PRISM Quartet announces its most thought-provoking and profoundly personal album to date: GENERATE MUSIC. A single from the release, “Requiem for AJ” by James Brown’s musical director, composer, and trombonist Fred Wesley and Philadelphia poet and The Roots collaborator Ursula Rucker drops today, July 31, 2026. A concert film of the June 9, 2024 world premiere performance at Roulette livestreams for free, one night only, on August 7, 8:00 PM ET (RSVP here to watch). The full album follows on August 14, 2026.

GENERATE MUSIC is a new body of work exploring the ties between Black and Jewish Americans. The complex and sometimes fraught history of Black-Jewish relations in America includes episodes of mistrust, conflict, and separatism—but also fellowship and alliance against racism, anti-Semitism, and injustice. The new single “Requiem for AJ” is dedicated to a friend of Wesley’s who died young in an automobile accident. The song tells the story of the Mississippi Three—two young Jewish men and one Black man murdered by Klansmen during Freedom Summer, 1964. But it’s more than a historical account; it’s a call to action. In Rucker’s words:

The live concert GENERATE MUSIC premiered in Philadelphia and New York City in June 2024 as the highlight of PRISM’s 40th anniversary. George Grella described the NY concert in New York Classical Review as “A stirring klezmer funk put together in the kind of elegant and sophisticated forms and arrangements that exemplify the greatness of American popular music and the fundamental contributions of Black and Jewish musicians.” For this ambitious project, PRISM commissioned eight new works by Yotam Haber, David Krakauer, Myra Melford, Diane Monroe, Ursula Rucker, Tyshawn Sorey, Susan Watts, and Fred Wesley, with additional contributions from PRISM’s director, resident composer, and founding tenor saxophonist Matthew Levy. Each wrote a new piece that explores cross-cultural exchange, using the saxophone quartet as the core of a larger ensemble. Together, the compositions amplify multiple perspectives and experiences to form a powerful musical narrative. (Jump to details on each piece.)

GENERATE MUSIC is not only a commissioning project—it is also a supergroup. Although some artists have collaborated before, this project marks the full ensemble’s debut—with sounds that are ethereal, funky, mystical, raucous, somber, joyful, and everything in between. The group is comprised of PRISM Quartet (saxophones) and five of the above composers: David Krakauer (clarinet), Diane Monroe (violin), Ursula Rucker (vocals, poetry), Tyshawn Sorey (drums, percussion), and Susan Watts (vocals, trumpet). Completing the ensemble are two of jazz’s leading lights: electric guitarist David Gilmore (Wayne Shorter, Dave Douglas, Esperanza Spaulding) and bassist Reuben Rogers (Diane Reeves, Charles Lloyd, Wynton Marsalis).