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Anthem for the Elders
Kenny Rittenhouse
Label: Kaela Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 60:00
Views: 348
Tracks
1. Good Evening, Mr. Brown 2. Shaft vs Super Fly 3. Geechee Land 4. Tamir 5. Assata 6. Baltimore 7. Tamir’s Joy 8. Anthem for the Elders 9. Back In The Day
Personnel
Album Description
The band weaves together stories of community, revolution, and remembrance, celebrating the vitality, struggle, and spirit of the Black experience.
The music pays tribute to the elders who paved the way and the cultural traditions that have shaped generations. It’s a journey through heritage, hope, and transformation, told through the expressive language of modern jazz.
These are some of the most swingin' musicians I know, and it’s truly an honor to play with them and have them interpret my music exactly as I hear it. True professionals, every one of them.
Good Evening Mr. Brown
This straight-ahead swingin' original is a nod to Omrao Brown, the D.C. club owner and producer who hosted our first CD release party at Bohemian Caverns, and who created a true home for this city’s music and musicians. His room, his vision, and his generosity helped launch so many of our journeys, including mine, and this piece carries that warmth, swing, and sense of welcome that he offered every night.
Shaft vs Super Fly
Inspired by the film characters Shaft and Super Fly, this tune imagines them not as rivals but as different faces of the same Black heroic struggle. The three different grooves portray Shaft, then Super Fly, then both together in a spirit of brotherhood, a funky, 1970s vibe that takes you back in time.
Geechee Land!
I have been fascinated and in awe of the Gullah Geechee people of the Sea Islands for many years! This piece honors their African‑rooted traditions and unbroken connection to the land, and their ongoing fight to keep their homes, culture, and shoreline from development and displacement.
Anthem for the Elders
A salute to elders lost in recent years—Ellis Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Wallace Roney, Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders—and local musicians like Howard “Kingfish” Franklin, Delores King, and Carl Grubbs, whose impact in our region runs just as deep. This in tribute to so many of the people who built this music, taught us the language, and showed us how to carry ourselves on and off the bandstand.
Tamir
When Tamir Rice, a 12‑year‑old African American boy, was killed by police while playing in a Cleveland park, it affected me deeply. I thought about my own five‑year‑old son at the time and the world he would have to navigate as a Black boy in this country.
Assata
“Assata” is my tribute to the Black women who have stood on the front lines of our struggle and revolution, carrying our people’s fight for justice, equality, and self-determination. This is not a polite blues!
Baltimore
This is a tribute to my mentor and dear friend, trumpeter Tom Williams, who passed away in 2023. Tom was a complete musician — a deeply swinging trumpeter, composer, educator, and bandleader on the Baltimore scene whose favorite cat was Kenny Dorham! Every solo Tom played paid tribute to KD, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. No one sounded like him, and I doubt anyone ever will.
Back in the Day
A song about reminiscing on the old neighborhood and friends, this piece reflects on the cultural traditions that helped shape our community and define who we are as a people.
Album uploaded by Kenny Rittenhouse
