Sunday, September 27, 2020

Ancestral Resurrection Ensemble "Rescuing Agape"

 


(2010) In the 60s as the Black Arts Movement was at its richest, Dr. C. Siddha Webber was an active muralist alongside Bill Walker, and the omnivorous artist also played music as part of the activities at the Wall of respect. He was a key figure in the long lasting Universal Alley Jazz Jam in South Shore, and ten years ago he released this criminally obscure magnificent meditation on the state of the world. With the brilliant saxophone of Jimmy Ellis playing against Weber's wise words chanted with authority and beauty, this mellow-yet-intense cycle balances straight ahead jazz, avant garde explorations, and Last Poets- era spoken word poetry. I am not a poet and cannot describe this as well as I'd want to, but if circumstances allow you to spend an hour with this masterpiece, please do. Dr. Weber joined the ancestors in 2016, but his 50+ murals made a lot of impact on the communities they enriched (some still exist, and he was restoring his best works until his passing). If there is more of his music recorded and available I do not know of it, so this wonderful, hard to find artifact is an actual treasure for which it is worth the treasure hunting.

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