Bassist Carlos Henriquez of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and concert producer/bass player Jenny Hersch have teamed up with Wynton Marsalis for a new music video featuring Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center  and son of the late Ellis Marsalis Jr.  The project was in response to the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

“‘The Ultimate Litmus,’ [are] the lyrics of which are a poem I wrote during the first week on June 2020 as a response to the death of George Floyd,” says Hersch.

“Carlos Henriquez (bassist and arranger, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) and I (I’m a bass player, too) have worked on several projects together over the past few years. I sent him the lyrics and asked him to write a brass band arrangement. I then called Bryan R. Smith, a photographer friend in NYC to ask for the use of the protest pictures he took in New York, D.C. and Minnesota and he was happy to share. Carlos called Dwight Adams (trumpet), Jeffrey Miller (trombone), Ibanda Ruhumbika (tuba) and Ali Jackson (percussion) to record their parts from home. Carlos had played a rough audio mix for Wynton Marsalis in early September. Wynton was moved by the project and offered to recorded the vocal track and a trumpet solo. Two friends in Boston, Alex Leiva (sound) a recent Berklee grad, and Shannon Magnaldi (video) a recent Massachusetts College of Art grad, did their work and this is the result. A great team effort.”

You can listen to and watch their project below.