Bayard Rustin: The Singer - Negro Spirituals, Lute Songs & More

by Bayard Rustin

Overview

It's not well known that Bayard Rustin, one of the major intellectual forces behind the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, was also a musician who, among other activities, sang backup for folk singer Josh White. More unlikely still, he learned to play the lute while imprisoned in the Deep South for his political activities, and entirely obscure until the early 2020s were the albums he recorded in the early '50s as fundraisers for a group called the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Most were of spirituals and other African American materials, but one featured Rustin singing English Renaissance and Baroque songs, accompanied by a harpsichord or by his own lute; he even wrote songs in that vein. The albums have never been common, and the Parnassus label deserves all kinds of credit for unearthing them. The fact that an African American singer would record English Renaissance material at this point is not quite as odd as it sounds; the link between the two genres was folk music, which was experiencing tremendous growth at the time, and the nascent early music movement in the U.S. had a leftist tinge. There is, to be sure, a slightly surreal quality here, but the music has artistic merit. Parnassus' release combines two albums, one with English material (and one Italian piece) and one with spirituals, introduced by scripture readings from James Farmer. The English songs, which include Dowland's Flow, My Tears, are from a time when this repertory was almost unknown, and there is a wide-eyed quality to the performances. Rustin had a fine tenor voice in which the melancholy qualities of the two repertories seem to meet. A strong candidate for the oddball hit of 2022, this recording is of great interest not only to students of the Civil Rights Movement and African American history but also to those concerned with the sources of the early music movement in the U.S. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	05/13/2022
Label:	Parnassus Records
UPC:	0602003690099
Rank:	32109

Tracks

1. I Attempt from Love's Sickness to Fly
2. Flow, My Tears
3. Il Tigrane~Cara e Dolce
4. Have You Seen but a Whyte Lillie Grow?
5. The Lass with the Delicate Air
6. I Saw Her As I Came and Went
7. Ah! The Sighs that Came from My Heart
8. Gather Ye Rosebuds While ye May
9. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
10. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
11. Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
12. There is a Balm in Gilead
13. Careless Love
14. You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow!
15. Go Tell it on the Mountain
16. Mary, What You Gonna Name Your Pretty Little Baby?
17. Wasn't That a Mighty Day?
18. I Know the Lord Laid His Hands on Me
19. Shepherd, Where'd You Lose Your Sheep?
20. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
21. Lonesome Valley
22. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?
23. He Never Said a Mumblin' Word
24. Lord, I Don't Care Where You Bury My Body
25. He Arose
26. He is King of Kings

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bayard Rustin   Primary Artist,Lute,Vocals
Margaret Davison   Harpsichord
Jonathan Brice   Piano

Technical Credits

Bayard Rustin   Arranger,Introduction,Composer,Lyricist
Anonymous   Composer
Michael Arne   Composer
Christmas Traditional   Composer
Traditional Spiritual   Composer
George Houser   Lyricist
Walter Naegle   Liner Notes,Cover Design,Reissue Producer
James Farmer   Narrator
Henry Purcell   Composer
John Dowland   Composer
Doug Pomeroy   Audio Restoration
William Lawes   Composer
Alessandro Scarlatti   Composer
Arnold Dolmetsch   Arranger
Leslie Gerber   Reissue Producer
American Traditional   Composer
English Traditional   Composer