A Juneteenth album captures the rhythm of lifeExBulletin

Just in time for June 17, Jazz at Lincoln Center released a album entitled “Freedom, Justice and Hope”.

The album is a collaboration between Bryan Stevensons Equal Justice Initiative and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, conducted by Wynton Marsalis. Stevenson provides some introductions and historical context. While the album features music from jazz legends like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, as well as arrangements of spirituals, it also features new compositions from Josh Evans and Endea Owens.

Putting the story of Elaine, Arkansas to music

Evans

Elaine, Arkansas Massacre of 1919

Most of the time when I compose, I like to write about historical events or people I admire the most, Evans explained. The story of the Elaine Massacre is complicated. But simply put, after World War I, cotton prices increased dramatically. It was not uncommon for sharecroppers to owe money to plantation owners after a month of work. In 1919, a man named Robert Hill founded the union. He created the union to obtain fair compensation for sharecroppers.

On September 29, 1919, two white men disrupted a union meeting at a church. One was killed and the other was injured. The next day the story was front page news and soon possessions were being sent. The possies soon began killing people indiscriminately. Even federal troops were sent to the region, but they only made the massacres worse. The exact number of men, women and children killed is not known, but it is between 50 and 250. When I decided to write this composition, I wanted to tell the story of the massacre of the island through music, almost like a soundtrack.

Evans wrote the fourteen-minute article in several sections, illustrating Elaine's story.

The intro is meant to be slow but grand, Evans said. The second section is a swing section, which I wrote for Robert Hill called Robert Hill's Union. The song then dissipates into something that almost feels like the calm before the storm.

And then, suddenly, the march begins. This is supposed to symbolize the disruption of the union meeting. And again there's a sudden change and there's a free section of all the trumpeters. It is supposed to represent the first violence. The next section looks back at the following days when most of the violence took place. With the syncopated rhythms and drum hits, I try to demonstrate and make the listener feel the turmoil and turmoil of those times. This time, the whole group plays freely and without chord changes. This is the height of violence. After this, Dan Nimmer plays a piano solo alone, which is supposed to be slow and sad. After the solo, the whole band comes on stage, which is meant to be healing and a look to the future.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Wynton Marsalis, said Evans, someone who has been one of my favorite trumpeters since I was little. This group is absolutely incredible. And this is the most technically proficient band I've ever heard. I knew I could write anything and they would play it right. So thank you to Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz Orchestra.

A serenade for Ida B. Wells

Endea Owens

Ida B. Wells is someone I found extremely inspiring in my life once I read her autobiography, Crusade for justice, explained Owens. I was so inspired, and in jazz and in society in general, women's stories are often unheard. She is one of our unsung heroes. She is one of the founders of the NAACP. She was one of the leading journalists writing pamphlets, newsletters, and lynching articles regarding everything that was happening in the black community. She also played a very important role in the suffrage movement.

Owens added: “So I had to write an article about her. Someone had to do it.

Jason Nolan from Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as Wynton Marsalis, contacted me about writing a piece, she recalls. They asked me: Have you ever written for a big band or large orchestras? And I said: Yes, but it's been a few years. But I can do it, of course. And it was my first original piece for big band orchestra, so it was a task to make it, but it was something I knew I could do and should do, especially as a composer. It was also a great honor for a black woman to honor another black woman in history.

After Jazz premiered at Lincoln Center, Idas Crusade was later performed at Carnegie Hall and in Chicago.

Idas Crusade is written in four parts, or suites, as Owens calls them.

The first suite begins with an open bass solo, and that means Ida B. Wells' voice is a kind of call for justice, a call to fight for freedom, Owens said. And the orchestra responds with the phrase, and that means people are saying Amen in agreement. This is actually a common thing to do in church. Amen. You know, so I really wanted that to be the first thing people heard.

The second suite is darker; I'm just talking about her early days, the struggles she had to go through, the discrimination, just seeing people lynched over and over again, Owens explained. The third sequel is actually his call for justice, as there was an event that happened at a grocery store where one of his friends was one of three who were lynched by an angry mob.

And Owens said her fourth favorite sequel was coming home, because I feel like all of our civil rights activists and all of our heroes in the community in general, our parents, the people who really raised us even if they are not here, should receive a homecoming and a big homecoming.

Like Josh Evans, Endea Owens was blown away by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, saying she was honored to see them perform her piece, and she added: Wynton brought it even in the short solo. His music is so deep. His thoughts are so deep and they don't always have to be long. You can make a statement in a short time, just like Ida B. Wells. Did you know that she was only 60 years old when she died?