Stephen Newby was too young to watch Martin Luther King, Jr., receive the Nobel Peace Prize, or to hear the now-famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 march on Washington.
“But I recalled the day he died,” said Newby, a child in Detroit at the time.
“Mother was in the family room crying. I remember tanks, my grandmother’s house burning down, the violence, the riots, and that I couldn’t go outside to play.”
On Jan. 9 at Benaroya Hall, Newby will conduct an orchestra, vocal ensembles, mass choir, and soloists in “Montage for Martin,” a musical tribute reflecting the diversity King championed.
It will be narrated by King’s eldest daughter, Yolanda King.
The south Snohomish County resident composed the music to “Montage” when he lived in Everett after being approached by co-creator Ja Jahannes.
“It took me about seven months to compose it. Once I started looking at the text I could hear the music. He gave me a tape, some ideas, little melodies (and) I built on that,” he said.
The oratorio has about two dozen songs and a narration complemented by classical music influenced by other musical genres.
“Montage” was first performed in 1998 in Savannah, Georgia.
Newby has a master’s in jazz composition and arranging and a doctorate in composition. He’s pastor of worship arts at Kirkland’s Antioch Bible Church and minister of worship at Seattle Pacific University.
“I wanted to use music as a language to impact culture. Looking at the history of Western European art and music, it’s the documentation of the re-creation of an experience.
“It’s the composer’s mantra; it’s what a composer is all about: being able to take music and truth as I see it and document it, pass it on for generations to come. It’s part of my passion.”
Newby’s relationship to music and God go hand in hand.
“It is very difficult to separate God from those 12 tones (of a scale). I write and I compose for the glory of God. It doesn’t have to be sacred music just as long as it is not profane music. God works just as mightily in the secular as he does the sacred.”
The oratorio appeals to Newby.
“I’ve always been interested in sacred literature. It’s a form that has many different elements, like little snapshots that you can connect with dramatic materials.
“It frees me up as a composer. It gives me a lot to work with because I have so many interests. It can have elements of gospel, jazz, classical, and I can weave all of those things together.”
As he grew older, Newby connected with King’s quest for multicultural living.
“When I was coming up, I was not allowed to play jazz, or blues, or rock ‘n roll … Jazz was associated with that riotous living, the drinking, the gambling, the drugs.
“But when I began to really look at that music, I saw (music) coming out of the heart. I began to create a hybrid with elements of jazz, church and gospel.
“That’s what King was preaching, different groups of people coming together and reflecting the kingdom of God,” Newby said.
“In this concert, people come together who would not ordinarily come together, and find the common ground. That’s what I try to do with my art. That’s what I have in common with King.”
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