American history turns into propulsive grooves and thrilling improvisation in the hands of Bay Area bassist/composer Marcus Shelby, a jazz master who knows that the past isn’t past. Commissioned by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Beyond the Blues: A Prison Oratorio is his latest work for the powerhouse Marcus Shelby Orchestra (augmented by narrator and vocal ensemble: Tiffany Austin, Joe Bagale, Mujahid Abdul-Rashid, and Kennedy Shelby). Exploring the troubling persistence of the prison industrial complex and its baleful impact on communities of color, Prison Oratorio is Shelby’s latest musical meditation on contemporary American culture.

Read Marcus’s blog article about this project.
See also 9/10/15 talk and demo

Beyond the Blues project website
www.marcusshelby.com

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