Carmen Lundy - Kumbaya!

Topic: Jazz - Word
Jazz musicians who used the word "kumbaya" in other songs often did so in recurring choruses. Carmen Lundy’s basic quatrain began "Mother kumbaya" and continued with substitutions of other family members known by a child. One repetition used "come by here" and the family members important to a single mother.

Lundy’s lyric structure was more complex than most. The kumbaya verse usually was followed by backup voices singing a chorus that included allusions to Ecclesiastes with a "time to heal." Lundy repeated the verse-chorus five times.

The lyric iterations were divided into three sections by another melodic line that introduced a narrative element drawn from the original "Come by Here." In the first Lundy sang "people are suffering and need some understanding." The second time she added an injunction for action that included "yes we can make a better life."

After the second imperative, she shortened the verse by combining lines into "Oh mother, father come by here." Her singing style became melismatic. Before she usually had devoted one tone to each syllable, although she did scat the end of "kumbaya" in the final line of the first repetition.

The third imperative repeated a line from many versions of "Come by Here" that directly asked the Lord for help: "I don’t know if I can make it without you." She sang the second-section verse one more time, then began singing "my my my" and scatted to the end.

These segments were dramatized in the video she uploaded to YouTube. It began by showing stylized black stick-figures against white squares framed by black borders with the lyrics flashed across the screen. For the second imperative, it changed to footage of a dark-skinned drummer playing an African goblet drum with a hand drum at his or her side.

The video returned to the stick figures until she began the jazzier "mother, father" lines. Then it changed to footage from a concert. The video began and ended with a spinning circle of striped colors dominated by red that was formed like the bottom of a round basket. This motif also appeared during the third imperative.

She used the basic modern jazz ensemble of a piano, drums, and electric bass. An electric guitar played some solo lines in the introduction and added occasional accents thereafter. The melody used a single note for "mother" and went up slightly on "ba."

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Carmen Lundy, contralto
Vocal Group: Elisabeth Oei, background vocals

Instrumental Accompaniment: Patrice Rushen, piano; Ben Williams, electric bass; Jeff Parker, electric guitar; Carmen Lundy, acoustic guitar [1]

Rhythm Accompaniment: Kendrick Scott, drums

Credits
Written and arranged by Carmen Lundy
Copyright: (C) 2017 Afrasia Productions

"‘Kumbaya,’ originally spoken as ‘Come By Here’ in the south, ‘perhaps in the Gullah language of slaves from Angola brought to the Carolinas, to my understanding,’ says Carmen" on her website. [2]

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English

Pronunciation: koom-bah-yah. "Here" sometimes had a broader vowel sound.

Vocabulary
Pronoun: I, names for family members
Term for Deity: You
Special Terms: suffering, healing

Basic Form: "kumbaya" used in a repeated quatrain with other text

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: her own
Tempo: moderate

Basic Structure: simple repetition with little variation

Singing Style: scat in places

Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: the voice was dominant. R. J. Frometa wrote:

"The album’s finale ‘Kumbaya’ brings out some real musical firepower but uses the same relaxed approach that’s characterized so many of these songs. It opens with a bright sheen of keyboards and incorporates guitar in generous doses. The backing vocals are understated and underscore Lundy’s own." [3]

Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert
Location: indoor platform

Microphones: floor mikes for the musicians; Lundy used a corded hand mike.

Clothing: Lundy wore white slacks with wide black stripes and a sheer black jacket. Her hair was cropped. The men were dressed in long-sleeved black shirts and slacks. The pianist wore a yellow dress with her hair loose to the waist.

Notes on Movement
Lundy stepped around as she sang, but stayed within a small circle. Her knees were bent, so her feet barely left the ground, and her body was tilted forward from the waist. She used her left hand to gesture and occasionally stood erect, before leaning forward again.

Audience Perceptions
The album titled Code Noir was released soon after Trump was inaugurated in 2017. Lundy said her selection of songs "also encompass the many emotions that are prevalent in this country right now. We are going through tough times with a country that is sorely divided and many of these tracks reflect the feelings that we as human beings are going through on an individual level." She added "Kumbaya" was "a song to my family. A plea to humanity." [4]

Many critics used those words in their own comments on "Kumbaya." Frometa wrote:

"The song might have a wide social scope, but it is quite personal in some ways – Lundy is clearly singing from the heart." [5]

In Jazz Weekly, George Harris wrote:

"Even her own ‘Kumbaya’ mixes the red African earth with a third world grove, taking the title of the tune back to its equatorial home." [6]

Notes on Performers
Lundy’s grandfather started a gospel group, which her mother was continuing when she was a child in the 1950s. Her brother Curtis [7] remembered their mother "was a powerful, beautiful singer." [8] Lundy herself recalled the rehearsals in their home and

"how the singers worked out harmonies and how they were transported to ‘a whole new dimension’ when they performed." [9]

She majored in music at the University of Miami. It had had a conservatory since its founding, but had only desegregated in 1961 [10] and was still incorporating African-American music forms. One of Lundy’s friends from high school, David Roitstein, [11] enticed her to join his jazz group that was playing at the Eden Roc hotel. She remembered

"We would come out of the classroom and take those ideas to our gigs. And I think that’s where I really began to hone a sense of whatever it was to do jazz singing." [12]

She moved to New York after she had created a demonstration record for Columbia. When it was turned down, she sent it to Herbert Wong who released it in 1985. [13] Lundy later moved to California and formed her own production company with Elisabeth Oei [14] in 2005. [15]

When she made an album released before Code Noir, Lundy played and recorded all the parts in her home studio "to get a working ‘feel’ for how the music might sound." [16] When she was ready to make the final recording, the musicians had to learn their parts by ear, rather than by readying sheet music.

Availability
CD: Code Noir. 17 February 2017.

YouTube: uploaded by Carmen Lundy on 17 July 2017.

End Notes
1. On the video, Andrew Renfroe played guitar and James Genus played bass.
2. "Code Noir" tab. Carmen Lundy website.
3. R. J. Frometa. "Code Noir by Carmen Lundy." Vents Magazine website. 2 March 2017.
4. Carmen Lundy, Code Noir.
5. Frometa.

6. George Harris. "CODE NOIR, the New Album from Vocalist/Composer CARMEN LUNDY." Jazz Weekly website. "Grove" probably was "groove" in the original.

7. Curtis Lundy played string bass in jazz groups. He was a year younger. (Wikipedia. "Curtis Lundy.")

8. Curtis Lundy. Quoted by Christopher Loudon. "Carmen Lundy: Freedom in Music Personified." Jazz Times website. 25 September 2012.

9. Carmen Lundy. Quoted by Bob Weinberg. "Jazz Great Carmen Lundy Reflects on Her Miami Roots." [Deerfield Beach, Florida] Sun-Sentinel. 13 April 2008.

10. Wikipedia. "University of Miami" and "Frost School of Music."

11. David Roitstein became chairman of the Jazz Program at the Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts. He played piano. (School website.)

12. Carmen Lundy. Quoted by Weinberg.
13. Loudon.

14. Elisabeth Oei graduated from high school in Rye, New York, in 1974 and studied voice at the SUNY Fredonia. In 1989 she became the U. S. agent for Sonoton, a German library of music available for use by films and other media. (Her Facebook page).

15. Wikipedia. "Carmen Lundy."

16. "Carmen Lundy." Kuumbwa Jazz Center website. Announcement for concert scheduled on 9 October 2014.