Topic: Jazz - Early
Jazz is essentially instrumental music centered on a few key instruments that are augmented by other musicians and singers. The general consensus is the musical form developed in New Orleans in the years when Jim Crow laws were disrupting the city’s existing social structures. [1] As musicians followed the Mississippi and Missouri rivers north to other jobs, new forms co-evolved in cities like Chicago and Kansas City. [2]
In the early years essentially two forms existed, one played indoors and the other outside in the streets. The first used the piano, and the second the brass instruments of military bands. The Saint Louis ragtime-piano style of Scott Joplin was spread through sheet music and piano rolls. When it developed into stride piano with James P. Johnson in New York City, the new style diffused through recordings.
Cassandra Mathews used a simple stride-piano style when The San Francisco Gospel Singers recorded "Kumbaya" in 2007. She began by playing the melody one note at a time and striking the keys harder on the downbeats. Although it wasn’t strict syncopation, it had the same asymmetric sound. On the second line her left hand alternated between a low note and high note with occasional chords.
On the first "come by here" verse, the all-female group sang a capella with pauses after "Lord" and at the end of each line that were filled by piano chords. In the second "come by here" verse, the pianist added the stride pattern used in the introduction.
When the group began a new verse, "somebody needs you," the pianist added frills in the right hand at the ends of the lines. This was repeated with the "praying" verse. In the first "kumbaya" verse, the piano only played chords in the pauses. The final "kumbaya" verse was sung like the first "come by here," nearly a capella.
The women finished by repeating "oh Lord kumbaya" five times. The piano maintained its part on the first two iterations. It stopped with a third, and a hand clap was added after "Lord." The single claps continued until the end. The women held the last note, and the piano played a final chord.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: Barbara Gilton, Sharon M. Jones, Cassandra Mathews, Elizabeth McCurtis-Bell, Cynthia Padilla, and Katrina Staples. [3]
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Arrangement credited to Cassandra Mathews by Brian Harmon. [4]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: kum ba YAH
Verses: come, needs, praying, kumbaya
Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: song with verses
Verse Repetition Pattern: AAxxBB
Ending: repeated last line five times
Unique Features: mixed verses from "Come by Here" with "Kumbaya"
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: upbeat
Basic Structure: vocal strophic repetition, with increasing complexity in piano accompaniment
Singing Style: unadorned, unison
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: piano quiet enough the women sound like they are singing a capella
Notes on Performers
Cassandra Mathews organized her first female a capella group in 1992. [5] She since has used the names The San Francisco Gospel Singers [6] and The San Francisco Gospel Girls. [7] Four women with changing last names were in all her groups; it is not clear if their names changed or different women participated with the same first names. In 2009, Mathews had another group entirely, the San Francisco Gospel Divas. [8]
Availability
CD: Walk in the Light. Feelin’ Good Records 005. 2007. [9]
End Notes
1. Jack V. Buerkle and Danny Barker. Bourbon Street Black. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Chapter 1 discussed the legal changes in Louisiana and the ways they affected New Orleans musicians.
2. John Wesley Work. "Jazz." 440-444 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. 441.
3. Brian Harmon. Review of Walk in the Light. Blues Art website, December 2007.
4. Harmon.
5. "Cassandra Mathews & The San Francisco Gospel Girls." Feelin’ Good Records website.
6. Harmon.
7. Feelin’ Good.
8. "Cassandra Mathews & The San Francisco Gospel Divas. Let’s Praise The Lord! CD Baby website.
9. Harmon.
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