Although this CD reissue by Louis Armstrong is promoted as a jazz release, the jazz content of the music within this compilation of religious songs is rather minimal. The corny Sy Oliver arrangements and the dreadful backing choir repeatedly prove to be very distracting; the few times that Armstrong and his band are able to cut loose, they are almost always still stuck with the annoying choir in the background. Armstrong's vocals are frequently amusing, especially "Shadrack" and "Jonah and the Whale." The original 1958 sessions are augmented by earlier religious songs from studio dates in 1938 and 1950, including earlier versions of "Shadrack" and "Jonah and the Whale." Armstrong's brutal narrative parodies of con man preachers (predating Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and similar pastors who seem to focus on money and power in spite of their rather blatantly public sins) in "Elder Eatmore's Sermon on Throwing Stones" and "Elder Eatmore's Sermon on Generosity" were inspired by his disgust with Rev. Adam Clayton Powell's excessive moralizing during the funeral of his friend and former employer Joe Oliver. Although these two tracks contain no jazz, they are the most memorable numbers on the CD. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide