OF THE PEOPLE to Commemorate America's 250th With Sam Butler, Garrett Fasig
April Varner joins Caleb Robinson, Jeff Parker and other ensemble members on the twelve-song album.
Trumpeter Sam Butler and saxophonist Garrett Fasig have joined with the VISIONS JAZZ ENSEMBLE to release OF THE PEOPLE, a twelve-song album marking the semiquincentennial of the United States. The project reimagines spirituals, folk songs, country classics, patriotic anthems and traditional melodies through modern straight-ahead jazz arrangements, with vocalist April Varner appearing as a special guest.
Butler and Fasig have built a reputation for bringing fresh perspectives to familiar American music. Their previous album, Across the Field, transformed 13 classic college fight songs into sophisticated jazz arrangements. Downbeat praised the project, noting, 'Contemporary undertakings of traditional music with the impressive arrangements as the centerpiece.'
Based in Indianapolis, Butler is a composer, arranger, and educator who won the 2023 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Solo Competition. Fasig is likewise a composer, arranger, and educator who has performed alongside numerous world-class musicians. After a neurological disorder limited his ability to perform for extended periods, he shifted his focus toward composing and arranging, earning the BMI David N. Baker Jazz Composition Scholarship.
Joining Butler and Fasig is the Visions Jazz Ensemble: Caleb Robinson (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Jeff Parker (trombone), Alex Turner (acoustic and electric guitar), David Linard (piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3 organ), Alex Hoberty (bass), and Francis Bassett-Dilley (drums), along with special guest vocalist April Varner, winner of the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition.
Created to commemorate America's 250th anniversary, OF THE PEOPLE explores the country's musical and cultural identity through songs spanning more than three centuries. 'The tunes we chose span three centuries of American music,' Butler explains. 'They give voice to both the large and small struggles of American life and to the hopefulness that lies at the core of the American experience. We wanted to tell these stories through the jazz idiom while preserving the essence of the original songs.'
The album opens with 'Simple Gifts,' the Shaker hymn composed in 1848 that achieved lasting fame after Aaron Copland incorporated its melody into Appalachian Spring. 'Take Me Home, Country Roads,' made famous by John Denver in 1971, receives a striking reinterpretation. Butler's moody arrangement and April Varner's wistful vocal transform the familiar anthem into a more introspective meditation.
The haunting 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' commemorates the 1975 sinking of the freighter on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's ballad is recast with an unmistakable folk sensibility as Varner's expressive vocal, Linard's piano figures that shimmer like distress signals, and Butler's dissonant trumpet create an atmosphere of mounting foreboding. Patty Griffin's 'Not a Bad Man' explores the emotional scars carried by soldiers returning from war. Fasig's restrained arrangement and Varner's deeply empathetic performance capture the narrator's struggle with trauma, guilt, and alienation. Dolly Parton's beloved 'Coat of Many Colors' follows, celebrating resilience, love, and dignity through a heartfelt interpretation that honors one of country music's most enduring songs.
Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, written during his tenure in New York in 1893, drew inspiration from spirituals, Native American music, and his own Czech heritage. William Arms Fisher later adapted the symphony's famous Largo into 'Going Home,' adding lyrics in 1922. Butler and Fasig bring fresh emotional depth to this American classic. 'Ghost Riders in the Sky,' Stan Jones's 1948 Western ballad inspired by frontier folklore, evokes the vast landscapes and mythology of the American West. Fasig's expansive arrangement provides the backdrop for Butler's soaring trumpet solo, capturing both the grandeur and the ominous spirit of the legendary ghostly cattle drive.
The traditional spiritual 'Deep River,' first documented in print in 1876, expresses hope, freedom, and the longing for deliverance. Butler's arrangement unfolds with Francis Bassett-Dilley's delicate brushwork, Alex Turner's plaintive guitar, and Varner's deeply moving vocal, illuminating both the spiritual yearning and the historical realities that shaped the song. Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant, composed 'God Bless America' in 1918 as an expression of gratitude for his adopted homeland. Believing a patriotic song should benefit others, Berlin donated its royalties to the Boy Scouts of America. Butler and Fasig transform the familiar anthem into a groove-driven jazz performance featuring Jeff Parker's trombone, Butler's trumpet, and David Linard's Wurlitzer.
The album also includes 'Revolutionary Tea,' a satirical song written in 1773 in response to the Boston Tea Party. Framed as a conversation between Great Britain and its rebellious colonies, the piece reflects the political tensions that helped spark the American Revolution. Inspired by the view from the summit of Pikes Peak, Katharine Lee Bates wrote the poem 'America the Beautiful' in 1893; Samuel A. Ward set it to music in 1910. Butler and Fasig's blues-infused arrangement builds to a jubilant, swinging finale led by Parker and Fasig. The album concludes with Stephen Foster's 'Hard Times,' written in 1854 as a compassionate reflection on poverty and hardship. By reviving this overlooked American classic, Butler and Fasig shine a light on a timeless song whose message remains deeply relevant.
OF THE PEOPLE offers a fresh perspective on some of America's most enduring songs. Butler and Fasig's imaginative arrangements honor each work's history while bringing it vividly into the present. Performed by the outstanding musicians of the Visions Jazz Ensemble and elevated by the remarkable vocals of April Varner, the album presents a thoughtful, nuanced portrait of America—celebrating its ideals while acknowledging its complexities.
OF THE PEOPLE was released on July 31, 2026 and is available digitally on all platforms. Physical CDs are available at https://www.indianafound.org/shop/
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PSXxkSPAf74&list=OLAK5uy_murD5-x4RrOXjOkTKhAiL-iioD81Z1xms
Butler and Fasig previously collaborated on Across the Field, an album that reworked college fight songs into jazz arrangements and drew praise from Downbeat. Butler, based in Indianapolis, won the 2023 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Solo Competition, while Fasig shifted his focus toward composing and arranging after a neurological disorder affected his ability to perform, later earning the BMI David N. Baker Jazz Composition Scholarship. Varner is the winner of the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition.
