Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Your reviewer has not heard anything quite like this or, to be accurate, he has not heard so many different styles of music brought together in one place. We start with the blowing of the rams' horns, meet Cantor Alberto Mizrahi, hear a chorale that could have been written by Bach and are kept moving by a typically Brubeck jazz instrumental theme. The words are sung in English by the outstanding bass baritone Kevin Deas backed by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society with texts taken from the Hebrew Bible, the Union Prayer Book, the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr, the writings of Rabbi Hillel and also Iola Brubeck. This makes it sound like it is going to be a mess but it is most certainly not. Somehow Brubeck the composer makes all of these elements fit together to support MLK's thesis that "We must learn to live together as brothers, or die together as fools." Brubeck the pianist under conductor Russell Gloyd links the different performers. There are points where the piece shows its age (it was composed in 1969) such as the cry of "Make peace not war!" but this is a very minor quibble when faced with so much that is simply wonderful.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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