Ashley Jackson: Take Me To The Water
Decca Records
The cover image and title of harpist Ashley Jackson's absorbing Take Me To The Water naturally engender thoughts about baptism, rebirth, and healing, and the collection lives up to its billing as an "exploration of the transformative and spiritual power of water” when many of the works reference it in their titles. In her thoughtfully curated programme, Jackson pays homage to Black American composers Margaret Bonds and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, French composer Claude Debussy, and honours harpists Alice Coltrane and Brandee Younger by including performances of their works, with Jackson herself contributing a composition too. Pieces by João Luiz Rezende and Jeremy Charles Thomas also appear, as do traditionals that bolster the reverential tone of this deeply personal project. One's soul is replenished by its uplifting spiritual tone and the rewards the material brings.
While the arrangements, which feature either Jackson alone or accompanied by The Harlem Chamber Players (and on one piece the Known MPLS Choir), are sparse, music so deep and heartfelt it in no way suffers from a restrained presentation. The album's seductive pull begins the instant she and the string players give Coltrane's “Radhe-Shyam” a stirring, sensitively attuned reading of this haunting, Hindu tradition-drawn hymn. Harp strums and painterly string gestures encourage a kind of peaceful surrender that the wholly enraptured listener is happily willing to give. Shifting the focus to the beauty of Jackson's solo harp (and her wordless vocal accompaniment), "River Jordan” wades into bluesy waters before transforming into a gently radiant hymn. That resolution provides a seamless segue into Coleridge-Taylor's “Deep River,” a spiritual the composer originally adapted in 1905 and which receives two treatments. In the first, Jackson breathes poetic life into its haunting melodies with fluid execution and eloquent articulation; in the second, a gentler and slower rendition amplifies the beauty of the themes. Slightly darker-hued by comparison, Younger's “Unrest” evokes the animated flow of water, whilst also making room for contemplative rubato passages.
From Danses pour harpe chromatique avec accompagnement d'orchestre d'instruments à cordes comes Debussy's “Danse sacrée” (1904), quietly rhapsodic material that's as graceful, atmospheric, and evocative as expected. The set includes two same-titled pieces in “Yemaya,” the first by João Luiz Rezende, director of chamber music at CUNY Hunter College and a guitar teacher at Stony Brook University, and the second by Jeremy Charles Thomas. Titled after the queen of the sea, Rezende's is a short and rather sombre meditation, whereas Thomas's is an equally brief composition but a tad sunnier, though still as contemplative as the other. Based on the spiritual “Wade in the Water,” Bonds' melodically gripping “Troubled Water” is one of the set's most haunting works, and Jackson voices its lyrical content with immense feeling and poise. After the dreamlike hush of “Amen” comes the spiritual “Take Me To The Water,” its gentle hymn melodies affectingly delivered by the harpist alone in the first part and beautifully sung by the Known MPLS Choir in the rousing, gospel-tinged second.
There is a political undercurrent in play here, though it's not dealt with heavy-handedly and more implied than addressed explicitly. Water provides spiritual healing and rebirth, but safe water is also severely lacking in some parts of the world, with billions affected by global water inequities. In that context, water's not only needed for its power to heal but to help people survive. Jackson's hunting different game on Take Me To The Water, however, in emphasizing the spiritual and baptismal qualities associated with the element. Not unimportantly, she also shows how powerful the harp can be as a conduit of emotional resonance and poignancy, and the artistry on display is of a particularly high order.April 2025