“Music is a vibratory language that speaks through musicians directly to the soul of the listener. Children hold the keys. If we provide them with the tools to work without prejudice or indifference, they will save the planet.” From MESSAGE FROM SATURN liner notes by Michael D. ‘Dr. Bop’ Anderson, Executive Director The Sun Ra Music Archive MESSAGE FROM SATURN brings multi-generational jazz and blues to life .. with Eli Yamin, the Astro Intergenerational Arkestra, and voices from Zah! Jazz Youth Pianist and composer Eli Yamin grew up in New Jersey close to Crossroads Theatre, one of the nation’s leading black theatre companies. While relishing his visits to Crossroads as a high school student, Eli learned about jazz and blues as he worked part time at WBGO-FM/Jazz 88 in Newark. Then poet/playwright/activist Amiri Baraka and his wife Amina took Eli under their wings, inviting him to perform many times at their basement club, Kimako’s Blues People. Amiri Baraka said “This man has met Thelonious Monk” when Eli was just 18. At 24, Eli got hired as Musical Director and pianist for the first national tour of the DUKE ELLINGTON’S SOPHISTICATED LADIES, directed by granddaughter Mercedes Ellington. After the tour Yamin found a home as Artist-in- Residence at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, NY, and there – with writer and teacher Clifford Carlson – premiered five new jazz musicals in nine years. They incorporated themselves as the nonprofit Jazz Drama Program. To date, JDP musicals have been performed over 85 times, in 14 states and abroad in the UK, Poland, Montenegro and Russia. “A Healing Song” from MESSAGE FROM SATURN has served as Yamin’s theme song in performances in over 20 countries on tour for the U.S. Department of State, and his ten years leading the Middle School Jazz Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center. And now you hold in your hand the CD MESSAGE FROM SATURN – the third of the five Jazz Drama Program musicals – recorded by Yamin’s Astro Intergenerational Arkestra and the young Zah! singers under a Grammy-winning producer in one of New York’s finest studios. Prepare to enjoy the journey. Jazz Times magazine says "MESSAGE FROM SATURN is arguably the hippest move in jazz education ever." “It’s a hit!” says Amina Baraka. Tracks, personnel and more fun facts are on the other side The Artists and the Music MESSAGE FROM SATURN is the Jazz Drama Program’s response to a comment credited to the truly original bandleader and self-described interplanetary traveler Sun Ra (1914-1993): “I just got a message from Saturn. WE’RE NOT PLAYING ENOUGH BLUES!” Composer/pianist/jazz evangelist Eli Yamin thought about this for ten years, then joined with librettist/lyricist Clifford Carlson to create the musical MESSAGE FROM SATURN. Yamin and Carlson also drew inspiration from The Zodiac Suite by pianist Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) and in her honor named the lead characters Mary, Lou and William. Middle and High school students of Zah! Jazz Youth sing these roles, backed by the the Astro Intergenerational Jazz Arkestra – Yamin’s piano trio with Ari Roland and Alvin Atkinson from Jazz at Lincoln Center faculty with Todd Williams (formerly with Wynton Marsalis’s group) on tenor sax; Tom Demsey (Laguardia Community College professor), guitar; and the award winning PubliQuartet. A HEALING SONG (single and Track 1) features rising star Camille Thurman on saxophone and vocal, singing the refrain: “It’s not just a song for me...take a breath and you will see why the blues has the power to be…a healing song!” Another version of A HEALING SONG (Track 22) with Zah! Jazz Youth and the Arkestra features 14- year-old Thalia St. Hubert singing the lead. Tracks 2-5 set the stage for the MESSAGE FROM SATURN (Track 6) and feature vocals by Zah! Jazz Youth, New York City area young people ages 11-17 trained by The Jazz Drama Program. 17-year-old Andrew Farella sings MUSIC HOLDS THE KEY (Track 9), a core message of this release, with Todd Williams in the New Orleans style of Sidney Bechet and Klezmer-style violin by Curtis Stewart of PubliQuartet. TRAVELIN’ THE MILKY WAY (Tracks 11, 13, 15) is a shuffle blues with sweet vocals by Zah! Jazz Youth. YOU CAN CALL ME LOUISE (Track 16) is the love duet, featuring 12-year-old Maximus Britton and Thalia St. Hubert with the PubliQuartet, which returns for a melancholy MOURNFUL TRAVEL (Track 20). BIG NANCY BLUES (Track 27) features recently departed harmonica master Big Nancy Swarbrick (1955-2016). with Zah! Jazz Youth and the swinging rhythm section. Grammy Award winning Jeff “Jedi Master” Jones is the producer of this recording. The Executive Producer is Kirk Imamura, President of Avatar Studios The Jazz Drama Program is a non-profit 501(c)(3) founded in 2003 that builds more diverse, imaginative and inclusive communities through jazz music, theatre and dance. The JDP creates jazz musicals, provides education experiences to youth and teachers and provides jazz performances that are multi-generational and multi-art form. For information on performances, workshops for youth or adults, or jazz education materials, contact info@thejazzdramaprogram.org. MESSAGE FROM SATURN, the musical is available to license for local productions in your community. For information on obtaining scripts, scores and production Cd’s for your production, contact info@thejazzdramaprogram.org.