DANBURY, CONN. — Jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader Jimmy Greene’s conviction that tragedy must not silence the joyous music of his daughter Ana Grace Marquez-Greene’s brief life has provided the inspiration for the Western Connecticut State University faculty member’s upcoming release of his new album, “Beautiful Life,” and performance in concert on Dec. 5, 2014, with the Jimmy Greene Quartet at WCSU.

The album, which will be released Nov. 24 on Mack Avenue Records, offers an intensely personal journey of remembrance and celebration of Ana’s life through a diverse collection of original compositions and arrangements by Greene, as well as fresh interpretations of spiritual songs and Broadway musical classics. The voice of Ana, who was among the first-grade victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, provides a powerful opening to the album in a home recording of her singing of the traditional Latin American Christmas melody “Saludos,” made during a holiday visit in Puerto Rico with the family of her mother, Nelba Marquez-Greene.

Selections from the album will be featured in the program for the sold-out gala concert on Dec. 5 that will mark the opening of the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall at the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) on the university’s Westside campus in Danbury. Greene, assistant professor of music and co-coordinator of jazz studies at WCSU, will be joined for the evening’s featured set by an elite group of artists rounding out his jazz quartet including Renee Rosnes on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums. The concert will begin with a set performed by Western student jazz combos in collaboration with members of the quartet. “We’ll incorporate a lot of different elements in the concert, and we’ll have some special invited guests at the end,” Greene remarked.

“It’s an honor to perform for the formal dedication of this Concert Hall and celebrate all the hard work and achievements of everyone who contributed to the construction of this building,” he said. “The Visual and Performing Arts Center will become a hub for artistic activity in the state and the region.”

The “Beautiful Life” album features recordings by a dozen leading jazz artists, orchestra and choir whose performances provide richly evocative and varied perspectives on the personal and musical journey of Greene’s family. “Everything was chosen for a very specific reason related to our family, and all of the musicians on this album have a personal connection with me and my family,” he observed.

Greene’s decision to write lyrics for several new compositions and to introduce vocals for several selections from his earlier work represented a departure from his previous albums, which have featured exclusively instrumental jazz tracks. “I knew that in making music that was inspired by my daughter and her life, I would have to write songs with lyrics because she so loved to sing and dance,” he said.

The album’s expression through music of the enduring power of youthful joy and innocence is captured by the quietly moving cover photograph of Ana and her brother Isaiah taken in the backyard of their home on the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the family lived prior to moving to Newtown in 2012. “The kids are looking out at the river,” Greene recalled. “Isaiah has one arm around his sister and in his other hand, he holds a yellow whiffle ball bat. I would pitch crabapples that fell from a tree in the backyard and the children would bat them into the river. One day while we were out there, my wife said to Isaiah and Ana, ‘Why don’t you turn your backs to me and I’ll take your picture?’”

That photograph finds musical expression on the album in “Last Summer,” a quartet piece composed as a reflection on his children’s image. Greene draws similar inspiration from Ana’s life in the new composition “Little Voices,” which includes a soliloquy recited by Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose. Rose, who attended Bloomfield High School with Greene, won his daughter’s heart as the voice of Princess Tiana in one of Ana’s favorite animated films, “The Princess and the Frog.”

Greene reworked several of his earlier instrumental compositions to write new vocal arrangements for the album, including “When I Come Home” featuring “The Voice” 2011 winner Javier Colon and “Ana’s Way” featuring jazz vocalist and composer Kurt Elling with the Early Years Choir of the Linden Christian School in Winnipeg. “All the children who sing on the album were classmates of my son and my daughter when they attended the Linden School,” he said. Latanya Farrell, who like Colon was a classmate of Greene’s at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, sings Greene’s arrangement of the text of the Lord’s Prayer in “Prayer,” which also features Cyrus Chestnut on piano.

Greene called upon pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash – legendary jazz artists who supported Greene as his rhythm section for his breakthrough performance at age 21 in the 1996 Thelonious Monk competition – to reunite with him in fresh takes on the Broadway songs “Where is Love?” from “Oliver” and “Maybe” from “Annie.” The selection of “Where Is Love?” harks back to Greene’s introduction to that melody as an improvisation assignment from his instructor and mentor at the Artists Collective in Hartford, Jackie McLean. “Maybe” seemed ideally suited for an album inspired by his daughter, he noted: “Ana loved all the songs from ‘Annie’ and sang them a capella.”

The album also renewed collaborations with other artists including Rosnes, guitar legend Pat Metheny and a string ensemble from the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Metheny joined Greene in an instrumental performance of “Come Thou Almighty King,” which segues into a home recording of Isaiah playing the same piece from his school songbook while Ana sings the hymn.

Greene expressed special gratitude to Norman and David Chesky of Chesky Records and HD Tracks, who reached out to him in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy to offer donation of studio facilities, production and administrative support for recording of the album. The Chesky brothers also awarded full ownership and control of the masters for the album to Greene and insisted that they should take no financial profit from the recording.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of “Beautiful Life” will benefit the Ana Grace Project of Klingberg Family Centers in New Britain and the Artists Collective in Hartford. The Ana Grace Project was founded in October 2013 in a collaboration between the Greene family and the Klingberg Family Centers to promote love, community and connection for every child and family through research, professional development and public policy aimed at building community efforts to prevent violence and foster recovery. The Artists Collective, founded by McLean in 1970, is an interdisciplinary arts and cultural institution that has served the Greater Hartford area for more than four decades, providing what Greene described as “world-class training” as well as a profound appreciation of his African American heritage and his place in the rich legacy of jazz musicians. More information on these nonprofit organizations is available online at http://anagraceproject.org and http://artistscollective.org.

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