The Karrin Allyson Sextet releases Shoulder to Shoulder:
Centennial Tribute to Women’s Suffrage, a very special and timely album, to
celebrate the centennial of women’s voting rights. The album will be available
physically on November 29 via Entertainment One and is available now digitally
at all digital service providers. In addition to five-time GRAMMY®
Award-nominee Karrin Allyson, the sextet also features trumpeter Ingrid Jensen,
alto saxophonist Mindi Abair, pianist Helen Sung, bassist Endea Owens, and
drummer Allison Miller.
Shoulder to Shoulder seeks to re-create the multi-decade
debate – warts and all – that culminated in the enactment of the nineteenth
amendment. “We want to highlight this significant movement in American history.
One that we shouldn’t forget and that is relevant today,” said Allyson. “It’s
also one in which music played an important role.” A remarkable artist, Allyson
is also an activist who feels equally comfortable on the bandstand as she does
at the podium making the case for women’s rights. In fact, she has a history of
writing songs (“Big Discount,” “Way Down Below”) that challenge conventional
political wisdom and call for societal change.
Most of these songs are propaganda. They were composed in
the nineteenth or early twentieth century to advance or abridge women’s voting
rights. In fact, the “suffrage” repertoire is made up of hundreds of songs, and
Allyson and the production team selected ones that typified the back-and-forth
debate of the struggle. That these songs can be re-imagined speaks not only to
their timeless quality but the power of music in advancing social movements.
The “war” over women’s rights was waged, in part, through and by music. And
here these songs are made relevant again through modern jazz.
Because of the theme’s inclusive import, Allyson and the
production team invited several notable guests to “lend their voices” to the
debate. Adding copious artists can risk turning any project from a cohesive
musical statement to a gathering place. Alas, Allyson’s powerful and profound
vocals provide the through line and beginning-to-end narrative arc of the
entire production. This album is very much a story. And Allyson is its
storyteller, with each guest thoughtfully featured to dramatize historical
episodes in the women’s suffrage movement.
Shoulder to Shoulder has an incredible array of featured
artists. Guest appearances by Madeleine Peyroux (vocals), Kurt Elling (vocals),
Regina Carter (violin), Denise Donatelli (vocals), Veronica Swift (vocals),
Rapsody (rap), Antonia Bennett (vocals), Emily Estefan (vocals), Pauline Jean
(vocals), Olivia Culpo (cello) and a Choir of over forty Women's Rights
Activists. There are several spoken word performances that re-create the debate
over woman’s suffrage: Harry Belafonte performs a speech by Frederick Douglass,
Rosanne Cash performs a speech by Susan B. Anthony, Julie Swidler performs a
speech by Alice Paul, Lalah Hathaway performs a speech by Sojourner Truth, and
Peter Eldridge performs a speech by Elihu Root. There is even a brief
appearance by Roberta Flack on the album. Susan Morrison of The New Yorker
serves as an Executive Producer of the project, which was produced by
multi-GRAMMY® Award-winners Kabir Sehgal, John Daversa, and Doug Davis.
Next year, 2020, isn’t just a presidential election year.
It’s the 100-year anniversary of the nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
which became law on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth
state to approve the measure. It took some seventy years (and arguably more) to
ink this clause into law. And it had immediate and enormous effects on the
electorate as some 26 million women could vote in the 1920 presidential
election, which swelled to over 74 million who voted in the 2016 election. And
while the enactment of this amendment was cause for celebration one hundred
years ago, it also exacerbated societal fissures, as African American women and
other minorities weren’t able to fully participate in elections. This is a
tension that is explored in the liner notes, which emphasize the importance of
African American suffragists such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Mary Ann
Shadd Cary to the broader movement. The musical repertoire also conveys the
injustices borne by minorities. For example, Sojourner Truth’s prescient and
powerful speech makes a plea to treat everyone fairly.
While Americans take stock of the distance we have traveled,
let’s also look ahead to that which still needs improvement. Such is the
challenge of our times, to make sure that everyone can join the chorus for
freedom, liberty, and dignity for all.
Track Listing:
01. "Preamble"
02. "The March of the Women"
03. "The Great Convention" (featuring Madeleine
Peyroux, Denise Donatelli)
04. "Susan B. Anthony (1873)" read by Rosanne Cash
05. "I’ll Be No Submissive Wife"
06. "Frederick Douglass (1888)" read by Harry
Belafonte
07. "Anti Suffrage Rose" (featuring Veronica
Swift)
08. "She’s Good Enough To Be Your Baby’s Mother"
09. "Elihu Root (1894)" read by Peter Eldridge
10. "Columbia’s Daughters"
11. "Sojourner Truth (1851)" read by Lalah
Hathaway
12. "The Promised Land" (feat. Pauline Jean,
Antonia Bennett, Emily Estefan, Kate Reid)
13. "Winning the Vote" (featuring Kurt Elling)
14. "Alice Paul (1921)" read by Julie Swidler
15. "Way Down Below" (featuring Regina Carter)
16. "Big Discount" (featuring Rapsody)
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