Wynton Marsalis & JLCO explore freedom, justice and hope in new project

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra leader Wynton Marsalis and civil-rights lawyer and jazz pianist Bryan Stevenson teamed up for “Freedom, Justice and Hope,” a live recording of historic jazz songs created to protest racial injustice.

Released this summer on Blue Light Records, the Jazz at Lincoln Center house label, the project features new arrangements of “Honeysuckle Rose” (1929), composed by Fats Waller; “We Shall Overcome” (traditional); “Freedom Suite” (1958), composed by Sonny Rollins, and “Alabama” (1953), composed by John Coltrane.

(Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra return to Chicago to perform two SCP Jazz concerts on Jan. 24-25 at Orchestra Hall.) 

“Freedom, Justice and Hope” showcases the history of activism and artistic creativity that defined the civil-rights movement. "Art and music have always been essential forces in the pursuit of justice in America,“ said Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery, Alabama. ”When Wynton reached out about doing this project, I believed we could really reinforce the idea that, together, art and music — especially jazz — play a critical role in meaningfully engaging people in the multiple ways that the struggle for racial justice in America must continue.

Premiering music by emerging composers — including Josh Evans’ composition informed by the 1919 Elaine Massacre in Hoop Spur, Phillips County, Arkansas, and Endea Owens’ piece honoring the life and legacy of activist, journalist and sociologist Ida B. Wells — "is precisely the kind of integration of art and justice that makes jazz a force for change. Adding to the recording, works by jazz masters like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, whose compositions confronted racial injustice in their lives, further elevate this unique musical experience.”

Wells, who moved to Chicago in 1892, left a huge imprint on her adopted city, where she campaigned for civil rights, women’s suffrage and other causes. 

“Freedom, Justice and Hope” also features Stevenson, an accomplished pianist, joining the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on “Honeysuckle Rose” and “We Shall Overcome.” Owens (bass) and Evans (trumpet) also perform as guest artists for the project.

The “Freedom, Justice and Hope” concert occurred in 2021 at the height of the modern-day social justice movement and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally performed in front of an empty house and then webcast globally during the COVID pandemic, the event became an album, released in time for Juneteenth 2024.

“Freedom, Justice and Hope” pairs Stevenson’s monologues on race in America with classics like Coltrane’s “Alabama” and the civil-rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” performed by JLCO. “Freedom, Justice and Hope,” said Stevenson, “illuminates how Black jazz artists have been inspired by — and have, in turn, inspired — the struggle for freedom for decades, and it adds an important chapter to the music’s growing legacy of activism.”