That recording turned out so well that Brickey suggested they add two other vocalists and a rhythm section to delve further into the jazz-gospel convergence. At their first rehearsal, in 2008, the seven members clicked perfectly\u2014and decided to form a permanent group. Brickey has been Come Sunday\u2019s musical visionary, says Allemana: \u201cHe introduced me to all the gospel artists, he brought the music to me, and he also trusted me totally so I was able to write whatever I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brickey, who has an avid interest in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, was struck by how some of the songs on “Crosscurrents”\u2014\u201cKeep Your Hand on the Plow\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m on My Way to Canaan Land,\u201d in particular\u2014had been adapted during the freedom struggles of the 1960s to lift spirits during demonstrations and the mass jailings that often followed. \u201cThe singing was powerful, and it gave unity to the people,\u201d he says. Come Sunday\u2019s next recording project will expand on these themes and focus on old gospel tunes that became Civil Rights-era anthems.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotional integrity is the common thread that brings all these musics together,\u201d Brickey states. \u201cIn music inspired by gospel, the musicians rely on genuine emotions to help them convey meaning vocally and instrumentally. It is the essential characteristic of \u2018emotional integrity\u2019 that gave birth to blues, jazz, r&b, and finally rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. We owe an entire culture of musical diversity to African gospel music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Purchase the actual Crosscurrents CD for a love one. Yes, in fact, that loved one many be yourself!<\/p>\n
The Chicago septet Come Sunday<\/a> melds jazz form and gospel tradition on their striking debut CD “Crosscurrents,” due for release May 3. Taking their name and inspiration from Duke Ellington\u2019s groundbreaking 1958 collaboration with gospel queen Mahalia Jackson, Come Sunday reinterprets time-honored spirituals and gospel classics\u2014plus one Stevie Wonder tune and, of course, Ellington\u2019s \u201cCome Sunday\u201d\u2014in musically innovative, emotionally uplifting ways. The arrangements, by the group\u2019s guitarist Mike Allemana<\/a>, brim with melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic surprise.<\/p>\n \u201c[T]hey smartly balance gospel sentiment and the jazz impulse to refresh (and sometimes entirely remake) these familiar spirituals,\u201d critic Neil Tesser wrote about Come Sunday in the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to love folk music or gospel to appreciate what Allemana has done here, transforming songs from those sources into swinging and memorable renditions; more often than not, they recall the \u2018soul jazz\u2019 of the 60s, crossed with the cool, rich harmonies of contemporaneous groups like the Swingle Singers and the Double Six of Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n