January 16: Sweet Liberty

Palo Alto City Council takes the night off, in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial holiday. To commemorate the holiday, we dip into the spiritual and gospel traditions of African Americans. First, though, a change of pace from Sean's elusive Spy Channel show.


Paul Lansky: Not Just More Idle Chatter			(CD: More Than Idle
							      Chatter)

William Dawson: Good News				(CD: Rejoice, Give
		(Choir of Trinity Church, Princeton)	 Thanks, and Sing!)

Howard University Chorus: Wade in the Water		(CD: The Gospel
							Tradition, Vol. IV).

Aaron Copland (arr.): Shall we gather by the river?	(CD: Rejoice, Give
		(Choir of Trinity Church, Princeton)	 Thanks, and Sing!)

Sit down, servant					(CD: The Gospel
		(Fisk Jubilee Singers)			Tradition, Vol. IV).

Here's a set of music performed by the young trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a star of both jazz and classical worlds.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child		(CD: Portrait of the
							       Artist)
Hummel: Trumpet Concerto				(CD: Sony Classical
								Sampler)
N. Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee		(CD: Portrait of the
							       Artist)

A bit more choral and vocal slant on the tradition, with a modern folk twist by Mary Chapin Carpenter snuck in:

Ride the chariot					(CD: Best of Trinity's
		(Choir of Trinity Church, Princeton)		Choirs)

Fairfield Four: Children, go where I send thee		(CD: Standing in the
							     Safety Zone)
Warren Martin: Great day				(CD: Praise the Lord)
		(Choir of St. Thomas, Fifth Ave.)
Fairfield Four: Swing low, sweet chariot		(CD: Standing in the
							     Safety Zone)
Mary Chapin Carpenter: Jubilee				(CD: Stones in the Road)

Here's a musical tip of the hat to a new show on KZSU, Scores of Scores, hosted by Jenny B. Good. It features classical music as well as scores from film and Broadway.

Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode				(LP: Rock 'n' Roll
							     Rarities)

William Walton: Agincourt Song				(CD: Henry V Suite)
		(Florida Philharmonic Orchestra;
		         William Judd)

A set of music for the organ, with Stanford connections. Kimberly Marshall was formerly on the Stanford faculty in the organ program, and James Welch was a graduate of Stanford. To connect with the "Sweet Liberty" theme, the composer of the "Suite for Organ", Florence Price, was a black woman composer in Arkansas in the earlier part of the 20th century.

Florence Price: Suite for Organ				(CD: Fifteenth to
		(Kimberly Marshall, organ)		 Twentieth Century
							   Organ Music)

Dale Wood (arr.): Let us break bread			(CD: Magnum Opus, vol I)
		(James Welch, organ)

Finally, the Händel oratorio Esther retells the Biblical story of an enslaved people who were saved from genocide by a single courageous woman.

G. F. Händel: Esther					(CD: Esther)
		(Academy of Ancient Music; Hogwood)

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