Two years ago this Sunday on December 14, 2012, 20 children along with 6 adults were murdered in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. One of the children whose life was taken was a six-year old girl called Anna. “Beautiful Life” is the name of the new album by the American saxophonist Jimmy Greene. It is his tenth album but as he told Dan Damon from his home in Connecticut, this recording is very different. It is dedicated entirely to Anna.
This album speaks about the life of my little girl Anna Grace who was one of the first graders that was killed at Sandy Hook School in December of 2012. In the aftermath of her murder, a lot was made about the way that she died. And my goal with this album was to try to give listeners a glimpse of the way that she lived.
And music is your life. So through music is how you chose to celebrate her life.
Absolutely. Everybody in my family is very musical. So music is a language that we all share. I just really felt like a statement from me as a musician and as a composer and as a performer. Had to include music and lyrics and singers, because those are things that she loved very much.
Anna was a very creative little girl, wasn’t she? You told us about singing, dancing, but she was creative in an artistic way, as well, as she made you a book, I think.
She’s made me a book. She made countless pictures and little notes for no specific reason other than justto show her love and affection for her family. That horrible day December 14, 2012, when I had gotten homeafter hours and hours of waiting, after receiving the horrible news that she had been killed, and I went into the room where my kids had all of their play things--we call it their playroom--and on the desk was something I’d never seen before. And it was fully formed and it was finished. And I believe maybe that day or that weekend, Anna was gonna present it to me. It was called Anna’s Flower Book For Dad. And it was page after page stapled together and with a cover with a beautiful purple and yellow flower on the cover. But page after page was lovely hand-drawn flowers of different sizes and shapes and colors.