Piece Description

When Bob Marley sang Redemption Song with his acoustic guitar, it sounded less like reggae than like a kind of spriritual. It was one of his last songs, and he performed it on his final concert. Rita Marley has said, "There was a feeling of a whole era coming to a climax. Everyone felt he knew something was going to happen." Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander's recent CD, "Rocksteady," closes with an instrumental version of the song that also features guitarist Ernie Ranglin, who played on several of Marley's first hits in Jamaica. In this short feature, Alexander shows how Marley's music of enslavement and liberation is "almost like a hymn." This feature does not duplicate any material heard in Monty Alexander: In his own words. As in all the pieces in David Schulman's CPB-supported Musicians in their own words series, the story is told through a mix of the performer's voice and music. There is no reporter's voice heard, allowing the feature to be seamlessly incorporated into station news, talk, or music programming. Within a magazine show, this feature would work well as a brief coda following a longer feature on topics such as civil rights, the legacy of slavery, gospel music and spirituals, Bob Marley, or current events in Jamaica. Within music programming, this feature could be paired with one of Marley's versions of the song. ("Redemption Song" originally appeared on "Uprising." A live version from Marley's final concert on Sept 23, 1980, is on "Songs of Freedom.") This piece also works well pegged to local performances. Alexander's tour schedule includes: 10/1and 10/2 Smoke Jazz Club, New York 10/29 Gainesville Friends of Jazz Series, Gainesville, FL 11/9 to 11/14 Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York This piece debuts on PRX.