In the
Denzel Washington-directed film
The Great Debaters, based on a true story,
Washington plays teacher and poet
Melvin B. Tolson, who led an African-American college debating team during the racially charged 1930s to such success that it was able to compete against all odds with leading white teams at Harvard. For the film,
Washington reportedly combed through more than a thousand pre-1935 songs that he felt would accurately reflect the time period as experienced by the students and educators on whom the film is based. Rather than use original period recordings, the
soundtrack (except for a couple of bonus tracks by
Art Tatum and
Marian Anderson) employs contemporary artists such as
Alvin Youngblood Hart,
Sharon Jones, and
the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who have their feet firmly planted in the legacy of African-American musical history and could deliver performances -- shifting from
gospel to
blues and
jazz to a more rural-based
old-timey sound -- that would work within the context of the film yet still appeal to modern audiences. The
soundtrack doesn't attempt to replicate the past but rather to absorb it and regenerate the music as something alive in today's world. It largely works, particularly on the tracks featuring
Hart and
the Chocolate Drops, a modern acoustic string band in the tradition of African-American fiddle and banjo groups of the era of the film's focus.
Jones, however, stupendous though she is, is more of a '60s
soul singer at heart, and her propulsive vocals on tracks like
"Wild About That Thing" and
"It's Tight Like That," while intended to reflect the bawdy barrelhouse singers of the pre-WWII South, leave no doubt that they are something of a more recent vintage. Her version of the
spiritual "We Shall Not Be Moved," with
Billy Rivers & the Angelic Voices of Faith, owes more to electricity than a recording of the '30s would or could. Nonetheless,
Great Debaters offers a solid set of performances by a smartly chosen crew, and it succeeds at piquing interest in the film. ~ Jeff Tamarkin
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