Jubilee Singers Go to Roots of African-American Music

Common wisdom has it that jazz began in New Orleans during the early years of this century. Actually, its roots reach back into the 17th Century, when the first African slaves arrived in the United States.

Among the most important of these roots is spiritual music, including the Jubilee Music that takes its name from the “Year of the Jubilee,” 1865, when slaves, at least in theory, were emancipated with the end of the Civil War.

Since 1964, Albert McNeil has led the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, keeping alive African-American Jubilee and original African folk music through more than 3,000 concerts in at least 60 countries.

McNeil retired from his job as a music professor at UC Davis last year and is devoting full time to the Jubilee group, which gives a concert at Point Loma Nazarene College at 8 p.m. Sunday.

“This is the classical roots of African-American music,” McNeil says. “As slaves were converted to Protestantism and mainline faiths like Methodist and Baptist, you have to look at what kinds of music they performed as a result of religious experiences.

“During the early 1800s, there were cities in the North that represented the places where freedom lived, where blacks had free status--Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore.”

It was in Philadelphia that a black Methodist deacon named Richard Allen grew disgruntled with his treatment in this predominantly white church. So he formed the separate African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1819, and his black congregation began to rework white hymns. The result was a blend of European and African influences.

“Blacks brought the feeling of strong rhythm, the Europeans brought melodic material,” McNeil explains. “Blacks could not read notes, and everything was transmitted orally, so there was bound to be change.”

He cites “Amazing Grace” as an example.

“Blacks completely changed the melody and put whole-tone steps in, and they bent the melody to give a bluesy atmosphere.”

The first Jubilee Singers were an ensemble of seven women and four men who eventually sang for Queen Victoria of England. Even today, a life-size mural of the event hangs in Windsor Castle, McNeil said.

McNeil’s ensemble is larger. In San Diego, they’ll be 25 strong. In keeping with early traditions, this group works predominantly a cappella, employing only occasional piano and tambourine.

McNeil and company have released three albums, including last year’s CD, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

Sunday night’s show will cover many periods and styles of African-American music, including jazz. The first half will include contemporary and traditional spirituals and gospel. The second will open with African and African-American folk songs, move through a George Gershwin selection from “Porgy and Bess” and a Duke Ellington medley, and close with several spirituals.

You can bet that the McNeil singers’ version of “Reach Out and Touch Somebody” won’t bear any resemblance to a phone company commercial.

Tickets for the show are $10 and $12 ($2 off for students, seniors and military). For more information, call 221-2336.

San Diego guitarist Dan Papaila is first rate, but he’s been keeping a low profile. It’s all part of his strategy to land a recording contract and, ultimately, a viable national or international career.

Papaila, 41, has seen what happens to some musicians who work local clubs like maniacs and eventually become relegated to the status of “local musicians.” He hopes to bypass the club circuit and go directly to a label deal. A new eight-song demo he recorded in Los Angeles last month holds much promise.

Playing with a crack band including Johnny (Hammond) Smith on organ and Sherman Ferguson on drums, plus sax prodigy Rickey Woodard, Papaila eases his way pleasingly through a mix of jazz (Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday) and popular (“When a Man Loves a Woman,” “That’s the Way of the World”) tunes and a pair of originals.

Papaila is a straight-ahead jazz man in the tradition of Wes Montgomery, but he also has a strong feeling for blues.

Noting the success of young organist Joey DeFrancesco, Papaila went for a Hammond organ-based jazz/blues sound that suits him well on the demo. In fact, organist Smith occasionally steals the fire, but the tape should easily get Papaila in the door somewhere.

RIFFS: Veteran Big Band great Skeets Herfurt will join the Mesa College Jazz Band this Saturday night at 7:30 in the Apolliad Theater on campus . . . Sunday night, from 5 to 10, KSDS-FM (88.3) will host a birthday tribute to Sarah Vaughan in conjunction with Mavis and Cyn’s restaurant, 7350 El Cajon Blvd., La Mesa. Vaughan, who died in 1990, was born March 27. The tribute will include recorded music and live performance videos. The $15 tickets include dinner. Call 464-7881 for information. On Saturday afternoon from 1 to 2, the station will feature Vaughan’s music.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

KEI AGAKI TO PERFORM IN S.D.

On electric and acoustic pianos and synthesizer, Kei Akagi is a jazz wizard who has played with Miles Davis and a host of other greats. So it comes as something of a surprise to hear that Akagi didn’t feel ready to make a solo recording until “Playroom,” released last month. Based on “Playroom,” he’s more than ready now.

The recording is a rich mix of all-original material that ranges from spacious, melodic electric jazz to dense, driving acoustic bebop. Although some cuts sound more commercial than others, that wasn’t Akagi’s intention.

“I played and wrote whatever I wanted to play,” Akagi says. “Given that it’s 1992, and given that jazz has accepted so many influences from so many different areas, especially in the last 15 or 20 years, I take everything that’s on my record as being part of the vocabulary of jazz. I just wanted to come up with lyrical melodies that people could hum.”

Akagi, who lives in Los Angeles, will play the Horton Grand Hotel in downtown San Diego Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30, joined by drummer Joel Taylor and bassist Jeff Littleton.