David James

Mission Rebel No. 1 is a work of music that had its premiere Friday, September 22, 2023 at Brava Theater in San Francisco.  The subject of this song cycle is the life of my father, Rev. Jesse James, including his work with the Mission Rebels (also known as Mission Rebels In Action), a youth-employment-and-empowerment organization.  

 

You can watch a trailer here. 

You can read more about the Mission Rebels here.

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Development of this work began during the peak covid-19 years; the first work-in-progress performance was presented as a livestream on June 11, 2021.  Subsequent work-in progress performances were presented in October 2022 and January 2023.

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Performing this work:

Beth Custer – clarinet, voice 

Keith Lawrence – viola, voice

Alan Williams – trombone, voice

David James – guitar, voice, composition

Allegra Bandy – mezzo soprano

Sólás Burke-Lalgee – tenor

Lisa Mezzacappa – bass 

John Hanes – drums ​​
 

The studio recording of Mission Rebel No. 1 will be released in early 2026. 

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These presentations and recording have been funded by InterMusic SF's Musical Grant Program; the Zellerbach Family Foundation; and the San Francisco Arts Commission, which also supported the composition and development of the work.
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Additional support–material, logistic, and recollective–has come from:​

Aijai Anderson 

Lunar Beckett

Landon Beckett

Donald Washington

Suzanne Lee

Regula Langemann

Linda Wilson

Edlo Powell

Lauren Post

Marguerite Crespillo

Mark Werlin

Linda John

Susan Swerdlow

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Alex Cherian/Bay Area TV Archive

Paul Dresher/Independent Jazz Alliance/A Safe Place to Play

David Miller/ Clay Geerdes Archives

The Lost Church

Bird & Beckett Books and Records

Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore and Gallery

Amoeba Music​
 

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Archival footage provided by:

KPIX-TV

Oddball Films

 

In memory of Dolores James; Anna Mae Anderson, Aijai Anderson (née Anna James), and ​

Jesse Joseph James

October 6, 1928 - May 31, 2005