Norwegian clarinettist, composer, bandleader, and head of the Motvind label Andreas Røysum first met legendary Chicagoan poet, vocalist, singer-songwriter, and renaissance man Marvin Tate in 2023 when both were performing at Berlin Jazzfest. Tate played there with the Separatist Party, and Røysum immediately knew he would love to collaborate with Tate.

Tate has been a driving force in Chicago culture since the mid-eighties. He made a name for himself as the city’s slam poetry champion. He is a soulful man who addresses injustice with pathos, humor, and humanity in an inspiring and uplifting manner.

In 2024, the 12-member Røysum Ensemble began working with Tate on a joint project. They recorded the Ensemble’s fourth album at the Athletic Sound in Halden, after performing at Oslo’s Nasjonal Jazzscene. Tate and Røysum Ensemble joined forces again at the Sonic Transmission Festival in Austin, Texas, in September 2025.

The album features four pieces that blend Tate’s gospel and soul-tinged roots with Røysum Ensemble’s seminal influences from Afro-American free jazz, especially of the Chicagoan school of free jazz. Røysum Ensemble’s uncompromising yet seductive arrangements complement Tate’s evocative and soulful poetry and his powerful delivery. This meeting reaches its emotional climax in the 17-minute «Closing», with Tate’s charged delivery accompanied by Røysum Ensemble’s ecstatic, imaginative, and liberating arrangement, and in the last piece, the cathartic, gospel-ish-bluesy, «If you see Jesus», with its call-and-response chorus reminding us all about the true meaning of compassion and grace.