The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Commentary) Javon Jackson

• 1Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel (Commentary)05:03
• 2Wade in the Water (Commentary)08:37
• 3Night Song (Commentary)08:59
• 4Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (Commentary)07:43
• 5Mary Had a Baby, Yes Lord (Commentary)06:57
• 6Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (Commentary)07:24
• 7I've Been Buked (Commentary)06:10
• 8Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Commentary)05:58
• 9Lord, I Want to Be a Christian (Commentary)06:04
• 10I Opened My Mouth to the Lord (Commentary)06:16
• Total Runtime01:09:11

Info for The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Commentary)

Why would one of poetry’s most revered voices want to curate a jazz saxophonist’s album of gospel hymns and spirituals? “These songs are so important,” says Nikki Giovanni, one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 “Living Legends” and a Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2017. “They comforted people through times of slavery, and during recent years we needed them to comfort us again. But a lot of the students today do not know about the history of these songs, and they should. So I’m out here putting water on the flowers, because they need a drink.”

Giovanni’s historic collaboration with saxophonist-composer and former Jazz Messenger Javon Jackson has yielded The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni, available February 18, 2022 on his Solid Jackson label. “The spirituals have been around so long,” says the renowned poet, activist and educator, who came to prominence in the 1960s and ’70s as a foundational member of the Black Arts movement following the publication of such early works as 1968’s book of poetry Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgment and 1970’s Re:Creation. “Some spirituals have been updated and stayed around and some have been lost over time,” Giovanni notes “So for me, it’s just helping to keep something going. And I do it because there’s a need.”

Jackson brings his bold-toned, Trane-inspired tenor lines to bear on a series of hymns, spirituals and gospel numbers hand-picked by Giovanni, who was also the first person to receive the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award. And the 78-year-old poet makes a rare vocal appearance on the tender ballad “Night Song,” singing a song identified with her close friend, the late civil rights activist and High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone. “Nina was a friend of mine, and I knew that one of her favorite songs was ‘Night Song’,” she explains. “And even though I’m not a singer, I told Javon I wanted to sing it because I just wanted Nina to be remembered.” Jackson, who flew to Nikki’s home in Roanoke, Virginia, to record her vocal track on the existing instrumental tracks, says, “I sat beside her when she sang it and by the time she finished that chorus, I was deeply moved. I just love the fragile nature of the way she treated it. It was very emotional.”

Joined by an outstanding crew comprised of pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist David Williams and drummer McClenty Hunter — the same lineup that appeared on Jackson’s 2018 album For You and his 2020 follow-up, Deja Vu — Jackson interprets gospel staples like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Wade in the Water,” “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” with authoritative tenor tones, deep walking bass lines and an organic sense of group swing. “It’s the first time I worked in a collaborative manner,” Jackson says. “The project is personal for me. I come from a lineage of devout Christians, and that has afforded me the chance to connect with that ancestral stream.”

The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni came about through a serendipitous meeting between the two principals when Jackson, a faculty member of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford and director of its Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, invited Giovanni to speak to his students there. As he recalls, “Ever since I’ve been at the University of Hartford, I felt that the school would be well-served to bring great scholars of color and scholars who were freedom fighters and activists, if you will. So I brought in Dr. Cornel West, Sonia Sanchez, Angela Davis and Michael Eric Dyson. Then in February of 2020, I brought Nikki Giovanni.”

The renowned poet’s appearance at the University coincided with her receiving an honorary doctorate there. And as Jackson recalls, “After Nikki spoke to the students, she noticed that the Hank Jones and Charlie Haden CD of hymns and spirituals (1994’s Steal Away) was playing in the auditorium. She said she loved it and wanted to hear more, and just then I was hit with the idea. Two days later, after she returned to her home in Roanoke, I contacted her and said, ‘Would you be willing to pick 10 hymns? And that’ll be my next recording.’ She got back to me in a few days and gave me the 10 selections.”

The collection opens with the driving shuffle “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” a spiritual recorded by Paul Robeson in 1937. Jackson delivers the melody in straightforward fashion with golden tenor tones before Manasia “goes to church” on his piano solo. The minor-key “Wade in the Water” is lifted by a mid-tempo swing feel, paced by Williams’ deep walking basslines and Hunter’s steady, syncopated ride-cymbal pulse. After Jackson delivers a robust tenor solo and Manasia follows suit with an earthy piano solo, Christina Greer enters, dropping some wisdom from Giovanni’s poem “A Very Simple Wish.” As Jackson explains, “For this, I reached out to Markeysha Davis, an assistant professor of Africana studies and literature at the University of Hartford. She is really a fan and knows Nikki's work far better than I do. Nikki’s got 50 years’ worth of poetry, so I didn’t know where to begin. But I sent Markeysha John Coltrane’s ‘Spiritual’ to give her an idea of what we were trying to do, and she came back with that poem.”

