McCarthy debuts jazz, Civil War piece 'Better Angels'

Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, delivered in 1861, begins with a dry recitation of legal issues surrounding the secession of southern states – not exactly the kind of material that lends itself to a compelling piece of jazz music.

The final sentence, though, is where the new president squeezed in a sentiment that carried all the poetry found in good jazz. That’s where Lincoln implored a divided nation about to begin a bloody civil war to do its best to maintain its moral bearing.

“The mystic chords of memory,” Lincoln concluded, “stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

The harmony built into that sentence inspired Brian McCarthy, the Vermont saxophone player who also has a strong interest in the history of the American Civil War. His new project, “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” debuts with performances by McCarthy and his nine-piece group Friday and Saturday at FlynnSpace in Burlington.

The title of the program, which includes two Civil War-inspired pieces written by McCarthy, also captures his feelings about jazz. “That’s why we do it, or at least why I do it,” the Northeast Kingdom native said in a conversation at the Muddy Waters coffeehouse in Burlington. The idea, McCarthy said, is for musicians to use their creativity to add to the world and make it better.

The idea for “The Better Angels of Our Nature” began a couple of years ago when McCarthy arranged Civil War-era music for another performance. “I’ve literally been writing it for a year,” he said of the title piece, which echoes the arc of Lincoln’s inaugural address. The speech, McCarthy said, reflects three sides of Lincoln  —  Lincoln the lawyer, Lincoln the president and Lincoln the human being, a pattern he began showing as his presidency developed through the war.

McCarthy’s composition takes that course as well. He said Lincoln began his speech by getting down to business, so “The Better Angels of Our Nature” starts with an “in-your-face” approach. The address transforms to Lincoln the president declaring that “the Union is unbroken,” according to McCarthy, so his musical piece becomes more authoritative and solid. The final passage, mirroring the concluding words, aims to capture Lincoln’s lyrical moment of humanity with a sense of what’s to come.

“The Better Angels of Our Nature” is about 10 minutes long, leaving room for musical improvisation, so the rest of McCarthy’s program taps into music derived from and inspired by the Civil War era. His other composition in the program, “Shiloh,” tells the story of that early horrific battle through the eyes of a young soldier who went into war with enthusiasm and comes out of Shiloh trying to understand why he survived and his buddies did not.

The concert includes music from the Civil War that McCarthy rearranged such as “Battle Cry of Freedom.” He said he wanted to connect listeners with new music and old, familiar music to help bring the program together.

Steve MacQueen, artistic director at the Flynn Center, learned of McCarthy’s project after the musician received a $3,000 grant from the Vermont Arts Council to support its development. “I’ve seen Brian play a million times, a great player, but l love the concept of doing something new and different in a jazz show,” MacQueen said. “It also sounded a little weird to me  — using jazz for music that pre-dates jazz — but that intrigued me.” He and McCarthy both noted that the roots of jazz, from gospel to marches, are all over the Civil War era.

McCarthy said he pulled back from participating in Flynn programming when his wife, Linda Little, became managing director of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival; she works with MacQueen to plan the annual event. MacQueen said it’s hard to ignore that, but that McCarthy’s skills transcend the connection.

“Brian is a very established musician around here,” according to MacQueen. “Anybody that’s ever heard Brian McCarthy playing the saxophone doesn’t think his wife is carrying him. He’s an outstanding musician.”

McCarthy’s nine-piece group, known as a nonet, includes Little. “I need a good bari player,” he said of his wife, who is accomplished on the baritone saxophone. The nonet, including six horns, also features recent Vermont transplant Zach Harmon on drums and saxophone player Daniel Ian Smith, a Berklee College of Music professor who owns a home in Westmore. The rest of McCarthy’s group includes musicians he knows from the New York City scene and his time as a student at nearby William Paterson University in New Jersey.

McCarthy might be one of the most accomplished jazz musicians in Vermont, but he hopes “The Better Angels of Our Nature” will be heard not just as good Vermont music but as good music. “I want the music to just be able to speak for itself,” he said.

“The Better Angels of Our Nature” is his most ambitious work, McCarthy said. On the eve of its premiere, he said his initial thought is, “Gosh, I hope it works.”

Jazz musicians are often self-deprecating, McCarthy said, but he has spent enough time writing and arranging the material for “The Better Angels of Our Nature” to know how it’ll sound. “’I’m not going to hate it’ is always the best thing I can say,” according to McCarthy. “But I honestly can say I’m excited about it.”

He does have one regret. “I kind of wish I was smart enough a couple of years ago to come up with this idea,” McCarthy said, as the composition could have premiered in April  for the 150th anniversary of the war’s end. He added, though, that he might have a few more pieces for the program in time for the war’s 175th anniversary a quarter-century from now.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

If you go

WHAT: Brian McCarthy Nonet performs “The Better Angels of Our Nature”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday

WHERE: FlynnSpace, Burlington

TICKETS: $21-$25. 863-5966, www.flynntix.org