From the Guggenheim to Cross That River

As I write this on a Sunday morning in Harlem, I’m thinking about community. About music. About children. About the stories we carry forward and the responsibility we have to the world a little more open-hearted than we found it.

I’ve also been reflecting on the work I do as part of the Guggenheim Museum Education Committee “Learning Through Arts.” One of the great pleasures of my life has been helping bring children from all five boroughs of New York City into one of the greatest museums in the world to see their artwork hanging proudly on those famous walls. Many of these young people don’t always feel museums are spaces where they belong. Then suddenly there they are, standing tall beside their paintings, surrounded by family, seeing themselves differently. That kind of pride can change a life. Check out “ A Year With Children” at the Guggenheim!

This week, many of us in the jazz world are looking forward to the Jazz Foundation of America Gala on May 21, an evening that shines a light on the musicians who have given their lives to this music and sometimes find themselves in need. I’m proud to support the work they do. Jazz musicians spend their lives lifting spirits, building culture, and creating beauty. Organizations like the Jazz Foundation remind us that we must also lift each other up.

As we slip into summer, Pat and I are beginning preparations for the intense rehearsal schedule for Cross That River, which will be performed four times at the International Black Theatre Festival this summer. It is a tremendous honor to have been selected, and I’m especially excited to share this work with audiences of color and theater professionals who may be encountering the show for the very first time.

Rehearsals for Cross That River won’t begin until July, but the creative work is already well underway. We’re having a new score written, and I’ve been composing new music to deepen the story between our two female characters, played by Elizah Knight and Maya Azucena. One of the scenes follows “Annie” as she leaves Ohio by train, heading toward the Western frontier as a mail order bride. Frightened and uncertain, she travels into a world that could be both full of promise and full of danger. I often think about the courage of the women who risked everything in those days. Childbirth alone could take a life, and cruel men or harsh circumstances could destroy another. The women who survived were strong beyond measure. Annie is one of them.

Cross That River is not your typical Broadway musical. It began as a song cycle. I wanted to tell a story inspired by the people of color I worked beside on my grandfather’s farm and the remarkable skills they had with horses and livestock. History often forgets that nearly 40% of the cowboys of the American West were men of color. Their stories deserve to ride again.

Years ago, when I first moved to New York City, it was because Tony Bennett told me, “That’s where you need to be.” At the time, the jazz world could feel very exclusive. Stepping outside the genre sometimes caused trouble. I remember getting into heated conversations at conferences, arguing that artists should support one another across musical boundaries the way country musicians often do. It seems that now many of those musical boundaries have been crossed and I’m happy to see most musicians embracing America’s many genres of music. As Duke Ellington famously said, “There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind.”

You may be surprised to know that the way I began composing Cross That River is tied to the great Dolly Parton. Some summers ago, while I was in Colorado, I listened to her album Little Sparrow. She had returned to her bluegrass roots, and in the middle of it all she sang a Cole Porter tune that swung harder than I ever expected. That moment opened something in me. Right then and there, I decided to begin writing the songs that would eventually become Cross That River and the story of a young enslaved man named Blue who escapes westward in search of freedom and dignity.

LISTEN HERE:

I hope that some old friends will join us in the audience this summer, and I look forward to making many new friends who will help carry this story forward with pride.

Until then, I wish you all a blessed Sunday. Keep music in your lives. Keep supporting the arts. And I hope to see you somewhere out on the road very soon.

Peace and blessing,

TOUR DATES

June 20 - JUNETEENTH: 250 Years of Black Music, Gettysburg, the Majestic Theatre

June 22 & 23 - Rochester Jazz Festival, NY

June 26-28 - South Jazz Club, Philadelphia

July 3 - 12 - Umbria Jazz Festival, IT

July 17-19 - Birdland Jazz Club, NYC )

July 31 & Aug 1 - Int’l Black Theater Fest., Winston Salem, NC - Cross That River

Sept 5 - Sonoma Jazz Society, CA

Sept 10 - KCSM Radio on Studio 91 - 1:00 PM

Sept 10 - Piedmont Piano, Oakland, CA - 7 PM

Oct 17 - Queens Theater, NY

Dec 12 - Pinecrest Gardens, FL (Nat King Cole XMAS)

Dec 21-27 - Half Note Jazz Club, Athens, Greece, (Nat King Cole XMAS)