The draw was three-fold. First, it was one of the few high-profile tributes to Dr. King. Second, it featured an important and obscure work by a literary giant, Langston Hughes. Finally, music performed by Chicago Sinfonietta would form the performances core. Reconnecting with their sound would be exciting.
They all converged to create something unexpected, new, intensely strong and mesmerizingly beautiful musically. The multi-media jazz and symphonic masterpiece by Laura Karpman carries the name of Hughes’ little known opus of a poem, Ask Your Mama. It won two Grammy Awards following its 2009 performance at Carnegie Hall. And on its Symphony Center debut, the production made for a very crowded stage. With three featured vocalists and two readers sharing the stage with the musicians and the conductor, the scene was more extravagant bounty than congestion.
Karpman, a highly successful contemporary composer who fluently incorporates technology into her compositions, declares she was “bowled over” when she initially stumbled on Hughes’ poem. An avid devotee to many forms of music, Hughes had recently attended the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 before writing the poem. Music became an important parallel language running through his mind when he penned the work and it spilled out onto the work’s pages.
Her own eclectic introduction to a wide range of music expressions as a child immediately allowed her to bond with the poem. German lieders sit elbow to elbow with jazz, Spanish influenced material and hip hop. It’s a stew tailor made for richness.
Broken up into three parts, the 2 ½ hour program dazzled from the outset. The Sinfonietta’s sound is clean, precise and lush. Performing the music Karpman wrote to accompany Hughes text; the orchestra sailed from light and beautiful to brash and bold at lightning speed. Mei-Ann Chen, the orchestra’s music director and conductor, was flawless in her governance over both the orchestra and the singers. The sense was one of watching an exquisitely constructed machine operating at top performance.
Ask Your Mama as Hughes penned it was a response to white America. Pointed humor is a hallmark of his work and Ask Your Mama eloquently follows suit. Awareness, indignation and race pride fueled him creatively. When asked silly, inane questions that are so inappropriate or ludicrous to deserve a answer, a common response that can still be heard in the black community is, “Ask your mama.” Hughes makes it politically and socially relevant.
Much of the text was sung and the cast of voices assembled for that job was staggering in its excellence. The Carnegie Hall performance featured Jessie Norman. Three different New Yorkers were brought in for Chicago’s performance. Each has a unique pedigree and a voice that not only marvels on its own; but melds gorgeously with others.
Primarily known for her acting abilities, De’Adre Aziza’s vocal focus lies in jazz and soul. Because of her ability to “go low”, she jokes people call her the lady baritone. When she sings, she wants people to feel something. She wants to connect.
The scale of Ask Your Mama is epic. To carry off such a program so peerlessly is a bonanza for the audience. Each performer astounded with the beauty of her voice and the skill in which she molded it to the needs of the piece. Janai Brugger, a gifted soprano and native Chicagoan, was essential to the evening’s success. As was Nnenna Freelon whose distinguished career has accumulated six Grammy nominations for her jazz vocals.
Chicago Sinfonietta does something wonderful every year to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday. As they’ll tell you in an instant, the orchestra existence is the result of a change meeting in an airport between King and the orchestra’s founder, Paul Williams. The bald joy and clear sincerity in current conductor Chen’s voice when she recounts the story is stunning and may be one reason the orchestra is thriving so well under her leadership
