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It's not well known that Bayard Rustin, one of the major intellectual forces behind the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, was also a musician who, among other activities, sang backup for folk singer Josh White. More unlikely still, he learned to play the lute while imprisoned in the Deep South for his political activities, and entirely obscure until the early 2020s were the albums he recorded in the early '50s as fundraisers for a group called the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Most were of spirituals and other African American materials, but one featured Rustin singing English Renaissance and Baroque songs, accompanied by a harpsichord or by his own lute; he even wrote songs in that vein. The albums have never been common, and the Parnassus label deserves all kinds of credit for unearthing them. The fact that an African American singer would record English Renaissance material at this point is not quite as odd as it sounds; the link between the two genres was folk music, which was experiencing tremendous growth at the time, and the nascent early music movement in the U.S. had a leftist tinge. There is, to be sure, a slightly surreal quality here, but the music has artistic merit. Parnassus' release combines two albums, one with English material (and one Italian piece) and one with spirituals, introduced by scripture readings from James Farmer. The English songs, which include Dowland's Flow, My Tears, are from a time when this repertory was almost unknown, and there is a wide-eyed quality to the performances. Rustin had a fine tenor voice in which the melancholy qualities of the two repertories seem to meet. A strong candidate for the oddball hit of 2022, this recording is of great interest not only to students of the Civil Rights Movement and African American history but also to those concerned with the sources of the early music movement in the U.S.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Henry Purcell, Composer - Thomas Betterton, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Margaret Davison, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
John Dowland, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Margaret Davison, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Anonymous, Lyricist - ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI, Composer - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Margaret Davison, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Anonymous, Composer - ben jonson, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Margaret Davison, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Anonymous, Lyricist - Michael Arne, Composer - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Margaret Davison, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Bayard Rustin, Composer, Lyricist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, Arranger, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - anonymous (possibly Jonathan Brice), AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer - Bayard Rustin, Lyricist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - George Houser, Lyricist
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Traditional, Composer, Lyricist - James Farmer, MainArtist - Bayard Rustin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
Album review
It's not well known that Bayard Rustin, one of the major intellectual forces behind the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, was also a musician who, among other activities, sang backup for folk singer Josh White. More unlikely still, he learned to play the lute while imprisoned in the Deep South for his political activities, and entirely obscure until the early 2020s were the albums he recorded in the early '50s as fundraisers for a group called the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Most were of spirituals and other African American materials, but one featured Rustin singing English Renaissance and Baroque songs, accompanied by a harpsichord or by his own lute; he even wrote songs in that vein. The albums have never been common, and the Parnassus label deserves all kinds of credit for unearthing them. The fact that an African American singer would record English Renaissance material at this point is not quite as odd as it sounds; the link between the two genres was folk music, which was experiencing tremendous growth at the time, and the nascent early music movement in the U.S. had a leftist tinge. There is, to be sure, a slightly surreal quality here, but the music has artistic merit. Parnassus' release combines two albums, one with English material (and one Italian piece) and one with spirituals, introduced by scripture readings from James Farmer. The English songs, which include Dowland's Flow, My Tears, are from a time when this repertory was almost unknown, and there is a wide-eyed quality to the performances. Rustin had a fine tenor voice in which the melancholy qualities of the two repertories seem to meet. A strong candidate for the oddball hit of 2022, this recording is of great interest not only to students of the Civil Rights Movement and African American history but also to those concerned with the sources of the early music movement in the U.S.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 26 track(s)
- Total length: 01:00:45
- Main artists: Bayard Rustin
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Parnassus
- Genre: Classical Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred)
2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts 2022 Parnassus Records and Musical Concepts
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