“There are only three things that America will be remembered for 2000 years from now,” the cultural critic Gerald Early once declared. “The Constitution, jazz music, and baseball. These are the three most beautiful things this culture’s ever created.”
Whatever you make of Early’s cultural trifecta — and just for the record, he was born in the same city that birthed our Constitution, and he grew up a Phillies fan — you have to admit that jazz is a distinctly American art form, and probably the best possible soundtrack to any Fourth of July. This Independence Day, WRTI has got you covered. Tune in to 90.1 FM in the Philadelphia area, or stream us at wrti.org or the WRTI app, and you’ll hear Greg Bryant, Ms. Blue and Bobbi Booker play songs of celebration and freedom, from artists across the style spectrum.
We’ll hear “America the Beautiful” in a sprightly version by the bassist Ray Brown, and also in a luminous orchestration by another bassist, Charlie Haden, with Brad Mehldau on piano. In a similar spirit of anthemic rumination, we’ll also hear pianist Keith Jarrett in a solo piece from The Carnegie Hall Concert, which he titled “The Good America.”
Liberation music also plays an important role in our observance of Independence Day. So listen for the “Freedom Sound,” by The Crusaders; “The Emancipation Celebration,” from Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige; and “Brotherhood of Man,” by the Oscar Peterson Trio with Clark Terry as a featured guest on trumpet.
In a similar spirit, “Freedom Day,” from Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln’s historic We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, will segue into “Freedom Dance, by the modern guitarist Lionel Loueke, followed by “You’ve Got to Have Freedom,” by Pharoah Sanders.
And if you’re spending your holiday hovering over a grill, don’t worry — you’ve got company on the air at WRTI. Tune in to hear an inspired mini-set, from Vincent Herring and Something Else playing “Mean Greens” to Jack MacDuff’s “Hot Barbeque” to Lee Morgan’s “Cornbread.”
We hope that you have a wonderful Fourth — and that we get to spend some of it with you! Here’s to some good listening this Independence Day.