Jazz at Intersection: Marcus Shelby Presents Harriet Tubman and Jazz September 23, 2007

This afternoon features Marcus Shelby in a demonstration and small-ensemble performance of /Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman,/ a secular jazz oratorio for 15-piece jazz orchestra, solo vocals, and choral ensemble, based on a book by historian Kate Clifford Larson. In addition to performing sections of the larger oratorio with a small ensemble, Shelby will also discuss Tubman's life story, her relationship to the Civil Rights movement, and Tubman's connection to the history of jazz, including her own use of improvisation and call-and-response techniques in communicating coded messages to escaping slaves in spirituals and work songs.