How do spirituals fit into a life filled with jazz? For a generation of jazzmen, they were their first introduction to a love of music. From childhood days in church to grandparents singing favorites on long-ago Sunday mornings, this sacred music inspired their work as jazzmen. Legends of American music--trumpeters Clark Terry and “Sweets" Edison, and bass-baritone William Warfield--perform with the band and share family stories, both heartfelt and humorous, about what the music has meant to them.
In this season of gratitude for the wealth of freedoms we enjoy, we pay tribute to the inventors of spirituals. Spirituals were the folk music of generations of slaves. These songs, born out of misery and sorrow, must have been a source of inspiration--and motivation to keep striving for freedom. Almost four hundred years ago, the first cargo of African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. And slave ships kept arriving on these shores for some 250 years until President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
By the late 1800s, spirituals were widely popular with black and white audiences throughout the country, and could be found in hymnals of almost every denomination. And by the 1950s, grade school children were singing spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in their classrooms.
How do spirituals and hymns fit into a life filled with jazz? For a generation of jazzmen, spirituals were their first introduction to a love of music. From childhood days in church--to grandparents singing favorites on long-ago Sunday mornings, spirituals and hymns inspired their work in jazz.
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In this season of gratitude for the wealth of freedoms we enjoy, we pay tribute to the inventors of spirituals. Spirituals were the folk music of generations of slaves. These songs, born out of misery and sorrow, must have been a source of inspiration--and motivation to keep striving for freedom. Almost four hundred years ago, the first cargo of African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. And slave ships kept arriving on these shores for some 250 years until President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
By the late 1800s, spirituals were widely popular with black and white audiences throughout the country, and could be found in hymnals of almost every denomination. And by the 1950s, grade school children were singing spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in their classrooms.
How do spirituals and hymns fit into a life filled with jazz? For a generation of jazzmen, spirituals were their first introduction to a love of music. From childhood days in church--to grandparents singing favorites on long-ago Sunday mornings, spirituals and hymns inspired their work in jazz.
Continue...
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