Let Freedom Ring!

Accessible, post-bop jazz with spoken word in a Ken Nordine-like bass voice (Ben Okri). This is a jazz suite devoted to Martin Luther King’s famous speech and vision. Tracks are long and expansive, with Baptiste going for a “jazz symphony” kind of sound.

1- Gently swaying feel. Deep and breezy. Includes a cool violin solo (-7:30)

2- Brash New Orleans feel: Trumpet solo, then jumping and joyous midtempo. Poetry near the end calls black people to draw power from the limitations handed down by society: “embrace our marginalization … for [it] can well be the key to some of the most beautiful energies.” Uplifting.

3- Mid/fast, nicely complex theme. Then a spacey poetry break and a free blowout with some wicked soloing by Baptiste.

4- Joyous “grand conclusion” with a choir singing “free at last.” Gets a bit cheesy, admittedly, but has a nice rolling, dusky, post-bop backdrop.