Caroline Davis - Alula: Captivity

Caroline Davis’ first social justice album, Alula: Captivity, situates her electro-free compositions alongside the lives of eight heroes who kept hope alive through incarceration. The jazz community has been incredibly responsible for major contributions to social justice and for doing civil rights work even before certain movements were created.

Through coded lyrics by blues singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, to Nina Simone’s impactful lyrics in Mississippi Goddam and Young, Gifted, and Black, inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s words, to Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, to Terri Lyne Carrington’s recent gathering, Music for Abolition; jazz and creative musicians have always been present, creating artistic works to protest injustices and speak truth to power. Davis’ album stands on the shoulders of these influences, providing creative insight on the injustices present in the system of incarceration in America, and highlights the undeniable strength of those who have been, and some who are still, incarcerated.

Caroline Davis: alto saxophone, juno, voice
Val Jeanty: turntables, samples
Chris Tordini: acoustic & moog bass
Tyshawn Sorey: drums