Ernest Dawkins Live The Spirit Residency Big Band-- Memory in the Center, an Afro-opera

Memory in the Center, an Afro Opera: Homage to Nelson Mandela is by saxophonist and composer Ernest Dawkins and the Live the Spirit Residency Big Band. David Whiteis of JazzTimes called the composition a "fusion of postbop melodic and rhythmic thrust, jubilant swing, freedom-bound improvisation and militancy leavened by compassion and spiked with acerbic wit," and commented: "Once again, Ernest Dawkins has given us a work that exemplifies the inseparability of struggle and celebration, both in music and in life."