LAMC Presents: Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers

Program Notes

by Albert J. McNeil Spirituals First references to Black religious folksongs began to appear in the early 19th century. Musicologists agree that the name "spiritual" came into common usage in the 1860s. It seems that by that time the spiritual repertoire was quite extensive. These songs - being folksongs - are impossible to trace or pinpoint in their original form. The music was adapted to the taste of both those who sang it and those who listened. Consciously (or unconsciously) one could (a) improvise upon a song that was already in existence, (b) combine material from several songs, or (c) compose a song using entirely new materials. Some early examples display a devout interest in Christianity and prophetic characters. Among those early titles were Sabbath Has No End; Roll Jordan, Roll; Dis is de Trouble of de World; Jesus on de Waterside; Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen; and Joshua fit de Battle. These compositions were the result of the great conversion of the slaves during a sixty-year period from the beginning of the 19th century to the Emancipation. Our repertory consists of traditional call-and-response-style compositions such as Walk Together Children, John the Revelator and other more contemporary forms. We sing in the traditional a cappella concert arrangements made famous by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, circa 1869- 1875. This little group of Jubilee Singers from Fisk Universiry in Nashville, Tennessee - seven men and four women - carried their songs to Queen Victoria at the Court of St. James in 1870. It was there that the world first learned of the Negro spiritual. Richard Jackson's original spiritual Crossin' Ovah is an example of the influence of another composer of spirituals, Hall Johnson (1888-1970). Mr. Jackson boasts an extensive personal collection of the works of Johnson, a master of the spiritual genre. Gospel Music To Black people, the White gospel hymns belonged to the same class as the standard Protestant hymns. The spirituals, jubilees {a jubilant setting of the spiritual), and "church songs" were products of their own creativity. Differences began to appear between White and Black gospel music in the 1930s, particularly in Chicago. Its "storefront" churches produced the most celebrated of the pioneering writers and singers. Included on the program are four original gospels. The first, Worthy to Be Praised, was written by the Jubilee Singers' accompanist, Byron Smith. This particular treatment represents a contemporary approach including chromatic harmonies and an a cappella section. Jubilee Singers Dianne and Michael Wright composed Reach Out and Touch Somebody which contains pop and rhythm and blues elements. The other, entitled Praise Him, is a more ballad-like with interesting rhythmic and unison passages. Soloists in each of the four selections (including Try Jesus by the young contemporary composer Robert Ray) use their improvisatory skills to full advantage. African Music One of the most striking features of traditional African life is the importance given to music and dance. For every activity in the life of the individual or the community, there is an appropriate music. It is an integral part of life from the hour of birth to beyond the grave. Included in our repertory are two African songs - one of which is the amusing Ghanaian Tateleo or Who'll Buy My Pancakes? as arranged by Jester Hairston, and the second Umngoma, performed in the Zulu language by a female ensemble and arranged by Caiphus Semanya and Larry Farrow. Oscar Hammerstein II and the making of Carmen Jones One balmy night in 1934, the celebrated lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II - already the toast of Broadway for the lyrics to The Desert Song, and the classic Showboat - attended a concert performance of Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl. No one involved in the production - or in the audience for that matter - had any inkling that this evening would change the course of opera in English, but change it, it did. Eight years later, Hammersrein, during a particular low in his career (he had gone II years without a hit), recalled the "perfect wedding story and music" that was Carmen. Hammerstein was fascinated by Carmen, and, while on his Pennsylvania farm, began to update it and in the process created Carmen Jones. He was eager to learn why the open air performance of this tale of Spanish gypsies - without benefit of costumes and in French - had remained so incredibly moving. While changing Carmen, Hammerstein necessarily relocated the scene from gypsy Spain to Black South Carolina. Hammerstein's attention to detail was as skillful and precise as ever, even to the names that he gave the characters. Translating Escamilla to Husky Miller and José to Joe are jewels of precise simplicity. By adding "Jones" to Carmen, he gave an everyday touch to the unusual and distinguished the whole work from the original. Up until that time, the most memorable attempt at Black musical theatre aimed at Broadway audiences had been Gershwin's 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, a work which had politically divided the Black community. When showman Billy Rose undertook to produce Carmen Jones, he believed that it would be a future success rather than a quick, easy profit. Rose set about to hold auditions and after three months had not seen one useable actor. John Hammond, Jr., one of New York's jazz and blues aficionados offered to act, unpaid, as a talent scout. After nurturing Black musicians for years, Hammond claimed that Carmen Jones was the "greatest chance the Negroes had ever had." Having at last found some dancers and musicians, Rose and Hammond were desperately stuck for leading operatic singers. The opera companies at this time were not integrated, and training for Black singers was practically non-existent. In a letter to Rose published in the New York Times just before the show's re-appearance on the Broadway stage, Hammerstein wrote: "Carmen Jones is an illustration of the great musical and dramatic talent to be found among the colored people of the United States." Dangerous though it was, Hammerstein had beaten the opera companies at their own game, and shamed them into providing better translations. He had also provided a mainstream Broadway success with an all-Black cast (Porgy and Bess had not been successful at its first production). Undoubtedly controversial, Carmen Jones was dismissed by some as a "bizarre stunt" but praised by many for breaking the taboos of opera in English and opera for a Black cast and audience. To the many who remained unconvinced, Hammerstein addressed the introduction: "Bizet's score is the best musical expression of a story that I know. Setting words to it was an exciting experience . . .if there has been desecration, charge it not to literary vandalism but to my bad taste and ignorance. Within the limits of my taste and knowledge, I sincerely believe Carmen Jones to be an effective and interesting musical play. I'm glad I wrote it." The Music of Edward "Duke" Ellington With virtually no formal training other than piano lessons, Duke Ellington was perhaps one of the greatest jazz innovators of all time. His experimentation with large jazz bands, inclusion of "new" instrumental combinations, collaboration with his side men in collective improvisation, and his work with Billy Strayhorn have all contributed to his international reputation. He left more than 2,000 compositions - an impressive record equaled by few composers in the history of American music. Best-known of the hundreds of songs he wrote are Sophisticated Lady. Mood Indigo, I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good, and I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.