The quartet’s rendition of the dirge-like “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” carries the somber feeling of Coltrane’s “Equinox,” while their interpretation of “Mary Had a Baby, Yes Lord” recalls Trane’s powerful civil-rights era requiem, “Alabama.” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” one of Giovanni’s favorites from her own Baptist church upbringing, is rendered at a loping beat, conveying a distinctive Southern gospel feel. “A lot of times when I’ve heard this song in church, it's a little faster, a little more upbeat,” Jackson says. “I wanted to make it slower, where I could really expose the melody a lot more and lay on some of those phrases—so I could be as emotive as possible with the melody, as if I was playing in church with people in the audience.”

“I’ve Been ’Buked,” a spiritual sung by Mahalia Jackson in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, where Dr. Martin Luther King also delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, opens with some dramatic unaccompanied arco bass work by Williams before the full band enters with Jackson conveying the melody simply and deliberately. “In a perfect world, I would love to have had David bowing with Paul Robeson singing that melody,” says the leader. “The bow is so beautiful because, to me, it’s close to the human voice in a way.”

Jackson and company render the normally somber “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” as a buoyant calypso. In fact, you can hear the saxophonist directly quoting from Sonny Rollins’ most famous calypso, “St. Thomas,” midway through the song. Bassist Williams, being from Trinidad, is uniquely qualified to provide the requisite bounce on this ebullient calypso rendition of this well-known African American spiritual. “Doing that song this way is a reminder that the departure or the transition doesn’t have to be one of sadness,” says Jackson. “We don’t want it to be where the person or persons listening to the CD become downtrodden. We want it to be celebratory. It’s like what Art Blakey always used to tell us: ‘You cry when they come in, and you rejoice when they go out.’ I never forgot that.”

The most intimate piece of the collection is the gentle hymn “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian,” performed as a rubato duet between Jackson’s tenor sax and Manasia’s piano. The quartet closes on a rousing note with a swinging “I Opened My Mouth to the Lord,” which again features Williams’ deeply resonant bass carrying the melody and Jackson in strong ‘speechifying’ mode on tenor sax. Manasia also turns in an exhilarating piano solo here, and even drummer Hunter gets a solo taste near the end of this triumphant closer.

Captured live at Telefunken Studios in South Windsor, Connecticut, the 10 tunes on The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni were all done without the use of headphones, another first for Jackson. “I’ve never done a recording before in a studio where I didn’t use headphones, so it felt like performing a gig,” he says. “We never counted off a piece and there were no endings, where I might dictate or give a direction towards an ending. I really wanted to do it just like if you’re in church, where there’s a preacher talking and all of a sudden the choir begins. So each time, whether the bass would start the tune or the piano or myself, there were no count-offs because I wanted to make it as natural as possible.”

“This music is something that people will probably be a little surprised to see coming from me,” Jackson says. But given the state of the world, it could be just in time. Both poet and saxophonist stand on the shoulders of their ancestors on The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.

Javon Jackson, tenor saxophone

Javon Jackson
came into international prominence touring and recording with the legendary drummer Art Blakey as a member of his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Symbolizing a new generation of musicians that blended tradition with neo-jazz, Jackson went on to release 19 recordings as a band leader and tour and record over 135 CDs with jazz greats including Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden, Betty Carter, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Richard Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller, JoAnne Brackeen, Stanley Turrentine, and Ben E. King.

In 1992 Jackson made his recording debut with Me and Mr. Jones, featuring James Williams, Christian McBride and master drummer and NEA Jazz Master Elvin Jones. Jackson also recorded six projects for Blue Note Records featuring collaborations with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Kenny Garrett, Jacky Terrason, John Medeski and Vernon Reid. Among his later recordings for Palmetto Records, Javon explored funk-based jazz, incorporating the sounds of Fred Wesley, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lenny White, Mark Whitfield and others. Javon’s current musical group, The Javon Jackson Band, blends many styles including jazz, funk, R&B and rock.

In 2012, Jackson released two self-produced recordings, Lucky 13 and Javon Jackson and WE FOUR, Celebrating John Coltrane. These CDs marked his return to acoustic jazz. For Lucky 13, Javon covers music by Stevie Wonder as well as newly composed original material and is joined by a special guest, Les McCann, for three selections. Javon Jackson and WE FOUR, Celebrating John Coltrane, is a tribute to the iconic saxophonist, composer and bandleader. The release is highlighted by an appearance by NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Cobb, drummer for both Coltrane and Miles Davis.

In live performances, The Javon Jackson Band is joined by special guest Les McCann, the iconic soul jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. Known as one of the godfathers of soul jazz, Les is recognized as a founding force for the genre known as funky jazz established in the mid 1960’s.

