Jimmy
Greene's new release, Beautiful Life on Mack Avenue Records, is a celebration
of the life of his 6-year-old daughter, Ana Márquez-Greene, whose life was
tragically taken, along with 19 other children and 6 educators, on December 14,
2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
"I
want the music to reflect the way that Ana lived," Greene says. He
fulfills that mandate with an intense, cohesive, genre-spanning
program-juxtaposing the hardcore instrumental jazz for which he is best known
with traditional spirituals, contemporary Christian music, standard ballads and
three original songs framing his own lyrics. Animating the repertoire is a
gold-standard rhythm section (Renee Rosnes, piano; Christian McBride, bass;
Lewis Nash, drums), augmented at various points by guitarists Pat Metheny and
Jonathan DuBose, Jr.; pianists Kenny Barron and Cyrus Chestnut; vocalists Kurt
Elling, Javier Colon and Latanya Farrell; spoken word from Tony® Award-winning
actress Anika Noni Rose; a 13-piece string ensemble from the Hartford Symphony
Orchestra; as well as an accomplished children's choir.
Greene
himself is one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation since
graduating from Hartt School of Music in 1997. He composed or arranged every
selection and plays tenor and soprano saxophones as well as flute with
customary authority, melodic focus and abiding soulfulness.
"In
the days after my daughter was killed, playing and writing music wasn't even a
thought," the 39-year-old saxophonist says. "I was very much in
shock, grieving deeply and trying to just function coherently. Family and
friends surrounded us and held us up, and we received 10,000
communications-emails, texts, Facebook messages, voice calls, letters-from
people around the world. The community of musicians was front and center for
that support. When I called, they responded, 'Whatever you need, just say the
word, and I'll be there.'"
In late
January 2013, Greene, feeling that "I needed to get back to some sense of
routine," resumed a regimen of practice and composition. Soon thereafter,
Norman Chesky, the co-owner of Chesky Records and HDtracks, reached out with an
extraordinary offer.
"An
intense amount of media attention was focused on my family and all of us in
Newtown, so I was fairly guarded whenever communicating with someone for the
first time," Greene relates. "But Norman offered to donate the
production of a recording that I could do whenever I was ready, and to give me
complete ownership. I was humbled and honored by his generosity, and began to
devote my energies to the project."
Greene
decided to weave lyrics and singers into the flow for the first time on one of
his recordings. "Ana loved to sing and listen to singers, and had a
wonderful singing voice," he explains. "So an album dedicated to her
memory needed to have singers and songs that were important to her and me and
my family."
Beautiful
Life opens with a recording of Ana singing the traditional "Saludos"
("Greetings") at a Christmas celebration (parranda) in Puerto Rico
with her mother Nelba Márquez-Greene's family-and her father playing in the
background-a year before her death. Greene segues to a section in which he and
guitarist Pat Metheny perform "Come Thou Almighty King" before
concluding with another family recording of Ana singing the hymn to her brother
Isaiah's piano accompaniment.
The
wistful "Last Summer," a quartet feature, evokes Greene's impressions
of the photograph of his children-captured from the rear with their arms around
each other's shoulders in the family's backyard in Winnipeg, Canada, where
Greene taught at the University of Manitoba between 2009 and 2012-that appears
on the cover of Beautiful Life.
The
mellow tenor voice of Javier Colon, Greene's one-time classmate at Hartt who
won the 2011 edition of NBC's The Voice, delivers Greene's lyric for "When
I Come Home" supported by the quartet, Greene's signifying tenor saxophone
and the strings.
Greene
initially recorded "Ana's Way" instrumentally as "Ana
Grace" on the 2009 recording Mission Statement. Complementing Grammy®
Award-winner Kurt Elling's characteristically penetrating, graceful
interpretation is the Linden Christian School Early Years Choir, comprising
classmates of Ana and Isaiah in Winnipeg; solos by Greene and Rosnes distill
the oceanic emotions of the lyric. "It was brutal seeing Ana's friends
again, without Ana there amongst them," Greene says. "But we got
through it somehow, and I think the results are very touching."
Iconic
pianist Kenny Barron joins Greene for conversational readings of the Broadway
songs "Where Is Love?" from Oliver and "Maybe" from Annie,
the latter featuring Greene's pure-toned soprano saxophone. "Kenny,
Christian and Lewis were the rhythm section for the 1996 Thelonious Monk
Competition, where I was named first runner-up," Greene recalls.
"They made me feel welcomed and comfortable, that I could do this for my
life, and so I wanted them involved."
"My
daughter loved Annie, and would sing 'Maybe' a cappella with great pitch and
rhythm in the back of the car when we were driving around," Greene
recalls. He includes "Where Is Love" in homage to Jackie McLean, his
primary musical mentor, who showed Greene, then 15, the melody at their first
meeting at Hartford's Artists Collective.
The
penultimate track of Beautiful Life, titled "Prayer," is Greene's
musical setting of the text of the "Lord's Prayer." Cyrus Chestnut
accompanies Greene's devotional tenor saxophone; illuminating the message is
Latanya Farrell (who Greene met while attending Hartt), whose powerful
contralto enchanted Ana as a toddler.
Ana
became a fan of Anika Noni Rose-a high school classmate of Greene's in
Bloomfield, Connecticut-after hearing her inhabit the role of Princess Tiana in
the animated film The Princess and the Frog. Rose's recitation of Greene's
optimistic soliloquy "Little Voices" precedes another appearance by
the Linden Children's Choir.
"Many
people have asked what they can do to help, and this is my answer," Greene
says. "Let's remember what happened at Sandy Hook. We can each hold up our
end of the bargain, which is to somehow learn to love ourselves, and then see
past ourselves and love our neighbor. That's pretty simple, but if we all did
it, I think our existence would be different."
A
portion of the proceeds from Beautiful Life will be donated to the following
charities in Ana's name:
The Ana
Grace Project of Klingberg Family Centers - initiated by Greene's wife Nelba, a
licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, to promote love, community and
connection for every child and family through partnerships with schools, mental
health providers, community organizations and faith leaders.
The
Artists Collective - where generations of children and families in Greater
Hartford have gained access to world-class training in the arts.
A native
of Hartford, CT, saxophonist, composer, and educator Jimmy Greene has emerged as
a positive presence in the jazz world. His 9 solo recordings, released on
various labels including RCA Victor, Sunnyside, and Criss Cross, have been met
with much critical acclaim. In addition to his recordings and appearances as a
leader, Greene appears on over 70 albums as a sideman, and has toured and/or
recorded with Horace Silver, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Harry Connick, Jr.,
Avishai Cohen, Kenny Barron, Lewis Nash, Steve Turre, the New Jazz Composers
Octet and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, among many others.
Greene
is Assistant Professor of Music and Co-Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Western
Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT. Previously, he served as Assistant
Professor of Jazz Saxophone at the University of Manitoba (2009-2012). Greene
was selected to receive the 2013 Governor's Arts Award in Connecticut, as well
as grants and honors as a composer from ASCAP/IAJE (2006), Chamber Music
America (2004), the State of Connecticut (2004) and the City of Hartford
(2009).
