Maybe it’s the impact of the movie Harriet; maybe it’s all the fine work of artists such as Mavis Staples and Rhiannon Giddens and others who have brought more awareness of old spirituals sung in the fields by slaves, some of which later became rallying songs for the Freedom Rides and the Civil Rights era. Whatever the catalyst, this music seems more present than ever. Pianist Lara Downes delivers these mostly well-known spirituals and freedom songs, some alone on the piano, and others with a diverse cast of guests on Some of These Days.
The mission of the album is stated in these words “All of God’s children gonna sit together, some of these days” – From the African American spiritual “Welcome Table.” Downes says, “The conviction in these words – the hope and faith in them – is why I’m even here at all. I was born because my parents believed them. …They met at a sit-in, my mom and dad, San Francisco, in the late 1960s. He was a Black man from Harlem, and she was a Jewish girl from Akron. They fell in love and got married and had three golden-brown babies, all in the hope and faith that their daughters, and all the children, of all shades of black, brown and beige, would sit together in freedom and fairness—some of these days….This is music that is sweet and rich, and strong with grit, dark with history,” says Lara. “Music that can’t exist without the contradictions that define American history and American life. “
Downes’ magnificent piano graces tunes that originated in camp meetings and plantation fields (like those you heard in the film Harriet) and traveled the Underground Railroad. They are “Steal Away,” “Let My People Go” and “Welcome Table.” And, of course, the long-tenured spirituals such as “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Troubled Water,” “Hold On,” “Deep River” and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” Freedom songs such as “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free,” “Down by the Riverside” and “We Shall Overcome” are here as well. Yes, you’ve heard most of the songs before but not with the elegant, gospel/classical piano that Downes delivers here, whether alone or in esteemed company. This could be one of the year’s most important recordings.
Downes provides voluminous notes on each track. She also includes information about organizations that fight for freedoms, urging you to support them. The voices in the opening “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” are taken from a 1939 Lomax field recording spotlighting the voices of Clifford Reed, Julia Griffin, and Johnny Mae Medlock. “Steal Away” features the voice of Toshi Reagan and Downes mashes it up with Charles Ives’ Sonata No. 2, Concord, MA, imbuing it with modern classical piano.
” Troubled Water” along with “Hold On” and “The Bells” are composed by Margaret Bonds, to whom Downes is indebted to Rhiannon Giddens for pointing her out. The former and latter are done alone at the piano as part of a suite while “Hold On” is performed with Musicality (9 vocalists) and with strings from the PUBLIQuartet. She, of course nods to Nina Simone for “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” performing it alone on the piano and citing the Equal Justice Initiative in the liner notes.
Many of the other traditional songs are performed alone at the piano. The PUBLIQuartet returns for “Deep River.” “All Night, All Day” references singer and activist Bettie Mae Fikes known as “The Voice of Selma.” Downes performs this with vocalist Howard Fishman. “My Lord What a Mornin’” features trumpeter Alphonso Horne while “We Shall Overcome” features the vocals of the Chapin Sisters. “Fantasie Negre 2” and the title track are compositions from Florence Price, whom Downes discovered when looking for hidden women composers of color. “Nobody Know the Trouble I’ve Seen” is rendered as a piano-violin duet with co-producer Adam Abeshouse, and like the rest of the album, is gloriously gorgeous, and deeply spiritual.
Some of this music Lara Downes is playing has been with us for centuries. Her interpretations are so precious, that they should continue to extend for centuries to come. It’s a masterful recording.
