christine correa
ensemble

Christine Correa, voice
Sam Newsome, soprano sax
Andrew Boudreau, piano
Kim Cass, bass
Michael Sarin, drums

Performing Max Roach’s Protest Songs, drawn from both the Freedom Now Suite (1961) and Percussion Bitter Sweet (1964) recordings.

Christine Correa has, through her close study and trenchant interpretations of the Abbey Lincoln Songbook, been exploring the protest music of Lincoln’s longtime collaborator (and ex-husband) drummer-composer-civil rights activist, Max Roach for many years.

In 2023, Ms. Correa and her extraordinary bandmates, including Maine-native Kim Cass, realized her dream to revisit Mr. Roach’s Freedom Now Suite and Percussion Bitter Sweet in a vital ne reconsideration of Roach’s political cri de cover for contemporary audiences. The music is direct and insistent, harmonically challenging and melodically innovative, beautiful and determined, and is just as relevant today as it was when it was first recorded in the early 1960s.

Portland Conservatory of Music’s presentation of Christine Correa Ensemble is supported through a Chamber Music America Presenter Consortium for Jazz grant in collaboration with The Dance Hall and Next Stage Arts.

A component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Presenter Consortium for Jazz is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation.

RUN TIME: approximately 75 min with no intermission