In 2010, Javon was commissioned by the Syracuse International Film Festival to compose a full-length score for the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lodger, a silent movie based on the hunt for Jack the Ripper. The original score had its debut at the festival, performed live by Jackson at the film's screening on October 2010.

In 2012, Javon was the recipient of the prestigious Benny Golson Award from Howard University in Washington, DC, for recognition of legendary excellence in jazz.

In addition to his performance schedule, Javon Jackson is a highly sought after jazz educator, conducting clinics and lectures at universities throughout the United States and abroad. He served as Assistant Professor of Jazz at Long Island University (NY)1996-1998, and in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (NY) 1999-2007. In 2013, Javon accepted the position of Director of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford.

Also, Javon currently serves as a Chair of Jazz for the National YoungArts Foundation. He is also a member of JEN (Jazz Education Network) and lends support as JENerations Jazz Festival Artist and Clinician Coordinator. Jackson has a Bachelor in Music from the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) and a Master of Music from State University of New York College at Purchase.

Nikki Giovanni
was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni on June 7, 1943, the second child of Yolande and Jones Giovanni. A few months after her birth, the family left their Knoxville, Tennessee home to move to Cincinnati, Ohio. Giovanni didn't write much as a child, but like many, she spent time doing chores to earn money. "I earned my allowance by washing dishes," she says, "and in the summer I earned my allowance by working in daddy's garden. I'm not good in the garden; I once pulled up all the peppers -- I thought they were weeds."

When she was fourteen, Giovanni returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents, where she had spent nearly every summer beforehand. She attended Austin High School and graduated early to attend historically black Fisk University in Nashville. After a particularly rough year, including the death of her grandfather and some rebellious behavior at college, Giovanni was dismissed from Fisk University. She returned to Cincinnati, working at Walgreens and taking occasional classes at the University of Cincinnati. In 1964, she reentered Fisk University and immediately became involved with the growing civil rights movement. She reestablished the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee at Fisk and edited a student literary journal. Her political and artistic involvement in the Civil Rights Movement earned Giovanni her reputation as a fiery young woman and outspoken Black Rights poet.

Nikki Giovanni: Blues for All the ChangesGiovanni graduated Fisk in 1967 with a Ford Foundation fellowship to attend University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Work. The same year, she attended the Detroit Conference of Unity and Art and organized the first Cincinnati Black Arts Festival. She moved on to New York City and received a grant to attend Columbia University's School of Fine Arts, where she continued writing about volatile times. Just after attending the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she published her collection of civil rights poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk. The Harlem Council of Arts funded the publication of a third section, and Black Judgement was added to the collection.

On August 31, 1969, Giovanni gave birth to her son, Thomas Watson Giovanni. At the time there were very few single mothers, and Giovanni remembers the reaction. "They…said I was setting a bad example…. It was none of their business. I'm not a role model, and I've had big arguments with people about that. I just try to live my life and be a decent human being." She says that Thomas, who is now twenty-nine, made her look more closely at the "needs and interests of children." Since then, she has written six books for children, including the recent favorite, The Geni in the Jar.

After serving two teaching positions at Queens College and Rutgers University, Giovanni started NikTom, Ltd, a communications company, and edited an anthology of poetry by African-American women. Her writing was immensely popular, especially her spoken-word albums. Decades before the emergence of hip-hop and rap into popular culture, Giovanni was recording her poems with gospel choirs and other music. In 1972, Truth won NARTA's (National Association of Radio and Television Announcers) Award for Best Spoken Word Album.

Giovanni's career continued throughout the next three decades as she published volume after volume of her poetry and toured the country giving lectures. She has been given the Life Membership and Scroll by the National Council of Negro Women, named an honorary commissioner for the President's Commission on the International Year of the Child, and awarded with seven honorary doctorates. Awards and titles decorate her biographies, but Giovanni insists, "I was not that adventurous in life…I'd be the one standing in the corner writing down everything that happened."

Although her writing has admittedly softened since the years of her militant fight for civil rights, Giovanni does not shy away from conflict. In 1984, she was teaching English at The Ohio State University while receiving bomb and death threats for her opposition to the artist boycott of South Africa. Political organization TransAfrica blacklisted her, but Giovanni's career lived on; she toured Europe on a speaking tour the year after.

Giovanni currently teaches at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is a voice for all types of Americans -- she has been labeled an Appalachian writer and a Southern writer; she is a female poet and an African-American poet, a mother, a teacher, and a cancer survivor. Her early years as an activist gave voice to the pain and anger of an oppressed race, while her recent writing works through the emotions of our time and culture. "You only have so much time," she says. "There are things you stand up for because it's right. That's not a battle that you're losing. You're just adding your body and your best wishes to a fight that has to be won."

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