KEITH LAMAR & ALBERT MARQUÈS

LIVE FROM DEATH ROW

Independent Label

Keith LaMar, spoken word; Albert Marquès, piano; Nia Drummond, voice; Keyanna Hutchinson, guitar; Matthew Garrison, electric bass; Zack O’Farrill, drums; Elsa Nilsson, flute; Milena Casado, flugelhorn; Caroline Davis, alto saxophone; Roy Nathanson, baritone & alto saxophone.

“Live From Death Row” is an historic new release from Keith LaMar and pianist, Albert Marquès, the first ever recording by an artist facing execution on death row.  This project was captured before a sold-out audience at ShapeShifter Plus, a Brooklyn music and arts space. Theirs is an extraordinary performance. It features Keith LaMar, who was calling in ‘live’ from his solitary confinement location. Lamar has spent more than thirty years locked up for a crime he swore he never committed.  With the assistance of this boundary-breaking jazz ensemble, led by pianist and composer Marquès, the incarcerated Keith LaMar inserts his spoken word, a message of freedom, truth, and introspection. It is, perhaps, his musical last will and testament.

Nia Drummond’s spiritual and emotional soprano voice opens this production singing “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom).”  It’s a dynamic way to begin this storytelling of un-justice and mental reconstruction, with words blended into a jazz and gospel package of improvised music and spoken word.

On disc #1, Roy Nathanson’s baritone saxophone opens track #4 in a dynamic way.  The piano improvisations and support from Albert Marquès is enhanced by Zack O’Farrill’s drums. When O’Farrill breaks out with a spirited and technically brilliant drum solo, the crowded auditorium goes wild.  This John Coltrane tune called “Alabama” is played in support of Keith Lamar mentioning his love of Coltrane’s music during his shared spoken word on “Calling All Souls,” Track #3.  Lamar said:

“Music is a bridge … to share our complexities … for the past 3 decades I’ve lived out my existence in a cell on Ohio’s death row … for the uninitiated, this means I’ve spent the bulk of life, 22 hours a day, inside a cage no larger than the average closet. How have I survived without losing my mind? Music! I’m telling you the truth.  When I first arrived here, I was a deeply wounded and bitter person. … When an innocent man can be thrown into the depths of hell is abominable. … An old man named Snoop turned me on to the healing power of music. It is to him that I owe my sanity. … John Coltrane was my introduction to the music known as jazz.”

Since jazz has long been crowned the music of freedom, it seems only acceptable that it becomes the accompaniment of Keith Lamar’s spoken word project. Keith Lamar came to the attention of the jazz community because of Brian Jackson, a former, frequent collaborator with Gil Scott-Heron, who reached out to Lamar (upon the insistence of Mother Jones) in 2020. That meeting of minds and hearts created a podcast about music and justice. Consequently, over the past five years both the jazz community and people around the world have rallied around Keith Lamar’s campaign and advocacy for freedom. The Freedom First label is part of Albert Marquès’ initiative to amplify voices by individuals affected by state-sponsored violence and censorship, ensuring their stories are heard. The jazz music played by these musicians is creative, outstanding, and as relevant as the spoken words we hear from Keith Lamar.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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