Performance selection [Freedom First] - Donostia Kultura

Keith LaMar (voice, poetry), Albert Marquès (piano), Erin Corine (vocals, flute), Manel Fortià (double bass), Mark Ayza (drums)

With the title of Freedom First, Catalan Jazz pianist Albert Marquès brings a live rendering of his album recorded with Keith LaMar, a prisoner sentenced to death in 1993 in the United States and whose execution is scheduled for 16 November 2023 after decades of solitary confinement. Conceived and produced by Marquès, recorded in Girona and Brooklyn between 2020 and 2022, Freedom First (2022) is the first album ever to feature an artist playing from death row.

The project started in 2020 with a series of concerts that saw dozens of musicians perform in the streets of New York, playing the Jazz standards that helped LaMar to survive these long decades of imprisonment and isolation, with the participation of LaMar himself reciting poetry live from prison over the phone. The project is part of the campaign “Justice for Keith LaMar”, seeking to raise awareness on the death penalty and stop LaMar’s execution.

The concert is played in the classic quartet format fronted by Albert Marquès on stage with another four musicians. All are joined, from a distance, by the voice of Keith LaMar, who will be there with us thanks to recording of his voice and who will also perform from prison, again over the phone.