live music venue in Burbank for decades, going back to its days as Des Regan’s Irish Pub and the Cinnamon Cinder. But when Little Faith takes the stage on Sunday, the room will be filled with a sound very rarely performed there: traditional gospel music.

Formed in 2010 by veteran piano man Jack Maeby, Little Faith’s jazz-tinged arrangements of old-time spirituals not only stir the soul, they also fill the dance floor, although the band did get off to a somewhat shaky start there.

“It can be a challenge. The first time we played Joe’s, [the late promoter-musician] Mark Tortorici brought us on a Tuesday swing dance night, and it was Mardi Gras,” Maeby said. “A lot of people didn’t get it, some were asking ‘what is this?’ For the most part, people liked it, and we’ve been back, going pretty regularly.”

Little Faith’s new album “Eternity,” the band’s third release, is an arresting combination of traditional gospel standards and original compositions that focus on the genre’s communicative power but avoids religious proselytizing, a mix which some may find strangely contradictory

“The band, originally, was my concept, but it’s really a group project, everyone is fully invested in it,” Maeby said. “We call it a secular gospel band, and some people will say that if you are going to play gospel, that you must do it to praise God. To us, it’s all about a positive message. I heard Mavis Staples talking about the song ‘I’ll Take you There,’ and she said while there is no mention of God in the lyrics it is still really a gospel song and that’s what we want — we are trying to present music in a traditional gospel style that really has something good and positive to say.”

The roots of Little Faith lie in Maeby’s own long-standing romance with traditional gospel. “I was in a big mixed-race R&B band in St. Louis in the 1970s, and the bassist’s dad was a Pentecostal preacher and we’d all go to his church every Sunday,” Maeby said. “I’d been exposed to a little gospel music, but hearing the real thing in that church, I knew that was what I wanted to do as a musician.”

The band’s six members — Maeby, Craig Ferguson, Jesper Kristensen, John Michael Knowles, Nadia Christine Duggin and Ray Wolffe — are a collective with varying beliefs (atheists, devout Christians, New Age seekers) but all are accomplished professionals. Wolffe, significantly, has also performed and recorded with the Promise Keepers vocal choir, and the veteran musician also sparked what proved to be a critical alliance for the band.

“Michael Baker, who produced ‘Eternity,’ has been friends with Ray for years. Michael made his mark with Whitney Houston as her music director and he’s worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin, Dianne Reeves to Annie Lennox,” Maeby said. “He came to see us at a little jazz club and ended up staying all night, even got up and played with us. A while later he contacted us and said he wanted to branch out into producing and wanted to work with us. Well, it doesn’t get any better than that and he even contributed a song that had [been] originally written for Whitney [Houston] that she never had a chance to record.”

Baker was an ideal choice and “Eternity” is an irresistible blend of classic Gospel vocal harmonies enhanced by a twist of New Orleans funk and plenty of high-impact Rhythm & Blues — the elemental triumvirate of American music.

“The album comes out in October, and we’re releasing a single this month, ‘All the People Shout,’ an original song based on the Old Testament story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, which was all about music, of course,” Maeby said. “We can’t wait to get the album out and see where it takes us. We all just want to play more gigs and spread the positive message — because that’s where it’s at for us.”

Maeby enjoyed a long career touring with such distinguished soul-R&B stars as Solomon Burke, Darlene Love, Etta James and Wilson Pickett, but his involvement with gospel is always at the heart of his own creativity.

“I still go to those churches and am lucky enough that I get invited to play at their services also, down in Watts and at the AME churches,” Maeby said. “Sometimes I’ll invite the band to come with me, but it’s got a lion’s den aspect to it, also — you’ve really got to know what you’re doing if you get up on that altar!”

Who: Little Faith

Where: Joe’s Great American Bar & Grill, 4311 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank

When: Sunday, Aug. 23, 8 p.m.

Admission: Free

More info: (818) 729-0805, joesgreatbar.com
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JONNY WHITESIDE is a veteran music journalist based in Burbank and author of “Ramblin’ Rose: the Life & Career of Rose Maddox” and “Cry: the Johnnie Ray Story.”