LEVAS

"LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING" 

“LEVAS” is trumpet musician Al Strong’s heartfelt arrangement of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the classic hymn also known as the “Negro National Anthem.” 

A rich and elaborate 8-minute odyssey, “LEVAS” is a tribute to the Black American experience and a love offering from an artist dedicated to the preservation of Black culture. The inspiration for this undertaking came in early 2020 during a performance by the Al Strong Quartet at Saint Augustine University’s annual CIAA Jazz Brunch. Strong began to superimpose the anthem’s melody over a vamp at the end of an original tune. The band immediately went with the vibe and an arrangement was born. He later went to the studio and began scoring the arrangement, adding a string section for a distinct sound. 

As the year went on, Strong’s passion for “LEVAS” was further ignited after the tragic killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the countless calamities of 2020. An only child who spent some years bouncing from shelter to shelter with his father, Strong knows all too well the struggle of Black Americans. Yet it is the optimism of "Lift Every Voice and Sing's" lyrics – [“Out from the gloomy past/‘Til now we stand at last/Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”] -- that fuels this unique interpretation. 

It is in the spirit of hope and triumph that we present to you, “LEVAS.” 

~ Al Strong