Jubilation VIII - A Cappella Plus

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Spiritual Alchemy

The alchemists had a symbol they used to denote their hermetic vision of the universe and the cycle of life itself?the serpent devouring its own tail, or ouroboros. The roots of any great art form follows a similar path?the deeper they run, the closer they seem to the surface, bringing it full circle.

Like the apocryphal tale of a man who left one day on a trip around the world, only to eventually wind up back where he started, Trevor Payne has taken the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir around the world and back?literally and musically?since their first concerts in 1982. Whether in Africa, Germany, or here in Montreal, the Choir has built their reputation on the solid rock of their innovative a cappella work, so it made sense that when casting about for ideas for Jubilation VIII, their most popular recording, 1992?s A Cappella came to mind.

Yet a funny thing happened on the road home. While selecting music, Payne kept hearing accompaniment?a bassoon would sound nice here, a soprano saxophone there, perhaps an African kora, and why not a New Orleans street band? The palette of instrumental colors, however, only serves to strengthen the sterling vocal prowess of the Choir. The steely refinement of a harpsichord provides an elegiac counterpoint to Zion?s Walls. Great Day?a song that drinks deep from the same well?picks up after church and follows the funeral parade home, with a rollicking New Orleans street band and soloist Millie Tresierra tailgating with aplomb.

There?s some wistful call-and-response work between soprano saxophone and Choir on Mary Had A Baby, while finger snapping and a lithe, deep, sinuous double bass propel the cool rhythm on Elijah Rock. Hail Mary is reminiscent of Aaron Copeland?s recasting of folk idioms, with English horn and bassoon complementing the breathtaking vocal dynamics of the Choir.

The haunting Kwa Unyenyekevu grew out of Payne?s travels in South Africa for the Jubilation VII?Hamba Ekhaya (Goin? Home) release. The song magically transports us to a bustling Kenyan bazaar, with the Choir singing (in Luhyia) a spiritual that sounds like it was taken from an English hymnal, while the gentle metallic hail of kora notes cascade off in the distance as vendors shout their wares and beat their drums.

Beethoven?s famous Pathétique sonata, long an opener to the Choir?s concerts, here provides a fitting coda to this very special recording. A tribute to Payne?s father, it also acknowledges the Choir's success in the classical world. From their work with Klaus König on the brilliant jazz oratorio Song of Songs, to regular concerts with I Musici and Montreal?s Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Choir has been warmly embraced by the classical community, and, on the cusp of their 20th anniversary, they have seen their music rightly regarded as being truly classical.

It can arguably be said that the Negro Spiritual?a joyous music born of suffering, hardship, resilience, and hope?was the prima materia, the blueprint for all popular music. The true goal of the alchemists was not transmutation of base metals into gold, but rather the purification of the soul, something the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir does remarkably well.

Andrew Jones
November 2001