American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom

Last updated
American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom
Daversa AmericanDreamers.jpg
Studio album by
John Daversa Big Band
Released2018
Genre Jazz

American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom is a studio album by the John Daversa Big Band and produced by Kabir Sehgal and Doug Davis, [1] [2] released on September 21, 2018. [3] The album was recorded with more than 50 singers and musicians who entered America as children. Daversa intended the album as a message to politicians to protect immigrants. [1] The album has been described as "invigorating" and "one of, if not the most, important musical statements across several genres this year aimed at bringing unity and healing divisiveness". [4]

Contents

Background

On Sept. 5, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated the phase out of the immigration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). [5] Concerned with the emotional trauma and anxiety inflicted upon DACA recipients (Dreamers) as their immigration status hung in the balance, entertainment attorney and philanthropist Davis, "sought to raise support for these aspiring citizens, something that stretches beyond just the scope of 'writing a check'". [6]

Davis reached out to jazz bassist, composer, and producer, Kabir Sehgal, and what started out as a project to help raise awareness about the DACA program, became an idea for an album, led by Daversa. [7] In an interview with Variety , Sehgal, whose parents came to America from India, said "I was born and raised in America, I grew up knowing how important and integral immigrants were to the American experience." Davis added that the album, "will not only show that these DACA kids love America, but that they are talented musicians and singers, deserving of every chance they can get to see their artistic and professional dreams through". [6]

"The choice to make a jazz record was not only an aesthetic one, but symbolic." stated Daversa, who is also chair of the studio music and jazz department at University of Miami's Frost School of Music. [8] Together, the team located 53 Dreamers across 17 states willing to participate in the project. [9] [10]

Recording and production

The artists, ranging in age from 18 to mid-30s, came together in Miami to record on a single soundstage. [11] Not every Dreamer on the album, which includes spoken-word interstitials in which each one shares about his backstory, is a professional-caliber musician, but all of them have something to say to the American people about the nation’s current immigration crisis. [8] American Dreamers was sponsored by the albums' Executive ProducerTroy Carter, with money from Spotify, and relied on donated studio time at University of Miami, NYU and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. [8]

Track listing

Credits taken from AllMusic. [12]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Salvador" John Daversa/Kabir Sehgal 1:32
2."Living in America" Dan Hartman/Charlie Midnight 5:52
3."Saba"John Daversa/Kabir Sehgal1:41
4."Don't Fence Me In" Cole Porter 4:43
5."Caliph"Gene Coye/Jerry Watts, Jr./Zach Larmer/Kabir Sehgal1:35
6."Immigrant Song" Jimmy Page/Robert Plant 3:17
7."Daisy"John Daversa/Kabir Sehgal1:07
8."Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" Woody Guthrie/Martin Hoffman4:49
9."Denzel"Kabir Sehgal1:25
10."Stars and Stripes Forever" John Philip Sousa 4:29
11."Alicia"Murph Aucamp/Kabir Sehgal1:16
12."America" (from West Side Story ) Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim 1:29
13."Juan Carlos"Kabir Sehgal1:21
14."America the Beautiful" Katharine Lee Bates/Samuel A. Ward 4:39
15."Maria"John Daversa/Kabir Sehgal0:54
16."All Is One"John Daversa8:40
17."Edson" 1:33
18."Red, White, and Remixed"John Daversa/Kabir Sehgal3:27
Total length:53:49

Reception

Matt Greenblatt with The Aquarian Weekly wrote, "This one almost made me cry. Their spoken-word intros before they perform are heartbreaking. They introduce themselves, their age, their instrument and their circumstances." Greenblatt went further to state that "It's a powerful statement of human understanding and empathy." [13] Pablo Gorodi from the Associated Press wrote, "Daversa's talents are one of the keys making the album such a rewarding musical listen, as his arrangements expertly integrate the 'Dreamers'' talents with the big band and put exciting twists on several well-known tunes and a few originals." [14]

Jazz Music Archives said American Dreamers is a great listen just to hear the young musician's stories, but you also get John Daversa's big band playing wild arrangements that can recall 'out-there' band arrangers such as Don Ellis, Anthony Braxton and Sun Ra. Most of the tracks are covers that have been completely re-arranged into fresh new pieces. [15] George Harris of Jazz Weekly said, "While you may like this album more or less depending on your political spectrum, you can't help but appreciate John Daversa's ambitious musical project... A good soundtrack for an important debate." [16]

The album won three Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, "Don't Fence Me In" won in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category, and "Stars and Stripes Forever" won in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella category. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

Wayne Shorter American jazz saxophonist and composer

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader.

Chick Corea American musician and composer

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Keith Jarrett, Corea is considered one of the foremost jazz pianists of the post-John Coltrane era.

DREAM Act American legislative proposal on immigration

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal to grant temporary conditional residency, with the right to work, to undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as minors—and, if they later satisfy further qualifications, they would attain permanent residency.

