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Lift Every Voice
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Lift Every Voice
Current price: $22.99
Barnes and Noble
Lift Every Voice
Current price: $22.99
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As
prepared to kick off a gig at New York's
club the night of Tuesday September 11, 2001, some murderous terrorists had some other plans for that morning a bit further south. The gig thus didn't begin until that Friday, and the wheels in
's mind kept on rolling through the aftermath, resulting in this double-CD album. Going his own way, he drew from public-domain
,
songs, protest
songs, and
and mixed them with his own compositions and
, assembling and reining in top-notch musicians like pianist
, guitarist
, bassists
and
, and drummer
. The result is one of the most unusual and deeply spiritual recordings in
's always-unusual career, one that says more with fewer means. The leadoff track itself is an ear-opener,
's
which opens the gates with an Indian flavor, with its arco bass drone on a single chord and sitar-like articulation from
. It's a miraculously subtle yet compelling way to grab your attention, like the introduction to a
, thoughtfully sustained over 15 minutes. Somehow, the rest of the 130-minute album manages to maintain and develop the rapt atmosphere, reaching its central pivot of emotion three tracks into the second disc with the
quartet-like treatment of
As is often the case in a
performance, the tenor saxophonist is tempted to go to the outside, but usually in a gentle way, his head now in a thoughtful fog.
stays largely with the tune except toward the close, matching the haunted, dazed mood of the original.
is appropriately represented by
;
's own
finds him on flute. Even
the over-exposed staple of every other
or
revival, sounds fresh, devout, and genuine. Each disc concludes with something meaningful:
mourns alone and soulfully on
at disc one's close and one more lengthy
, followed by an up-tempo release,
ends disc two. Let responses like this from the
world be the real legacy of the aftermath of 9/11. ~ Richard S. Ginell