Blood on the Fields

Jazz · 1997 · 27 tracks

Blood on the Fields

Wynton Marsalis

A massive three-hour jazz oratorio charting the journey from slavery to freedom. Dense, orchestral, and deeply narrative with vocal performances that haunt.

June 17, 1997 · Columbia

A profound and often harrowing journey through historical trauma toward communal redemption.

Tracklist · 27 Tracks

01

Calling the Indians Out

5:27

02

Move Over

10:04

03

You Don’t Hear No Drums

11:52

04

The Market Place

6:02

05

Soul for Sale

6:08

06

Plantation Coffle March

10:45

07

Work Song (Blood on the Fields)

8:26

08

Lady’s Lament

6:16

09

Flying High

2:05

10

Oh We Have a Friend in Jesus

4:07

11

God Don’t Like Ugly

8:07

12

Juba and a O’Brown Squaw

6:08

13

Follow the Drinking Gourd

2:22

14

My Soul Fell Down

2:18

15

Forty Lashes

7:30

16

What a Fool I’ve Been

2:35

17

Back to Basics

11:28

18

I Hold Out My Hand

7:40

19

Look and See

5:07

20

The Sun Is Gonna Shine

2:21

21

Will the Sun Come Out?

9:10

22

The Sun Is Gonna Shine

6:45

23

Chant to Call the Indians Out

3:57

24

Calling the Indians Out

5:41

25

Follow the Drinking Gourd

1:46

26

Freedom Is in the Trying

2:47

27

Due North

5:35

Moments Worth Listening For

The jarring, dissonant brass fanfares in Calling the Indians Out that signal the end of an old world.

The rhythmic intensity of the Plantation Coffle March where the percussion mimics the heavy, synchronized footsteps of the enslaved.

The moments in Work Song where the vocalists and instruments engage in a grueling call-and-response that feels physically heavy.

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