No Cowards in Our Band is a musical drama telling the story of renowned activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) through his own words. With the performance just days before the 2024 Presidential Election, the piece is a striking reminder of the power of the pen, the voice, and the vote.

Based on a libretto by Anthony Knight, Jr. and interwoven with Negro spirituals arranged by GRAMMY-nominated jazz artist Orrin Evans, No Cowards in Our Band stars actor, artist, and TV personality Masud Olufani as Frederick Douglass performing with a trio of opera singers, the “moving and electrifying performer” (Wall Street Journal) Nia Drummond, soprano – who went viral last year for a rendition of Happy Birthday that made Busta Rhymes cry – Metropolitan Opera tenor Edward Washington II, and Opera Ebony and Syracuse Opera’s Gregory Sheppard, bass.

Evans is a fixture on the jazz scene now, and is featured on the cover of Downbeat in November. As a deft tune deconstructor, he traverses a broad timeline of the vocabularies of swinging, blues-infused hardcore jazz and spiritual jazz/avant garde jazz traditions, as well as the Euro-canon, with the intuitive spontaneity of an ear player. He projects an instantly recognizable sound, sometimes eliciting flowing rubato poetry. He records and performs in collaborative projects include the Eubanks Evans Experience (a duo with eminent guitarist Kevin Eubanks); the Brazilian unit Terreno Comum; Evans’ working trio with bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Mark Whitfield, Jr.; Tar Baby (a collective trio of 20 years standing with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits); and the Captain Black Big Band, which just recently released Walk a Mile in My Shoe (Imani Records).

Orrin was just off the red-eye from gigs on the West Coast when I caught up with him by Zoom, and we discussed his very personal involvement with No Cowards in Our Band, as his mother was an opera singer, and his father a playwright. We also dig into Walk a Mile in My Shoe, from which you will hear the Captain Black Big Band take on Bread’s 70’s soft-rock standard “If,” with a wonderful vocal by Paul Jost.

Saturday, November 2nd at 7pm
Concept and Libretto: Anthony Knight, Jr.
Musical Arrangement: Orrin Evans
Director: Michael Hofmann

Masud Olufani as Frederick Douglass

Nia Drummond, soprano
Edward Washingington II, tenor
Gregory Sheppard, bass

Tickets: https://hudsonhall.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FUT000002I0d72AC
Tier 1: Reserved Seating, $45 (plus $5 fee)
Tier 2: General Admission, Mid-Center Section/Side Aisle, Front Mezzanine, $30 (plus $5 fee)
Tier 3: General Admission, Rear and Side Seating, far sides may be partially obstructed, $19 (plus $3 fee)

Tord Gustavsen has gone down many musical paths in his still-blossoming career. Classically trained and educated in musicology, Tord also has a deep knowledge of jazz, which he has seamlessly integrated with the folk and religious music of his upbringing in Oslo. In many ways a quintessential ECM artis (though in our conversation he says he did not think this was originally the case), he has performed and recorded in any number of traditional jazz formats, as well as integrating choirs, singers and world music into his sound.

With Seeing, Tord begins an intricate new chapter in his series of acclaimed trio recordings, initiated in 2003 with Changing Places – an album that is today considered a classic. The new recording with its compact, concentrated song forms features five Gustavsen originals, two chorals after Johann Sebastian Bach, a traditional Norwegian church hymn, plus the 19th century English chorale “Nearer My God, to Thee."Tord, together with long-time ally Jarle Vespestad on drums and Steinar Raknes on double bass digs deep into his unique blend of jazz, blues, gospel, Scandinavian folk and church music on the album. Fans of the deeply moving and meditative music for which Gustavsen has become famous will not be disappointed. Seeing, recorded in fall 2023 at Studios La Buissonne in Southern France, was produced – naturally - by Manfred Eicher.

Podcast 987 is our conversation, as we talk about his trio, the new album, his musical background and influences, and how he approaches improvisation. Musical selections include “Seattle Song,” taken from an improvisational idea he and the trio created as a sound check before a show in the Emerald City, and a stirring version of “Auf Meinen Lieben Gott,” which featuring a stunning bass solo by Steinar Raknes.

I’m always happy to preview jazz festivals across the US on Straight No Chaser. The big ones like Newport or Monterey are always great, and regional festivals like those held in Saratoga or by NJPAC are a blast. But I have a special place in my heart for the cities and towns who present festivals, places like Northampton, MA, or Burlington, VT, Hartford, CT or Portland, Oregon, or in the case, Hudson, NY.

Scheduled in February in years’ past, the 2024 Hudson Jazz Festival marks the festival’s official move to October, offering music lovers the chance to get out and enjoy the festival’s many offerings and the region’s idyllic autumnal landscape. Coinciding with the seasonal change, the festival is taking its events city-wide with the addition of three new festival venues that showcase well-loved Hudson destinations and a free pre-festival Community Dayfeaturing Melanie Charles’ Make Jazz Trill Again: Trill Mega Jam.

There are multiple free events each day, with top-notch ticketed events at historic Hudson Hall each evening. Friday night features Ekep Nkwelle presenting “Ella Fitzgerald - Against All Odds,” an evening of songs associated with the legendary Ella, and bringing attention to her little known incarceration in Hudson, NY as a teenager.

Saturday night’s headliner is trumpeter Riley Mulherkar (formerly of the Westerlies) leading a quartet with Chris Pattishall (piano), Barry Stephenson (bass) and Chris Icasiano (drums). Riley has released his first solo album, the eponymous Riley, and we’ll feature “Ride or Die” from that album. Sunday afternoon wraps up with the Ethan Iverson Trio, with the former Bad Plus pianist joined by Reuben Rogers on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums.

Podcast 986 is my preview of the festival with curator Cat Henry. Ms. Henry has previously curated concerts for MoMA Summergarden: New Music for New York, featuring composers such as Henry Threadgill, Myra Melford and Don Byron, and produced programs for Lincoln Center’s inaugural Poet-in-Residence, Mahogany L. Browne. Henry currently serves as Executive Director of Live Music Society, a foundation supporting grassroots music venues where musicians start their careers, connect with audiences and hone their craft. Previously, she served as Vice President, Concerts and Touring, for Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she managed all performance-related activities under the JALC brand, including concert seasons at Rose Theater and The Appel Room, worldwide touring of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and nightly sets at Dizzy’s Club. She is a fellow of the Executive Program in Arts and Culture Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BFA in Jazz Performance from The New School. Originally from the UK, she lives in Brooklyn with her teenage daughter.