Ashley Támar Davis, known professionally as Támar Davis, is an American singer who came to prominence through her association with Prince. She sang the co-lead vocals on his Grammy-nominated song "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" from his 2006 album, 3121 and on backup vocals throughout the album. Támar started her musical career in the group Girl's Tyme, appearing with them on Star Search, but left before the group was renamed Destiny's Child. In 2016, she auditioned for season 10 of the American talent competition The Voice. She was a member of Kanye West's Sunday Service Choir. She is also the music supervisor for That Damn Michael Che.

American Dreamer or American Dreamers may refer to:

Dreamers or The Dreamers may refer to:

Robert Glasper American jazz pianist, record producer, and songwriter from Texas

Robert Andre Glasper is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger with a career that bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered around jazz. To date, Glasper has won four Grammy Awards and received nine nominations across eight categories.

Andrés Useche Colombian American writer and director

Andrés Useche is a Colombian American writer, film director, graphic artist, singer-songwriter and activist.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Obama administration immigration policy

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for an employment authorization document in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients. The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012.

Doug Davis (businessman) American music industry executive and lawyer

Douglas J. Davis is an American music industry executive, entertainment lawyer and Grammy Award-winning record producer.

Undocumented youth in the United States are young people living in the United States without U.S. citizenship or other legal immigration status. An estimated 1.1 million undocumented minors resided in the U.S. as of 2010, making up 16% of the undocumented population of 11 million. Undocumented students face unique legal uncertainties and limitations within the United States educational system. They are sometimes called the 1.5 generation, as they have spent a majority of their lives in the United States.

Kabir Sehgal is an American author, composer, producer, navy officer, military veteran, investment banker, and financial executive. He is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of twelve books. He has also won five Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards as a record producer. He was previously a vice president at JPMorgan Chase and worked at First Data Corporation.

John Daversa American musician and educator

John Daversa is an American jazz trumpeter, electronic valve instrument (EVI) player, composer, arranger, conductor, bandleader, producer and educator.

Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a 2017 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) order to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program was "arbitrary and capricious" under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and reversed the order.

Erika Andiola Mexican immigration rights activist

Erika Andiola is an immigration rights activist located in Metropolitan Phoenix. She is the Chief Advocacy Officer for the organization RAICES. Her previous political roles include Political Director for the organization Our Revolution, Press Secretary for Latino Outreach in Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, and Congressional staffer for then-Representative Kyrsten Sinema. Much of Andiola's work has been driven by her own journey as an undocumented Mexican female immigrant.

David Lozano is an American director and playwright based in Dallas. Lozano is the Executive Artistic Director of the Cara Mía Theatre Company, where he has been involved since 2002.

Wolf v. Vidal, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a case that was filed to challenge the Trump Administration's rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Plaintiffs in the case are DACA recipients who argue that the rescission decision is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment. On February 13, 2018, Judge Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York addressed the question of whether the government offered a legally adequate reason for ending the DACA program. The court found that Defendants did not provide a legally adequate reason for ending the DACA program and that the decision to end DACA was arbitrary and capricious. Defendants have appealed the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Omni-American Book Club is a studio album by the Brian Lynch Big Band and produced by Kabir Sehgal and Doug Davis. The album received a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Discography of musician, composer and producer Kabir Sehgal.

United We Dream is a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization with chapters operating in 28 U.S. states. The organization is an "immigrant-youth-led network" of 400,000 members in 100 local groups. The group was involved in advocacy surrounding the passing of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) bill.

References

  1. 1 2 "Jazz's Big Dreamers: New Album Aimed at Getting Lawmakers to Protect Immigrants". Billboard . Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  2. Gorondi, Pablo (5 October 2018). "Review: 'American Dreamers' presents huge talents, ambitions". Apnews.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  3. "American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom (feat. DACA Artists) by John Daversa Big Band". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  4. "John Daversa and his Big Band featuring DACA Artist Bring a Poignant Stories to 'American Dreamers - Voices of Hope and Music of Freedom' (Album review)". Glide Magazine. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  5. "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 2017 Announcement". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services . Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Music Lawyer Doug Davis Produces 'American Dreamers' Album With Voices of DACA Recipients". Variety . Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  7. "'American Dreamers' album featuring more than 50 DACA recipients receives three Grammy nominations". Daily Kos . Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 "Immigrant Song: 'American Dreamers' Album Is Hope on Wax". Variety . Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  9. "Opinion: Trump's immigration policies threaten your Social Security". Marketwatch . Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  10. "A week in the studio with American Dreamers". The Miami Hurricane . Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  11. "Jazz's Big Dreamers: New Album Aimed at Getting Lawmakers to Protect Immigrants". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  12. "American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  13. "Rant'n'Roll". The Aquarian Weekly . Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  14. "Review:'American Dreamers' presents huge talents, ambition". Associated Press . Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  15. "John Daversa Big Band: American Dreamers (Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom) (Review)". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  16. "Reviews: John Daversa's Big Band featuring DACA Artists". Jazz Weekly. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  17. "Nominees". The Recording Academy . Retrieved January 3, 2019.