海角大神

Black music traditions such as jazz are central to celebrations of Juneteenth, says civil rights lawyer and jazz pianist Bryan Stevenson.

That鈥檚 why he and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz artist Wynton Marsalis have debuted 鈥淔reedom, Justice and Hope,鈥� a live performance album of historic jazz records created to protest racial injustice, in time for this year鈥檚 celebrations.

Along with a new arrangement of saxophonist John Coltrane鈥檚 鈥淎labama,鈥� which pays homage to the four Black girls killed when the Ku Klux Klan bombed Birmingham鈥檚 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, the project includes original compositions by up-and-coming bassist Endea Owens and trumpeter Josh Evans.

The album, released under Blue Engine Records, features the orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center, where Mr. Marsalis is the artistic and managing director. It is now streaming on digital platforms.

Its release comes ahead of this summer鈥檚 10-year marking of the death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, that set off a wave of Black Lives Matter protests. When 鈥淔reedom, Justice and Hope鈥� was recorded three years ago, in 2021, the nation was reeling from another flashpoint 鈥� the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

鈥淭o take some of the great jazz works of the 20th century and integrate them with the narrative about the long struggle for social justice in this country is just a dream come true,鈥� said Mr. Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a criminal justice reform and racial justice nonprofit based in Montgomery, Alabama.

The history of jazz and musicianship in Black American protest is deeper than many people realize, said Mr. Marsalis, the legendary trumpeter who delivers stirring melodies throughout the album. Mr. Stevenson accompanies on piano and interweaves spoken reflections on disenfranchisement, racial injustice, and the activism that ignited in response.

鈥淛azz, itself, was a counterstatement to minstrelsy,鈥� said Mr. Marsalis, referring to a form of entertainment popularized in the 20th century that included white actors with blackened faces performing racist depictions of African Americans.

鈥淛azz still has that same impact,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople show up, they can play, they鈥檙e serious about what they do. They will discuss issues and be for real about it, and they don鈥檛 feel the need to denigrate themselves.鈥�

Derived from ragtime and blues, cultivated in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, and rising to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, the genre is a crossroads where music meets the march for justice. Some historians even consider jazz singer Billie Holiday鈥檚 1939 rendition of 鈥淪trange Fruit,鈥� an anti-lynching poem by Abel Meeropol, one of the catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement.

鈥淚 think jazz as an art form needs to be understood as a protest against these narratives that Black people are somehow incapable,鈥� Mr. Stevenson said. 鈥淭he extraordinary thing that jazz musicians did was that they took Western music, did things to these art forms that others have been playing for centuries, and added things that dazzled and inspired.鈥�

鈥淭hey did it with a kind of dignity and intentionality of rebutting this false narrative of racial hierarchy,鈥� he said.

It鈥檚 in that spirit that Owens鈥� buoyant 鈥淚da鈥檚 Crusade鈥� chronicles journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett鈥檚 lifelong fight against lynching and wrongful imprisonment. 鈥淓laine,鈥� by Evans, takes inspiration from the 1919 massacre in Arkansas that claimed the lives of several hundred Black Americans.

With Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Stevenson, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs new arrangements of 鈥淗oneysuckle Rose,鈥� originally composed by Fats Waller in 1929; 鈥淲e Shall Overcome,鈥� the Civil Rights Movement refrain from 1947; and 鈥淔reedom Suite,鈥� originally composed by Sonny Rollins in 1958.

Aside from Mr. Stevenson鈥檚 monologues, the songs on 鈥淔reedom, Justice and Hope,鈥� the songs are completely instrumental, with no vocals.

Jazz鈥檚 reliance on instrumental leads has led some to stereotype it as dated, irrelevant, and less connected to social justice than vocally driven rap and hip-hop 鈥� think Public Enemy鈥檚 鈥淔ight the Power,鈥� N.W.A鈥檚 鈥淔(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) Tha Police,鈥� and Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 鈥淎lright.鈥� But musicians, scholars, and activists alike urge listeners to recognize and champion the political messages communicated through the music鈥檚 emotional depth.

鈥淪ometimes there are no words to express the joy and the blues that we feel,鈥� said Reiland Rabaka, the founding director of the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.

鈥淎nd sometimes those trumpets, those saxophones, those guitars, those pianos 鈥� they can say it better than our words can say it,鈥� said Mr. Rabaka, who has written extensively about hip-hop and Black Power, women鈥檚 liberation and civil rights songs.

The improvisational elements of jazz can be traced to the Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas, where slaves shackled to the bottoms of ships invented songs, according to Mr. Rabaka. Improv was also found in the Juba and juke dances common in various parts of the southern United States, including New Orleans鈥� Congo Square, where slave auctions were held.

Improvisation can be likened to the resourcefulness of Black Americans who, using what little they had, forged lives for themselves after gaining freedom from the agricultural environments they were confined to.

For Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Stevenson, the Juneteenth release of an album recorded three years ago is symbolic. June 19th, or Juneteenth, is the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom 鈥� more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had granted it to them.

鈥淓nslaved people learned to love in the midst of sorrow, and that鈥檚 an extraordinary thing to achieve,鈥� Mr. Stevenson said. 鈥淭hat is the part of Juneteenth that I hope we can begin celebrating. Not just emancipation, but this whole legacy. 鈥� I think music plays a central role in that.鈥�

Echoing his collaborator, Mr. Marsalis said he hoped to inspire people to look at the challenges ahead, instead of continuing to fight the old battles.

鈥淚 like Juneteenth, symbolically, because many times people, anywhere they are in the world, don鈥檛 know they鈥檙e free,鈥� he said. 鈥淔rom a national standpoint, the nation needs to view Juneteenth in the context of the national struggles we still have.鈥�

鈥淲e still are fighting that conflict, now on another battlefield. Nobody told people, 鈥楬ey, this was over a long time ago.鈥� Let鈥檚 be present,鈥� Mr. Marsalis said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.