Acclaimed jazz trombonist, composer, arranger and recording artist Wycliffe Gordon brings to life the spirit, background and historical significance of Oscar Micheaux’s 1920 silent film Within Our Gates. One of the most prolific and innovative African American filmmakers of the early 20th century, Micheaux created Within Our Gates in what is believed to be his response to D.W. Griffith’s 1915 silent film, “Birth of A Nation, ” which extolled the Ku Klux Klan. Gordon captures the essence of Micheaux’s movie skillfully in stunning composition by reimagining the past, present and future aspects of this fundamental work. His 78-minute original score imbues the refrains of early-to-modern jazz alongside work songs, hymns and classical motifs, which recur throughout the film and executed superbly by a live 18-piece jazz orchestra and vocalists. The composition draws from Gordon’s musical training in jazz, classical, gospel, blues, and church music and from Gordon’s depth as an artist both musically and culturally. This is not Gordon’s first project of this magnitude. He was tapped a decade ago by Jazz at Lincoln Center to compose an original score for another silent film by Oscar Micheaux, Body and Soul. In collaboration with the New York Film Society, the premiere of this vibrant new work was to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Paul Robeson, a prolific African-American actor who was making his film debut in the 1925 classic. Much like Within Our Gates, the score to Body and Soul was performed live by an 18-piece jazz orchestra (the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra) at Avery Fisher Hall. Other commissioned works by Wycliffe include The Apollo: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow that was premiered May 2011 as part of the Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival and Wycliffe Gordon’s Jazz a la Carte program, which coincidentally was voted as one of the top five jazz performances of the year by the Wall Street Journal; I Saw the Light, a musical tribute to Muhammad Ali, commissioned and premiered by The Brass Band of Battle Creek in March 2004 that is being re-orchestrated for symphony; and Beyond the Blackberry Patch, a work celebrating the Lincoln-King district of Columbus Ohio, featuring musicians, dancers and a chorus that was commissioned by the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus and premiered March 2012. Originally commissioned screened and premiered in 2011 by Harlem-based organization Jazzmobile, Within Our Gates was met with critical acclaim and rave reviews, and was presented again in 2013 by Symphony Space in collaboration with Jazzmobile and the Harlem Resonance festival. This CD is from this "live performance" in 2013.