Hannibal Lokumbe: Dear Mrs. Parks

Hannibal Lokumbe (Artist, Composer), Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Artist, Orchestra), Rackham Symphony Choir (Artist), Brazeal Dennard Chorale (Artist), Thomas Wilkins (Artist, Conductor), Suzanne Mallare Acton (Artist), Augustus O. Hill (Artist), Janice Chandler-Eteme (Artist), Jevetta Steele (Artist), Kevin Deas (Artist), Taylor Gardner (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Thomas Wilkins
• Composer: Hannibal Lokumbe
• Audio CD (December 15, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: NAXOS AMERICAN
• ASIN: B002QXI2OU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,905 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker, December 6, 2009

...Lokumbe (born Marvin Peterson in 1948) made his reputation as a trumpeter in progressive jazz circles in the '70s, but since 1990 he's become known as a composer of large orchestral works on African-American themes. "Dear Mrs. Parks" is steeped in African and African-American idioms, from the prayerful melodic contours of spirituals and work songs to call-and-response strategies drawn from blues and jazz and an extended timpani solo -- brilliantly improvised by Brian Jones -- and played over a half-dozen other drums that suggest a tribal ceremony.

The work unfolds in cresting choral passages, simple but effective orchestration and vocal soloists who adopt various personas. Lokumbe's text is bathed in mysticism and hope. Wilkins leads a strong, enthusiastic performance and the soloists and chorus -- soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme, mezzo-soprano Jevetta Steele, bass Kevin Deas, children soprano Taylor Gardner and the combined Rackham Symphony Choir and Brazeal Dennard Chorale -- all sing with distinction.

Product Description

Dear Mrs. Parks features a massive ensemble comprised of full orchestra plus choir and four vocal soloists. Influenced by blues, jazz, African music and Gospel music, it pays homage to Rosa Parks in the form of imaginary letters to the civil rights heroine. Hannibal Lokumbe's career in music spans over four decades. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Bessie award, the NEA, and a Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has composed works for the Kronos Quartet, the
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Houston symphonies.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The American "Missa Luba"!, February 15, 2010

By 

Tym S. (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hannibal Lokumbe: Dear Mrs. Parks (Audio CD)

"Dear Mrs. Parks, this is a letter of love to you..."

50 years ago "Missa Luba" combined the Latin Mass with traditional Congolese spirituals. The transformation from solemnity to celebratory was a revelation.

Hannible Lokumbe's "Dear Mrs. Parks" is a very American parallel to it; American in both its musics and its historical struggle of conscience. Like "Missa Luba" it merges classical formality with African dynamics, but extends them into jazz, gospel, and blues. The Civil Rights Movement was fueled by spirituals and biblical poetry, unifying every beaten loner into a redemptive revolution. Lokumbe's tribute oratorio mirrors this in psalmic letters and choral chants which reflect the one and everyone. 'The personal is political' and, as ever, very powerful.

"A Prayer" is a march of faith one step at a time. Its deliberate tonal steps, repeated with pause and concentration, suggest struggle but unwavering discipline. This almost martial formality in chordal and choral structure is unity in action, literally. "For We Have Walked..." takes this marching tension and releases it with a swinging polyrhythmic interlude that builds into stacked chorals so powerful that the audience leaps to cheer at its end! "In Sacrifice" reinforces chant as a rhythm, a kindred confession and resolution, that backbones the work, before the rhythm multiples into intensely propulsive drums and ecstatic horns. Often there is a blur between Catholic chorals and the sway of Southern gospel. For me the truest strengths of the work came when the harmonies and melodies locked together into fevered forward motion, such as the exhilerating "Like Luminous Rains..." The oratorio is bracketed by a poem where each line is a concentrated step, building to a final lifing release. This is a liberating work, in every sense. Rosa would be honored.

Beyond modern classical admirers, this might also thrill fans of Paul Robeson, the Gershwins, Leonard Bernstein, Gil Evans, James Brown, Fela, John Coltrane, P-Funk, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, The Slits, Joe Strummer, Public Enemy, and Peter Gabriel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dear Mrs. Parks, February 2, 2010

By 

S. A. Spencer "Piscestunes" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hannibal Lokumbe: Dear Mrs. Parks (Audio CD)

Hannibal Lokumbe's work presents an integration of the musical genres of classical, gospel, and jazz with an African touch. The musical tapestry of the work has historical significance. I feel that all of the participants: the Detroit Symphony, the Rackham Symphony Choir, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and the featured solists highlight that musical tapestry! I was familiar with two of the featured soloists : Janice Chandler-Eteme and Jevetta Steele who both are very talented. I was not disappointed with my purchase.

I first heard Jevetta Steele's rich voice on the "Corrina, Corrina" movie soundtrack. After hearing Janice Chandler Eteme's solo
performance on Richard Smallwood's gospel cd "Journey:Live in New York," I was captivated by her operatic voice and artistry. I immediately looked for other works which featured Ms. Chandler-Eteme.

5.0 out of 5 stars In Honor Of Rosa, August 24, 2011

By 

Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hannibal Lokumbe: Dear Mrs. Parks (Audio CD)

The beyond-brave act of Rosa Parks to refuse to cede her seat in the front part of a commuter bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955 was an act that begat the modern Civil Rights Movement, and changed and transformed America forever and for the better. It led to the eventual end of unjust laws against those people of color and ethnicity who didn't conform to White America. And while the struggle for equal rights was fraught with violence and rioting, along with the deaths of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, it was a triumph for all Americans, and not just those of color.

It is this great but very common woman and her act that the African-American composer Hannibal Lokumbe celebrates in his 2005 oratorio "Dear Mrs. Parks", a ten-movement work that combines a large symphonic orchestra with elements of blues, jazz, and original African music that Mr. Lokumbe was extremely familiar with. Lasting an hour in length, but with no lethargy even remotely present, "Dear Mrs. Parks" is performed on this Naxos recording, made before a live audience in March 2009, by vocal soloists Janice Chandler-Etene, Jevetta Steele, Kevin Deas, and Taylor Gardner, the Rackham Symphony Choir, and the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by their resident guest conductor Thomas Wilkins, who also holds that same position with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra here in Los Angeles. Wilkins is one of the few African-American conductors to have attained a high position in an American orchestra (another one being James DePreist), and so this particular recording should certainly make African Americans throughout the United States feel an extreme sense of pride. But it is the very performance itself that is to be marveled, and it is that sense of marvel that crosses all racial and ethnic barriers.

Far from being a mere civics and history lesson set to music, "Dear Mrs. Parks" is a great work of our nation's great musical heritage, and this recording from the Motor City is to be cherished.