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John Daversa (right) conducting an ensemble of "Dreamer" vocalists.[/caption]
Daversa also includes “All Is One,” an eight-and-a-half-minute, multi-movement original that begins with him stretching on an Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI), builds to booming brass crescendos throughout and offers a handful of Dreamers ample room to improvise. “It’s got a singable, simple pentatonic melody that everyone can come together on, kind of like an anthem that gives them license to do their thing,” the bandleader says. “My intention was to create a piece imbued with joy, hope and togetherness, culminating into a single theme.”
Two nights before the 2018 midterm election, Daversa brought the project to Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood, California, with an ensemble of 20 (including a rhythm section, brass and strings) that was so large that it overflowed from the stage into the packed audience. When Daversa was not playing trumpet or EVI, he was out among the crowd, conducting in the only space available.
John Daversa won a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for his project American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom.[/caption]
To serve as his big band on American Dreamers, Daversa and his team selected professional musicians from Miami, Los Angeles and New York, as well as a number of former and current students. The main tracking was done at the Frost School of Music in Miami, but recording sessions with Dreamers were also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta and elsewhere.
“Each Dreamer we worked with was a source of inspiration for me, the production team and the musicians,” Daversa says. “Giving them the opportunity to shine their individual lights and being there to witness their gifts emerge was a fulfilling, empowering experience. It truly made me believe that there’s a genius walking around somewhere in every human being I meet. A great example of this is Daisy Cardozo from Houston, who has one of the speaking interludes and sang a beautiful lead vocal on ‘Deportee.’ She’s had no formal musical education, but she’s a complete natural musician. The arrangement of the song is fast, in 5/8, with several meter changes, and is very complex and intricate on paper. She found a way to sweep over the whole thing effortlessly and bring natural emotion to it.
“That’s just one example of the way American Dreamers points to the fact that music is a true unifier, bringing people together for the greater good,” he adds. “If the heart is touched first, the head can’t be far behind. As it has throughout history, jazz offers the perfect platform to say, ‘Hey look at this issue. Maybe we can make a difference.’” — Jonathan Widran