Looking back on the most divisive moment in American history
(no matter how much the current day seems ready to claim that title),
saxophonist Brian McCarthy finds the roots of jazz in Civil War-era songs and
spirit. On his new album, The Better Angels Of Our Nature, McCarthy pairs
insightful new arrangements of vintage wartime folk songs with vibrant new
compositions for his skilled Nonet to explore the clashing inspirations and
enduring influence of the war that turned brother against brother in a battle
over the soul of America.
Due out June 13 via Truth Revolution Recording Collective,
The Better Angels Of Our Nature takes its title from the immortal words of
Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address. The speech, addressed in large part
to the citizens of the Southern states, was offered in a spirit of
reconciliation and hope for reunification with the seceded Confederacy.
McCarthy's music locates the better angels at the heart of music representing
the North, the South, and the African-American slaves who weren't considered
full citizens but whose fate hung in the balance of the brutal conflict.
A self-professed Civil War history buff, McCarthy found the
era an ideal subject for the large-scale project that grew out of a Vermont
Arts Council Creation Grant. The war has long served as the starting point for
the Jazz History class that McCarthy teaches at Johnson State College, as
"a time before jazz existed, but a time that was crucial to its existence."
As he explains, "Jazz came from the African-American experience here in
America. Out of the darkness of terrible slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow
came this really beautiful art form.
McCarthy designed the music of The Better Angels Of Our Nature
for his nine-piece ensemble, largely composed of longtime collaborators dating
from his days at William Paterson University, many of them fellow alumni of
legendary trumpeter Clark Terry's band. Pianist Justin Kauflin (whose
relationship with the late CT was documented in the moving documentary Keep On
Keepin' On), tenor saxophonist Stantawn Kendrick and trombonist Cameron
MacManus all spent time under the jazz icon's wing, a shared experience that
McCarthy says left them all with "a deep appreciation for history. It was
awe-inspiring just to play with him, but there were times when we'd just be
hanging out and hearing stories about Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis
and Pops. I realized that he was living jazz history."
The band also features trumpeter Bill Mobley, one of
McCarthy's teachers and compositional mentors at WPU, along with baritone
saxophonist Andrew Gutauskas, one of McCarthy's earliest friends and
collaborators at the school. Saxophonist Daniel Ian Smith is a professor at
McCarthy's wife's alma mater, Berklee College of Music, while drummer Zach
Harmon is a recent transplant to McCarthy's native Vermont who suggested
bassist Matt Aronoff as an ideal rhythm section partner.
Many of the compositions on The Better Angels Of Our Nature
date from the Civil War era, in transcendent new arrangements that discover
richly emotional harmonies in music from a most disharmonious time. The album
begins with Harry McCarthy's "The Bonnie Blue Flag," a song adapted
from a traditional Irish tune to tout the Southern cause. The saxophonist (no
relation) undergirds the piece's brisk, patriotic swagger with a darker
undercurrent evoking the "oppressive foundation of the Confederacy."
Julia Ward Howe's familiar "Battle Hymn of the Old
Republic," built on the melody of the Union's marching song, "John
Brown's Body," couples the optimistic spirit of the Northern cause with a
tinge of mournfulness, hinting at the profound loss entailed by the years-long
struggle. Equally well-known to modern ears, "I Wish I Was In Dixie's
Land" was most likely originally penned as a parodic minstrel song before
being co-opted as a Southern anthem. McCarthy's raucous rendition returns the
song to its African-American roots with blues and gospel accents and a ferocity
inspired by the audacious rebelliousness of Frederick Douglass.
The spiritual "Oh Freedom" becomes a lush chorale
for the horn section, while "Weeping, Sad and Lonely" is given an
elegiac treatment better suited to Charles Sawyer's autumnal lyrics than Henry
Tucker's upbeat original setting. Bonus track "All Quiet Along the Potomac
To-night" sticks close to John Hill Hewitt's 1863 setting of Ethel Lynn
Beers' poem recounting the First Battle of Bull Run. One crucial fact turned up
by McCarthy's research was that George Frederick Root's "Battle Cry of
Freedom" was equally important, with slightly altered lyrics, to soldiers
on both sides of the conflict. While both original versions were sung to the
same tune, McCarthy heightens the divide by splitting his arrangement in half,
each reflecting an opposing take on the source.
McCarthy's original compositions try to imagine the mood and
atmosphere of the period when these songs were written. "Shiloh" is a
gorgeously aching ballad highlighted by the composer's yearning soprano, while
the title track is a musical interpretation of Lincoln's first inaugural
address in three sections: the driving, no-nonsense opening section, "The
Lawyer," captures the President's most rational arguments for the Union;
the chaotic "The President" depicts the burdens of leading a nation
divided; while the tender "The Person" is a portrait of Lincoln the
humanist, whose rhetoric soared to embrace the better angels of an embattled
public's natures.
Since graduating from William Paterson University, Brian
McCarthy has played a key role in the jazz community of his native Vermont,
where he lives just outside of Burlington. He released his acclaimed leader
debut, This Just In, in 2013, and plays regularly with his own ensembles and
alongside trumpeter Ray Vega. He is a member of the faculty at the University
of Vermont, teaches at Johnson State College and is director of bands at Saint
Michael's College.
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