Corcoran Holt - The Mecca (2018)

The Mecca" by bassist and bandleader Corcoran Holt fashions for us a world in which we all can find common ground. The title suggests for us that the Mecca is the meeting place for creative self-expression, for laughter, for joy, and for remembering and empowering the least of these. Holt has called upon some of his closest friends within his musical circle to record his debut album as they reflect on how their own personal journeys have intertwined to form one strong bond. It is a gathering where they find the space for vulnerability through a music-like conversation.

From the very beginning, Corcoran Holt's musical journey was nurtured on the local D.C. jazz scene and as a student at the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts. As he made the pilgrimage to NYC, he was embraced by his peers alike who encouraged his growth. While on the jazz scene, he befriended the musicians who are featured on this album and together they have taken on the task of bridging the gap between art and culture, music and life, to make us feel the blues in everything that we do. The friendships that have taken place on and off the bandstand have contributed to a musical home--a place of freedom to make possible a world that makes us better. In doing so, the band continues to carve out some modicum of hope against despair. The beauty of the moment is to reclaim a world for us in which you cannot deny the humanity of the other person, because after all, to swing is to be free. From this perspective, “The Mecca" strikes us as hoping against hope. And each song is like a room inside a home where love abounds.

By Millard Southern

Musicians

Corcoran Holt, bass and djembe, Tracks 1-11, vocals djembe and agogo bell, track 12
Stacy Dillard, Tenor and Soprano Sax, tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11
Josh Evans, Trumpet, Tracks 3, 4, 7, 11
Benito Gonzalez, Piano, Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, Fender Rhodes, Track 10
Sharp Radway, Piano, Tracks, 4, 9
Richard Padron, Guitar, Tracks 1, 10, 11
Russell Malone, Guitar, Track 6
Andrae Murchison, Trombone- Tracks 9, 10
Mavis Swan Poole, Vocals Track 8
McClenty Hunter, Drums Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11
Rudy Bird, Percussion Tracks 1, 5, 7, 10, 11