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Blood on the Fields

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Blood on the Fields is a jazz oratorio lasting two and a half hours, composed by Wynton Marsalis for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Lincoln Center commissioned it. The work premiered on 28 January 1997 in Woolsey Hall at Yale University and was released the same year on Columbia Records. It deals with the history of slavery and its aftermath in the United States.

It tells the story of two slaves, Jesse and Leona, on their difficult road to freedom. The story shows that the freedom of the individual is inseparably linked to the liberation of the community and of the whole country. Miles Griffith sings Jesse, Cassandra Wilson sings Leona and Jon Hendricks plays the wise man. In 1997 the oratorio won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time the prize was awarded for a jazz composition. Previously it had been reserved for classical composers.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the opening track Calling the Indians Out and bear in mind that this is the beginning of a two-and-a-half-hour story told in jazz.

Track list

CD 1

  1. 1Calling the Indians Out5:25Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Move Over10:05Apple Music ↗
  3. 3You Don't Hear No Drums11:50Apple Music ↗
  4. 4The Market Place6:01Apple Music ↗
  5. 5Soul for Sale6:08Apple Music ↗
  6. 6Plantation Coffle March10:42Apple Music ↗
  7. 7Work Song (Blood On the Fields)8:27Apple Music ↗

CD 2

  1. 1Lady's Lament6:16Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Flyng High2:05Apple Music ↗
  3. 3Oh We Have a Friend In Jesus4:07Apple Music ↗
  4. 4God Don't Like Ugly8:05Apple Music ↗
  5. 5Juba and a Brown Squaw6:06Apple Music ↗
  6. 6Follow the Drinking Gourd2:20Apple Music ↗
  7. 7My Soul Fell Down2:18Apple Music ↗
  8. 8Forty Lashes7:30Apple Music ↗
  9. 9What a Fool I've Been2:34Apple Music ↗
  10. 10Back to Basics11:28Apple Music ↗

CD 3

  1. 1I Hold Out My Hands7:37Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Look and See5:06Apple Music ↗
  3. 3The Sun Is Gonna Shine2:17Apple Music ↗
  4. 4Will the Sun Come Out?9:10Apple Music ↗
  5. 5The Sun Is Gonna Shine6:42Apple Music ↗
  6. 6Chant to Call the Indians Out3:57Apple Music ↗
  7. 7Calling the Indians Out5:37Apple Music ↗
  8. 8Follow the Drinking Gourd1:44Apple Music ↗
  9. 9Freedom Is In the Trying2:45Apple Music ↗
  10. 10Due North5:35Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

Categories: Albums and songs