|
 I was asked after making this album
why I wanted to record spirituals on the piano, a
musical form that is usually sung, and also why I
"dressed them up" in a formal way.
First, although it is true that the
spiritual is essentially a vocal form, I don't think
the wealth of beauty of this music should be limited
to vocal expression, All music can be enriched by
what is best about the particular medium in which it
is being performed (for example, the Maurice Ravel
orchestration of Moussorgsky's PICTURES AT AN
EXHIBITION, Leopold Stokowski's orchestral
transcriptions of Bach's organ works), Therefore, I
tried to interpret these Negro spirituals on the
piano in a way that would enable the instrument to
bring additional beauty out of them, rather than by
merely substituting a keyboard for the human voice
and imitating it.
Secondly, I hope I haven't "dressed
them up" too much, I feel it is certainly in keeping
with the importance of the spiritual in American
culture to expand the form that exists as a seed in
the Negro spiritual Musicologists all over the world
recognize that the Negro spiritual is by far the
greatest art form to come out of this country.
(By the way, I am not saying anything against what
we call "jazz"; I am only thinking in terms of a
counterpart to the European-Asian culture of longer
and larger forms, in which case the seed of American
culture will have to be found in that kind of music
which most adequately expresses the fervor of the
land and the people indigenous to the land, This can
be found only in the Negro spiritual.)
I found that these spirituals had a
great impact on me, particularly in the light of
current events, and I began to realize that
generally not too much is understood about the Negro
spiritual. Many people, for instance, will hear the
word "heaven" used in the spiritual and associate it
with the Christian concept of Heaven, But I have
seen sources where religion had nothing to do with
the word-heaven sometimes refers to Africa (though
there are definite places in spiritual lyrics where
they are speaking of Heaven and God and Jesus).
The basic fact about the Negro
spiritual is that it is a medium of expression that
transcends all the horrors on earth, all the pain
the Negro suffered in this country. And the beauty
of it was, this could never be taken away from him;
the spiritual was an area of privacy that could
never be invaded.
Spirituals are not sung at religious
meetings. That is a misnomer. People confuse the
gospel song with the spiritual. Religion is
one thing and the spiritual is something else; the
gospel song also attempts to transcend earthly
torment, but through the medium of religion.
For example, the opening band,
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD, is one of
the most melancholy and beautiful expressions of
loneliness and the sense of being " lost" that I
know, whereas the fourth band, WERE YOU THERE (WHEN
THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD), though it expresses the
same depth of misery, does so in a religious
context, almost by identification with the suffering
of Jesus on the cross.
NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN is
a classic spiritual. In it we find the heart of all
the spirituals, expressed in the simplest and most
direct way.
SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT is one of
the best-known Negro spirituals. The word "home" in
the line "comin' for to carry me home" might well
refer to Africa in the same way that " heaven"
sometimes represents the homeland to an uprooted
people.
The philosophy behind MY LORD, IT'S
SO HIGH is rather interesting. I don't think
Confucius or Socrates ever put forth a more solid
idea for men to follow in understanding truth or the
idea of doing honestly what must be done
(since we deem these two of the greater virtues in
our society). And these ideas are not, of course,
limited to any particular ethnic group - this is one
of those universal things that is best expressed,
perhaps, in a religious song. The lyrics say "My
Lord, it's so high you can't get over it, so low you
can't get under it, so wide you can't get around it,
you must come in at the door./I Now, this suggests
moral truth, keeping the individual straight about
what he thinks he wants to do. We have a tendency to
try to outdo ourselves but moral law always catches
up with us in the end.
TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD is not a
spiritual because it has a composer, but it is known
by every Negro in this country and belongs in this
album. It is almost a religious hymn, and a very
beautiful one.
GO DOWN, MOSES certainly is an
expression of hope the Negro has felt for centuries
and is applicable in our own time: "let my people
go." The Biblical references in this spiritual
and in JOSHUA FIT THE BATTLE OF JERICHO point up the
close kinship that exists between oppressed peoples
of all backgrounds, in this case Negro and Jew.
One of my particular favorites among
all the spirituals is WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING
IN, which I played on a series of concerts in 1961
and 1962. I tried to point up the original meaning
of the song by playing it in this style. Not that I
want to criticize the treatment usually given it by
Dixieland groups and the Swing bands in earlier
eras. But examine the lyrics: "Oh Lord I want to be
in that number when the saints go marching in."
This is a fairly direct expression of the desire for
"oneness," of the need to " belong."
GOD BE WITH YOU and IT'S ME STANDING
IN THE NEED OF PRAYER are both religiously oriented,
the one used at the close of religious services and
the other an expression of humility, an admission of
human guilt and unworthiness.
LET US BREAK BREAD TOGETHER is a
prayer that is not necessarily limited to an ethnic
or national group. This is an expression of the
democratic concept of living, of people doing things
together. It is universal and dramatic because it
came out of a people who had no purpose other than
that of expressing truth and beauty born of
suffering and oppression. The artistic impact that
has kept it alive is its truthfulness and
simplicity.
I don't know who composed the music
and lyrics to these beautiful spirituals-nobody
does. These are traditional
things that have been handed down from one group to
another, just a matter of people getting together
and singing of the private things that are not
talked about-the pain of oppression, the longing for
freedom, the dependence on God. I have tried here to
present them in a different and interesting way
without changing their basic and universal meaning. |
