Ryan Holiday Obstacle

From Maxville to Vanport is music with a purpose, saluting the courage and resilience of black Americans who helped build those cities in the '20s and '40s in the face of unrelenting prejudice and hostility and in so doing helped make the state of Oregon what it is today. The music is by Ezra Weiss, the lyrics by poet S. Renee Mitchell, the performance by the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble featuring vocalist Marilyn Keller. As a part of the score was written for documentary films, one can only imagine its more persuasive import if seen as well as heard, even though this CD conveys as best it can the depth and scope of Weiss' and Mitchell's eloquent vision.