Like Scheherazade, the Angeles Chorale has become a storyteller extraordinaire, devoting its entire 37th season to “Stories Worth Telling.” The season opened last December with the story of Christ when the Chorale presented Handel’s Messiah. Now the renowned choral ensemble will leave the Middle East for the New World, to tell the tale of “The American Experience: Spirituals, Gospel and Jazz.”
“We’ll share the story of American music, tracing its roots from William Billings, who is credited with being the first truly American composer, to folk tune hymns and early American gospel, to spirituals,” reveals the Angeles Chorale’s Artistic Director, John Sutton. “Over time, a kind of musical melding took place between these cultures and genres, however, which led to the development of jazz and the blues.”...
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Like Scheherazade, the Angeles Chorale has become a storyteller extraordinaire, devoting its entire 37th season to “Stories Worth Telling.” The season opened last December with the story of Christ when the Chorale presented Handel’s Messiah. Now the renowned choral ensemble will leave the Middle East for the New World, to tell the tale of “The American Experience: Spirituals, Gospel and Jazz.”
“We’ll share the story of American music, tracing its roots from William Billings, who is credited with being the first truly American composer, to folk tune hymns and early American gospel, to spirituals,” reveals the Angeles Chorale’s Artistic Director, John Sutton. “Over time, a kind of musical melding took place between these cultures and genres, however, which led to the development of jazz and the blues.”
The concert will open with Billings’ Modern Musick, sung a capella by the Chorale as it enters the sanctuary from the back of the church. Also on the program, as the musical journey through history progresses, are such examples of Early American Gospel as Wondrous Love and Hark, I Hear; and spirituals like Ain’t Got Time to Die, Here’s One, City Called Heaven, Battle of Jericho and Lord, I Know I’ve Been Changed. In addition, the Chorale will perform two jazz pieces – Here’s That Rainy Day by Jimmy Van Heusen and Hit Me With a Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce by Duke Ellington. The program will conclude with Gospel Mass by Robert Ray.
“The Gospel Mass takes the traditional structure of the Catholic Mass and infuses it with Black Gospel style,” Sutton explains.
Joining the Chorale for “The American Experience” are soloists Eyvonne Williams-Hines, mezzo-soprano, and Darnell Abraham, baritone.
“They’re out of this world, absolutely amazing,” says Sutton.
Sutton has equally high praise for the jazz ensemble that will accompany the soloists and Angeles Chorale during the jazz portions of the program: pianist Bryan Pezzone; bass player Brandon Shaw; Bryan Taylor, drums; Jim Cox, Hammond B-3 organ; guitarist Gary Lee; and Grammy Award-winning saxophone player, Justo Almario.
“They’re a cookin’ band, man. They’re gonna rock,” Sutton promises. “And wait until you hear how they fly on the Mass. Ray wrote that he wanted everyone to experience the sense of joy and celebration that is generally felt in true African-American worship. I guarantee that, with the Angeles Chorale, you will experience all that and then some!”
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