Lift Every Voice! Honoring The African American Musical Legacy (US)

Early in 2009, Carnegie Hall presented a series of concerts under the banner "Honor! A Celebration of the African-American Cultural Legacy," curated by the opera diva Jessye Norman. Taking into account that representing the entire spectrum of black music would be impossible, the shows focused on a number of genres and performers most closely associated with African-American artists. To tie in with the event, the esteemed venue teamed with Sony Classical to produce this two-disc compendium of music taking into account the history of jazz, soul, blues, etc. To avoid the sonic juxtapositions that would result from random sequencing, the song choices are fairly safe (there is no rap, or even rock & roll on the set, for example, despite the pioneering work of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino, to name a few, likely because those artists never performed at Carnegie Hall), and grouped to make for relatively smooth transitions -- Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" is followed by Ella Fitzgerald's "A Tisket-A Tasket" and then Johnny Mathis' "99 Miles from L.A.," hardly causing a jolt. The operatic world is offered via Norman, Leontyne Price and Marian Anderson, jazz by Dizzy Gillespie Miles Davis, and Nancy Wilson, and R&B by Aretha Franklin and Luther Vandross. It's far from definitive, but it doesn't pretend to be. It's also quite listenable, despite the obvious omissions. ~ Jeff Tamarkin