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Multi-Grammy nominee John Daversa brings us a deeply personal, emotionally stirring and timely project that gives voice to young undocumented people known as ‘Dreamers,” children who were brought to America through no fault of their own and raised with American culture and values. There are 53 Dreamers featured on this recording, representing 17 states and 17 birth countries. There are spoken intros from nine Dreamers, telling their heart-wrenching stories in narrative or poetry before the musical track ensues. Some of these will leave you in tears. The music sometimes stretches boundaries as a few selections move into a kind o Charles Mingus Bid Band territory but mostly they are patriotic, hopeful, and uplifting.
Daversa is a trumpet and electronic valve instrument (EVI) master as well as a composer, arranger, and bandleader. He’s also the Chair of the Studio Music and Jazz Department at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. As a father and educator, he has deep connections to young people and respects his ancestral roots, with blue collar grandparents who immigrated from Italy. The decision of this Administration’s decision to rescind the DACA policy, struck a nerve. “I wanted to provide an opportunity for Dreamers to share their stories through music,” says Daversa. He continues, “You don’t need polemics or a bullhorn to make yourself heard. The young people I worked with are just amazing, and I want this project to reach a wide audience, so that others could be touched, as I have, by their abundant courage and hope.”
Daversa and his production team, led by Kabir Sehgal and Doug Davis, worked with several non-profit immigrant organizations, scouring the country to find Dreamers who could play musical instruments and would be willing to participate in the project. Daversa and the team also selected professional musicians based in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York to serve as the big band on this record. Given Daversa’s propensity for intricate, complex arrangements, this was challenging. There’s a combination of well-known songs like “Living in America” and lesser-known ones like the emotionally riveting “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).” Dreamer musical contributions range from violin, flute, piano, percussion, as well as lead vocals, choruses, and one arousing rap.
The first Dreamer, Salvador, comes from a story in the New York Times. Salvador is a clarinetist majoring in music at Indiana University who tells his story and then leads into “Living in America.” Salvador joined the big band and plays on all tracks. The piece concludes with Afro-Caribbean groove with the Dreamers singing “I live in America” in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Urdu as Julie from Los Angeles riffs in Korean. Saba, pianist and singer, speaks five languages and is a PhD candidate in mathematical biology at Texas Tech University. In a nod to a tune that the Japanese sang to their American captors from internment camps during WWII, Saba, a pianist and singer, leads the band into “Don’t Fence Me in.” In keeping with the historical use of the tune, the Dreamers sing in Japanese “Don’t take away our dreams.” The tune builds cacophonously toward the end with the band churning at full throttle.
Caliph came here from Senegal at age seven, earned a University scholarship but couldn’t attend because of his immigration status. His rapping on “Immigrant Song” get increasingly more poignant. That sets the stage for Daisy who speaks about coming to this country with her family at age nine to seek medical help for her sister. This is as an emotional rendering of “Deportee” as has ever been done in any genre. And, to round out these unfortunate stories, Denzel, a trombonist, relates that he wanted to join the U.S. armed services because of his immigration status before launching into “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Juan Carlos is from Mexico who came here at age eight. He’s a self-taught organist who brings us into “America the Beautiful.” Alicia is from Venezuela talks about how drumming is her escape from the burdens of immigration anxieties. She introduces “America” from West Side Story, an all percussion track. Maria, who plays flute, joyously introduces the original “All Is One,” an album standout featuring an EVI solo from Daversa. Edson is a poet who came from Mexico at age eight. His spoken word poem is one of the most gripping pieces that leads into “Red, White, and Remixed,” a creation of Dreamer James, who mashed together several album tracks to convey unity in America.
Jazz has long been music of protest and freedom of expression. The dichotomy of the touching stories and the enthusiastic musical pieces is startling and in its own way invigorating. This is one of, if not the most, important musical statements across several genres this year aimed at bringing unity and healing divisiveness.
