Pastor's Paradox (Clean Feed 2023)

With clarinetist Don Byron, cellists Lester St. Louisand Yves Dhar, drummer Pheeroan akLaff, and spoken word artist Mtume Gant.

“Pastor’s Paradox” began with a single composition commissioned by a 2020 Jazz Coalition Grant, the year mass protest broke out after the murder of George Floyd, a killing which followed a series of other high-profile slayings of unarmed Black Americans. As the nation reckoned, and continues to reckon, with systemic racism and violence decades after the historic March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s evolving and enduring words and legacy became the fitting focal point for Ortiz’s project, which grew into a five-part suite with support from the South Arts Foundation, premiering in Dallas in 2021. Ortiz expanded the suite into a seven-song cycle for the album, adding cellist Dhar and spoken word artist Gant.

With “Pastor’s Paradox,” Ortiz has created a 21st-century chamber jazz work that brilliantly and seamlessly connects the past, present and future, honoring Dr. King’s astonishing gifts of oratoryand the contributions and sacrifices madeby him and scores of other civil rights advocates. Magnificently crafted, it’s a searing work of art and yet another important addition to Ortiz’s growing oeuvre.