Mark Lomax, II and Edwin Bayard - Ogún Meji Duo: Freedom Suite

More than half a century after Sonny Rollins' civil rights statement Freedom Suite (Riverside, 1958), we have not advanced enough as a species to lay such sentiments to rest. The Ogún Meji Duo—drummer Dr. Mark Lomax, II, II and saxophonist Edwin Bayard—honor Rollins and the suite, with a new and different interpretation of his seminal work. This is the tenth release from the Ohio-based duo and it means to retain the spirit of the original work while bringing new energy to Rollins' relatively unassuming melodies. Lomax and Bayard are dedicated to serving their local community, so despite being master musicians, they have largely flown under the national radar.

The chronological peak of what is formally known as the Civil Rights Movement was playing out in 1958. There were church bombings in Georgia and Alabama, some Southern schools were ordered closed rather than integrated, and lunch counter sit-ins tested Jim Crow. It was a point of no return for Black Americans. Into this reality came Rollins' Freedom Suite. The A-side of the vinyl release was the nineteen- minute suite; the B-side was a considerably more diffident reworking of pop and show tunes. Nevertheless, "Freedom Suite" was the first extended work to address racial inequities in the U.S.

Not surprisingly for that era, Riverside Records pulled the record fearing backlash over the title. It was reissued as Shadow Waltz, the title of one of the B-side pieces. Riverside reversed its decision in 1960. Orrin Keepnews, a part-owner of Riverside, wrote the original liner notes and updated notes with the switch back in titles. In both cases Keepnews either downplayed the notion of the suite as a political statement or—in the second version—included the equivalent of a disclaimer, writing to the effect that the "perception" of racial inequality was Rollins.' Keepnews did allow for a more direct statement from Rollins and incorporated a quote in the liner notes. Rollins wrote, in part: "How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity."

The original composition, an almost twenty-minute continuous work, is extended here to thirty-five minutes and segmented by the Ogún Meji Duo. The distinct melody opening phrases of the suite are familiar and intact in this reworking. But once into "Movement I" the piece takes a deeper tone. Lomax's drumming is more prevailing than that of the Max Roach original, where the flowing rhythm of the drummer and bassist Oscar Pettiford kept Rollins at the forefront. Bayard, playing both tenor and soprano saxophone, adds new textures to the piece. His improvisations are adventurous and bracing.

The Ogún Meji Duo, in renewing Freedom Suite, tells a longstanding story that needs frequent retelling. Lomax and Bayard do so by sharing equal footing in the translation; the drums speak as they were meant to throughout African American history. Bayard's groove adds force to the urgency. The duo opts to fade away at the end of "Movement IV," as if to remind the listener that the story still isn't over.

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