Oree's 'Never Back Down' jazz opera explores 1851 Christiana riot

Despite a keen interest in African American history, Warren Oree had never heard of the violent standoff that came to be known as the Christiana riot. Then Oree came upon a two-sentence summary of the 1851 confrontation, which involved three escaped slaves, a strong-willed free black man, and a slave owner intent on retrieving his property. That was enough to spark the bassist/composer's curiosity.

"I don't knock the Underground Railroad," Oree says, "but for too long African Americans have been pictured as either running away or cowering, and that's not a true picture. You had many instances of slave revolt and rebellion that have been swept under the rug for various reasons. So when I heard about the Christiana resistance, I thought, 'Man, I've got to write about this.' And I figured I'd do it in a way that can be entertaining, a little different, and informative."

The result is Never Back Down, a jazz opera that premiered in July 2009 at Philadelphia's historic Cliveden house. Oree, a 62-year-old city native, wrote the piece under a grant from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. as part of its Quest for Freedom program promoting the city's Underground Railroad history.

At just more than an hour, Never Back Down is performed in a concert setting, allowing a balance between the jazz and operatic components. Beyond performing their parts, singers are called on to engage with the instrumental soloists.

"I put the structure of jazz first and put opera on top of that," Oree says, "as opposed to trying to put jazz on top of the operatic structure. I'm keeping it minimal. I asked the actors to dress all in black so the audience can hopefully fill in the blanks and visualize what they would have looked like in 1851."

Never Back Down will have its second performance Sunday at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, funded in part by a grant from the William King Foundation. In addition to an expanded version of the opera, the event will feature performances by the Clef Club Youth Ensemble and four area poets whom Oree commissioned to pen works exploring the theme of slave resistance.