The Promise is a 2003 album by Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...

. Released on Maurice White

Maurice White

Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...

's label Kalimba Records the album was their first of new material in six years. The album reached number 5 on the Top Independent Album Chart and number 19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart. It also featured collaborations with Angie Stone

Angie Stone

Angie Stone is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She has been nominated for three Grammy Award. She is more successful on the charts R&B charts, with four Top 10 albums, forms including a number one album and 10 singles on the R&B chart,...

, The Emotions

The Emotions

The Emotions are an American all female soul and R&B singing group. The group was formed in its current hometown of Chicago, Illinois originally consisting of the three Hutchinson sisters, all the children of Joseph and Lillian Hutchinson....

, Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright is an American jazz saxophonist.Albright has sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone. His self-produced music features him on bass guitar, keyboards, flutes, drum programming, and background vocals.- Biography :...

 and Paulinho Da Costa

Paulinho Da Costa

Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...

. The album's cover art was designed by Morito Suzuki. The track "All About Love" is a different song and not a remake of their 1975 song of the same name from their album That's the Way of the World

That's the Way of the World

-1999 reissue:-Covers and samples:"Reasons", the album's breakout love ballad, has been covered by Stanley Turrentine, Ramsey Lewis, Maxi Priest and other artists. "Reasons" has also been sampled by Master P on Intro/17...

.

The album cut produced by Tim & Bob

Tim & Bob

Tim & Bob aka Funktwons, are Grammy Award-winning songwriting musicians and a Hip-hop/R&B pop production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene as it is widely known for today...

 Hold Me was Grammy nominated for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.

On February 24, 2009 The Promise was re-released on Kalimba Music.

Reception

Allmusic in its review of the album declared that "a certain everence needs to be paid toward a group that can manage to still produce interesting, soulful music well into a third decade" and that the album is "extremely soulful and soothing", while People called The Promise "musically rich".

Trivia

"Where Do We Go From Here" and "Dirty" were originally recorded during the I Am

I Am (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

I Am is the ninth studio album by the R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire, released in 1979 on Columbia Records. The album features the singles "Boogie Wonderland" with The Emotions and "After the Love Has Gone". Also recorded in the I Am sessions were "September" and "Love Music" which were both included...

sessions and remixed for this album. "Dirty", in particular, in its original form with blues legend Junior Wells

Junior Wells

Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...

, already appeared on the 1992 collection The Eternal Dance

The Eternal Dance

The Eternal Dance is a compilation album of American R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire released on September 8, 1992 by Columbia/Legacy.- Track listing : *previously unreleased **portions previously unreleased ***additional unreleased intro...

.

Track listing

Japan bonus tracks

Performers

• Maurice White
  Maurice White
  Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...
  
   - Vocals, Background Vocals, Kalimba, Producer, Executive Producer, Horn Arrangements, Vocal Producer
• Tim Kelley - Mixer, Arranger, Producer, Keyboards, Drum Programming
• Bob Robinson - Arranger, Producer, Piano, Guitar
• Verdine White
  Verdine White
  Verdine White is the bassist for Earth, Wind & Fire and the younger brother of fellow band member Maurice White. White is known for his high energy and dancing while playing his bass guitar during Earth, Wind & Fire concerts.-Early life:...
  
   - Bass
• Philip Bailey
  Philip Bailey
  Philip Irvin Bailey is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter, percussionist and actor, best known as one of the longtime members of Earth, Wind & Fire. Together with Verdine White, B. David Whitworth, and Ralph Johnson he forms the heart of the current EWF line-up on...
  
   - Vocals, Background Vocals, Executive Producer
• Ralph Johnson - Percussion, Background Vocals, Producer, Drum Programming
• B. David Whitworth - Background Vocals
• Tom Mgrdichian - Keyboards, String Arrangements
• Sir Alexander Dutkewych - Guitar, Harp, "Dirty"
• John Paris - Drums
• Greg "G-Mo" Moore - Guitar
• Robert Brookins - Keyboards, Producer, Drum Programming
• Daniel de los Reyes - Percussion
• Gary Bias - Flute, Saxophone
• Reggie Young - Trombone
• Ray Brown - Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Horn Arrangements, Soloist
• Darrell Crooks - Guitar
• Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...
  
   - Percussion
• Gary Grant - Trumpet
• Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....
  
   - Trumpet, Horn Arrangements
• Sheila Hutchinson - Background Vocals
• Tollak Ollestad - Harmonica
• Wayne Linsey - Keyboards
• Raymond Crossley - Keyboards
• Gregory Curtis - Keyboards, Background Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Drum Programming
• Andy Martin - Trombone
• Howard McCrary - Background Vocals
• Michael "Patches" Stewart - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
• Wanda Vaughn - Vocals, Background Vocals
• Wayne Vaughn - Drums, Keyboards, Background Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Horn Arrangements, Vocal Producer
• Eric Walls - Guitar

Production

• Myron McKinley - Rhythm Arrangements
• Dave Dolimar - Engineer
• Preston Glass - Producer, Keyboard Programming
• Steve Hall - Mastering
• Andy Haller - Engineer
• Cameron Marcarelli - Engineer, Drum Programming, Assistant Engineer
• Wallace Mercer - Engineer
• Richard Salvato - Production Coordination
• Dexter Simmons - Mixing
• Ben Wright - Horn Arrangements
• Morito Suzuki - Cover Design

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2003	The Billboard 200	89
	Top Independent Albums	5
	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	19

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2003	"All in the Way"	Adult Contemporary	25
		Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	77