Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church

Tom Palance

Music in the Woods will end its 2011-’12 season with a concert by the Tom Palance Group, featuring Miranda Russell, on Friday, June 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Northshore UU Church. Tickets are $10; children 12 and under are free.

Palance is a renowned trumpet performer and educator, known for his versatility and innovative teaching style. Russell is a powerful and moving vocalis whose performance centers on nuanced treatments of a wide range of favorites and American songbook standards. The group is rounded out by pianist John Hyde, bassist David Landoni, and drummer Phil McGowan.

Palance retired from the U.S. Navy, where he served in several Navy orchestras and bands as trumpeter. Since resuming civilian live, he established and leads the North Shore Jazz Camp. He has taught at the University of New Hampshire and is on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory and Salem State University. Currently Palance conducts the Orchestra on the Hill, based on the North Shore.

Miranda Russell

Because of his versatility he is in great demand as a performer for theater productions and other musical functions in the Boston area. He was recently featured as trumpet soloist during the 2007 International Guild Trumpet Conference.

Russell’s early years of theater training taught her to find and deliver the story within the song. Her concerts center on interpretations of the music of the great songwriters of our day. She commits fully to every song, and her lively stage vibe continue to make her a much sought-after performer. Russell has been seen acting and singing on stages from Cambridge to Brussels.

She has appeared in Boston’s Christmas Revels, and has performed at Theatre in the Open in Newburyport, at the Firehouse Center (also in Newburyport), at the Gloucester Stage Company, and at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth.

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Jim Thomas

Jim Thomas and the Slave Song Spirituals Choir will present a program of slave songs at the Northshore UU Church in Danvers on Saturday, June 2, at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $10, and are free for those under 17.

U.S. slave songs are also known as Negro spirituals (circa 1619-1865). Mr. Thomas and the choir bring us the results of research on the significance of slave songs. Our slaves were not Christians. They were not allowed to be. Their music was spiritual, but not of the gospel. What was it and what hidden meanings did it contain?

Spirituals are true American folk songs. There were no new spirituals recorded after the emancipation of the slaves in 1865. Unlike gospel music, spirituals were not composed. U.S. slave songs were a means of communication and always sung in code. Slave songs and spirituals are indeed a fascinating body of work.

Jim Thomas is founder and president of the U.S. Slave Song Project Inc. He serves as narrator and choir director for all events and presentations. Backed by his diverse volunteer Spirituals Choir from Martha’s Vineyard, Mr. Thomas explains the special meanings, codes, and messages in slave music. One song expressed the time of year to escape and be able to cross Northern rivers when frozen, a nighttime journey of over a year. There were vow songs, and songs which said when “helpers,” “conductors,” or angels were near. There were also songs of hope in those Christmas times when families were split by slave auctions.

Mr. Thomas brings his message in as close to the original forms as possible, with original harmonies, African rhythms, call-and-response, the minor pentatonic scale, and “blue notes” that evolved into the blues.

Jim Thomas has given presentations on spirituals in Germany, Brazil, Austria, Sweden, Africa, and various locations across the United States. Since 1976 he has been the founding director of the American Red Cross Chorus at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. He has recruited and directed military choirs in Vietnam and Germany.

While attending Fisk University, Mr. Thomas sang with the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers. Later he sang with the Robert Shaw Chorale in Atlanta, and the Paul Hill Chorale as soloist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. He served as founding choir director to the MV/NAACP Spirituals Choir from 2005-’07. In 2005 he founded the U.S. Slave Song Project on Martha’s Vineyard. As founding president of the Slave Song Project he makes his home in Stafford, Virginia, and on Martha’s Vineyard.

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