It’s always special when a group of musicians, a venue, and an audience come together in celebration of something they all share in common: music. The Spirit of Life Ensemble has been part of that celebration for the past 47 years, since forming during July and August in 1975.
Since it’s formation, the band has been under the leadership of multi-percussionist Daoud-David Williams, with the music of the afro-centric and multi-cultural unit reflecting the group’s name. The Jersey City Cultural Arts Commission recently presented Williams their “Legacy” award during a celebration at Mana Contemporary on Newark Avenue in Jersey City.
“There was very little cultural arts in the community I lived in at the time when we made the Spirit of Life Ensemble,” said Williams. “People didn’t really know what was out there, and that was what set forth the initiative of making the group.”
The Ensemble evolved out of an arts workshop that was set up in 1971 and housed at the corner of Claremont and Jackson avenues. Known as the Ascension Arts Workshop, it was named after John Coltrane’s 1966 album “Ascension.”
Their first shows as a band would feature all the arts in multi-cultural performances with other musicians, painters, dancers, actors, and poets.
The Spirit of Life Ensemble has played to national and international audiences. It was the jazz orchestra in-residence at New York’s internationally renowned Sweet Basil Jazz Club from1995 to 2001. It has been featured in many different jazz festivals such as Pori International Jazz Festivals in Finland; Kaunas International Jazz Festival in Lithuania, and Festival LaRuce au Jazz in Bayonne, France. They’ve alsso been named th Oberhavel
Although their music is deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, it has been strongly influenced by a number of musical styles found in the African Diaspora, including the rhythms of Latin America, South America, the Caribbean Islands, Africa, and the African American musical genres of rhythm & blues, gospel, funk, and the blues.
While the band is known for playing a number of locales around the world, you can easily catch them right here in Jersey City during their performances in the Community Awareness Series, which is a part of the Jersey City Free Public Library and the series will be celebrating its 45th anniversary this coming October.
Upcoming summer concerts for the Spirit of Life Ensemble this month include Liberty State Park on Sunday, Aug. 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. on the north side of the park at 1 Audrey Zapp Dr., Jersey City; and Ercel Webb Park, 124 Lafayette St., Jersey City, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, from 6 to 7 p.m. There is a rain date for the Ercel Webb Park Show for Aug. 24 in case of inclement weather.
The Ensemble’s usual performance size is eight to 18 players and it has several components: a 5-7-piece combo, 8–11-piece unit and 12-18-piece modern big band. It includes such jazz artists as Dwight West, Rob Henke, Michael Cochrane, TK Blue, Chip Shelton, McLester McKee, David Robinson, Michael Logan, Sipho Kunane, Dennis Cruz, Carlos Francis, Calvin Hill, Bob Ferrel, Vinnie Cutro, Yashmin Charnet Abler, Bruce Cox, Cleave Guyton, Richard Clements, Everald Brown, Bryan Carrott, Marcus McLauren, Greg Bufford, Jann Parker, Lenny Argesse, Mark Gross, Mamdouh Bahri, Joe Ford, Jason Curry, Timithy Hayward, Bradford Hayes, Eddie Henderson, Ubaka Hill, Victor Jones Chip Lyles, Gary Lyles, Joe Lee Wilson, Ted Curson, Cliff Walston, Paul Abler, Clifford Adams, Guilherme Franco, Rick Conga, and Benny Powell, Bill Cody, Eddie Crawford, Bryan Beninghove of the Jersey Jazz Festival, George Walcott, Mina Agossi, Sam O. Williams, Greg Murphy, Mack Goldberg, and Ed Schuler among others past and present.
The collective experience of the members of the Spirit of Life Ensemble includes performances and recordings with jazz icons such as the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, John Hicks, Nancy Wilson, Ahmad Jamal, Shirley Scott, Charles Mingus, Bob Crenshaw, Horace Silver, Buddy Rich, Sonny Fortune, Randy Weston’s African Rhythms, Abbey Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, Miriam Makeba, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Winard Harper, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Owens, Jerry Gonzalez & Fort Apache, Yusef Lateef, and Pharaoh Sanders.