The idea that a chariot of fire would sweep down out of the heavens and carry off a man in a mystical spiritual process called “ascension” has fascinated me since childhood.  When I first heard the story in the Bible of the master Elijah and his devoted disciple, Elisha, probably in Sunday School, I tucked the tale away in the back of my mind for further imaginary consideration on those nights when sleep would not come easy.

Later in life, as I taught Sunday School, I began to study thoroughly the story so that I could best relate it to my boys in the class I taught.  I watched them too become fascinated with the tale and found that the discussions around the story went on for weeks in my classes.  Every step of the experience was questioned and thrashed about.  “What was ascension?”  “Why did Elijah say to Elisha that if he could see him ascend then Elisha might be able to someday ascend as well?”  “Why did Elijah ask Elisha to hold his garment?”

“Was there really a chariot?”  That, of course, was the question most considered by my 9-13 year old boys.  These were heady discussions of the spiritual process that mystifies and fascinates many of us and I must say that I learned a lot from the open imaginations of those boys over the years.

In the late 90s I wrote a powerful piece of music for the Jenny Burton Experience that became a staple of the group and a fan favorite show-stopper for nearly seven years called Revelation. I went through the book of Revelation in the Bible and cherry-picked many of my favorite surrealistic images from the mind of John and tried to put them together in some way that made a certain kind of sense at least to myself.

I think I was able to convey a strange kind of surrealistic sense to my audience because at the end of the piece each night they always rose and cheered the performance of that magical group.

The piece was just a little over 9 minutes long and though there were several returning themes that kept coming back, it was mostly through written, meaning that different melodies came and went and evolved one into another.

Because of the success of this piece, I thought I was on to something and decided to explore the tradition more thoroughly.  I began to look for a story that was Biblical as well as could be told using verses from the Bible and one that would have the imagery and drama that Revelation reached for.

Naturally my old favorite story of Elijah, Elisha, and the chariot of fire came quickly to mind.  I spent a couple of years further researching the story and  tinkering with the Bible verses to fit them into a more musical language and in some cases finding rhymes to further musicalize the text.

Once I had the story fleshed out to my satisfaction, I began to plot out the musical inventions much like an author would plot out a novel.  Where was the slow section?  How would the piece rise and fall?  Who would tell this story?  What style of music would work best in the telling?

I knew it would basically need to be told in two styles: first, in a Gospel tradition because of the Biblical imagery of the tale and second, in a somewhat classical tradition because of the classicism of the story.

Three iconic songs kept coming to mind as I worked.  The first, naturally, was Swing Low Sweet Chariot. How could I possibly write this piece and not include some reference to this gorgeous song.  So I began to work it through my already developing composition.  Borrowing other public domain work began to seem like a good idea to me so once again I went back to my childhood and found two other favorites from my youth.

Swing Down Chariot Stop And Let Me Ride was one from my early folk days first heard by me performed by the Chad Mitchell Trio.  I was always fascinated by the energy that they got out of this number, so I decided to use that as well.  Also, among many other songs considered, Ride The Chariot In The Mornin’ Lord stuck as well.  The rest I wrote myself, weaving these three iconic songs in and out.

I simply loved the process of working on that experimental piece.  Give me a good foundation and I can soar, and in this piece we really kick up our heels and ride the sky.  Simply put, it’s a great story filled with musical imagery.  It was a thrilling process to write, arrange, orchestrate and produce.

I was very clear that the scope of the piece went far beyond my talents as a singer and since it was really a kind of Classical/Gospel piece, I decided to turn to some of my deeply talented pool of NY vocalists for help.  I ended up writing the piece for 8 solo voices – seven African American Gospel singers and my long-time vocal arranger and superb vocalist herself, Margaret Dorn.  These eight soloists also served as the ensemble in the piece as we sometimes double tracked and triple tracked the voices.  Margaret did the choir arrangements.

I scored it for 4 women and 4 men and was fortunate enough to be able to hire the best of the best.  Led by Jenny Burton, Angela Clemmons, Cat Russell, John James and Darryl Tooks, this was as formidable a group of singin’ folks as you could find in NYC in the early 2000s.

The vocal sessions took several weeks.  I spent a ton of my own money on this project and was totally driven during the process to finish it and get it out there.  When the vocals were finished, I did a rough mix (a quick mix that was never intended to go to mastering) so that I could show the song to a few people.

Then life took its turns and for whatever reason the project got shelved.  Probably something came along in my life that required my complete attention and in my inimitable fashion I ventured off onto something else.

Chariot sat on my digital ‘shelf’ then for about 8 years.  Occasionally I would open up the files and play it and reminisce about the great two-year experience that I had with the piece, but it was going to be a completely time-consuming process to complete and daunting to one who was far to busy to begin with

During those 8-10 years the wonderful world of sample technology came of age.  The abilities to re-create the orchestra digitally grew by leaps and bounds and the technology around the sampling became so good that today one is hard pressed to tell the difference.

So each time I would go back to Chariot and listen, the piece would seem ‘older’ and less convincing to me, though I always loved its composition, its spirit and its vocal performances.

Yes, I know, it’s a long story – but one with a happy ending.  This year, in all my spare time, I have gone back to Chariot, first to remix it, but then deciding to completely re-orchestrate the piece with the newer technologies.  This was not easy.  It meant basically re-performing and re-programming the entire orchestra and rhythm section while maintaining the original spirit of the sessions.  I was successful at doing that and am now most happy that I’ve spent the countless hours re-constructing.

This week I will finish the mixing process of Chariot and get it to the masterer.  It’s been a long road, but entirely worth it.  This is one of my favorite compositions of my life and one that I’m very proud of.

It tells a great Biblical story in modern musical language, but, I think, maintains the integrity of the classicism.  I’ve now listened to this piece probably a thousand times and it does not get tiring for me.  I’m still fascinated with its spirit and invention.

I’ll probably sit on it a bit more through Christmas and keep tinkering, but release it in January of 2011.  That’ll make about a decade.  Seems appropriate for this piece.

Stay tuned…