A Jazzy Reflection on the Civil Rights Movement

Matt Wilson (center) and his colleagues (all correctly identified) on the cover of the album being discussed

One week from today, Palmetto Records will release jazz drummer Matt Wilson’s fourteenth album on which he serves as leader. (This also happens to be the year of Wilson’s 60th birthday.) The title of the album is Good Trouble, and Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders. It was conceived to reflect on the march for civil rights that took place at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, 55 years ago. One of the leaders of that march was John Lewis, who would later represent Georgia’s fifth congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1987 until his death on 2020. Lewis had been active long before the Selma march, having been one of the thirteen original Freedom Riders, which had formed in 1961.

The title of the album is also the title of a three-movement suite, which Wilson dedicated to Lewis. The movements of that suite are as follows:

1. RBG: a salute to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which concludes with the band chanting her name along with the injunction to “honor her plea/serve your community”
2. Walk With the Wind: based on the title of Lewis’ 1998 autobiography, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement
3. Good Trouble: a lively coda to celebrate Lewis’ impact on civil rights

The album includes seven other tracks, the last of which, “CommUnity Spirit,” has Wilson reflecting on the impact of both Lewis and Ginsberg.

Wilson leads a quintet on Good Trouble. He is joined in the rhythm section by Ben Allison on bass and pianist Dawn Clement, who also provides vocals. The front line is shared by Tia Fuller on alto saxophone and Jeff Lederer, alternating between tenor saxophone and clarinet.

This is clearly an album of good intentions, which are collectively shared by all of the performers. Nevertheless, the journey through all ten of the tracks is an uneven one, the lowest point being Clement’s vocal delivery of John Denver’s “Sunshine on My Shoulders.” (Full disclaimer: I had really hoped that, in the present day, I would have heard the last of John Denver!) Far more satisfying is the group’s account of “Feet Music,” which Ornette Coleman composed and recorded on his In All Languages album. Whether this carries more significance than Clement’s vocal work will be left to the reader to decide!