The Pulse of Jazz Grounded in Freedom Movements Mother Jones – Mother Jones

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When its said that you can hear the history of freedom movements in John Coltranes 1963 Alabama, its more than metaphor: Coltrane patterned his horn lines after Martin Luther King Jr.s vocal inflections. He reworked Kings speech after the church bombing by the Ku Klux Klan, which killed four Black girls, into the song. Kings cadence is remade in Coltranes rising saxophone solo, Elvin Jones crashing cymbals and percussive shots, McCoy Tyners rolling block chords, and Jimmy Garrisons low-register groundswell. This is music thats purposeful, principled, and timeless.

And its especially relevant now.Coltranes Alabama of 1963 is an America of 2020, and powerful music:

Its far from the only entry in a necessary realm of politically engaged expression. Ive been returning to a few recordings that, beyond their musical greatness, address this countrys open wounds and long history of racism directly. There are many songs for moments like thisit is never not a moment like thiswhen you dont want to read between lines; you want to, or need to, or should hear chants grow and voices rise.

There is Dred Scott, the riveting first track on 10 Freedom Summers, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smiths 2013 recording. The summers he chose are those between 1954s Brown v. Board of Education and 1964s Civil Rights Act, and each track points to a civil rights theme or event. The music is elegiac, mournful, and mountainous, summiting the heights in sound that this country hasnt in society. Which might sound like an overly tight frame for the entire jazz canon, but this music hits multiple registers. Smith grew up less than 30 miles away from where Emmett Till was murdered, in Mississippi, in 1955, and sees the signposts. Give it a listen.

Next: Smith again, here with the phenomenally talented, historically informed, and mesmerizing Vijay Iyer. The pianista MacArthur grant winnerhas Amiri Barakas consciousness in his mind and spiritual veins, and Cecil Taylors stature and clout to his name, but Iyer is a force unto himself. Smith and Iyer are joined by bassist Reggie Workman, tabla player Nitin Mitta, and vibraphonist Patricia Brennan:

As a bonus, catch the heavier, sharper thunder of Iyer with saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, a recording Ive been spinning, and spinning, and spinning, as the days blur:

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The Pulse of Jazz Grounded in Freedom Movements Mother Jones - Mother Jones