Fisk Jubilee Quartet: ALBUM OF THE YEAR

[papsrus]

All Moms is arguing for, as far as I can see, is an open ear to some neglected forms of early American music.

That the blues form became a dominant influence on so much American music of the 20th Century seems undeniable. (And round and round we go). But what of the other strains, such as those trumpeted in the original post? What is their place? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why are they worth listening to?

This music is worth hearing on its own terms.

A listener can judge the value and place of the music however he or she wants, after listening to it.

But it does have some value, and some place. Seems to me.

[AllenLowe]

"artists don't worry about any of this shit. They just create."

actually, Jim, though I understand your point of view, I worry about this kind of stuff all the time. Day and night, even sleeping, really. It's just part of me. And, for me, a big part of the creative process.

Edited October 16, 2010 by AllenLowe

[cih]

You have my sympathy - being an artist and a critic/historian sounds like a recipe for sleepless nights to me...

Warning - waffle ahead:...

People who really can create without that antagonism are to be envied - I mean, I think anything you create contains self-criticism.

As a comparative outsider, and a non-musician - the lack of time to choose in creating jazz (I mean in the flow of improvisation) - between all the infinite possibilities of what to put down next is something that appeals to me, because in the limited genuinely creative moments I have engaged in - for example painting - I have been paralysed with a dilemma, not a fear of the empty white sheet, but the fear that my marks will falsely represent me because what I choose to put down seems so definitely a decision, like - "THIS is the best and right option for me now"... when really I know the choice could legitimately be any one of a million other things. This ultimately resulted in me only being satisfied with results in which I couldn't recognise myself, kind of automatically painted, as if by someone else (not achieved through drugs, but I'm sure this is a large part of the attraction for some 'experimenters' - not achieving inspiration through narcotics, but instead a deadening of the self criticism at the moment of creativity). So I'm often attracted to things where i can recognise this tension of choice, either when the artist appears to shrug it off - for example, Jimmy Yancey's E flat at the end of each tune - to me he seems to be saying "I did it like this, but it could have been that" (or as someone else once said "the joke's on you"), or again, the Dadaists' attempts at blasé destruction, or negation, which inevitably result in a new creation despite themselves...

(or a 36 CD history of blues which still has a question mark on the end? )

This general fear of being misrepresented by the 'signifier' extends to simple things - if someone asks what music I like, I stumble on the words 'blues' or 'jazz' because they might represent in their minds something very different to what is in my mind.

Anyway... - (and, emoticons represent my feelings better than my own face)

Edited October 16, 2010 by cih

[AllenLowe]

also, I would add, that Harold Rosenberg, a great art critic, remarked that every work of art is an act of criticism.

[Jim Alfredson]

If I focused on any of this shit, I'd never get anything done. Better to create and let the cards fall where they may. I make music because it's the best way I have of expressing myself. If no one else listens to it or likes it, oh well. My dad wrote literally 1000's of songs (with lyrics) that nobody outside of our immediate family has ever really heard. He wrote them for himself, to work through his own demons and celebrate his life, wife, and children. He never cared about what anyone else thought, he enjoyed them and enjoyed the process.

That's pretty much where I'm at except I have the audacity to release the shit.

As for the original theme of this thread, of course the music should be taken on it's own terms, but you don't have to diss other music to do it. I've never understood that attitude. It happens in all genres with the fanboys, but it's a dead end.

[cih]

If I focused on any of this shit, I'd never get anything done

That sums up my production! (I can't help it though). But I have to stress it's not at all a question of getting the approval of others. If my mother-in-law likes a picture, I bin it. (just kiddin')

Edited October 17, 2010 by cih

[papsrus]

... My dad wrote literally 1000's of songs (with lyrics) that nobody outside of our immediate family has ever really heard. ...

Your late father truly sounds like a remarkable and inspired guy.

As for the original theme of this thread, of course the music should be taken on it's own terms, but you don't have to diss other music to do it. I've never understood that attitude. It happens in all genres with the fanboys, but it's a dead end.

Maybe, but I'll take Moms over milk every time.

Plus, I've long since stopped being offended when someone tells me I'm full of shit. 'Bitches Brew' seems a bit too easy of a target though.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

All Moms is arguing for, as far as I can see, is an open ear to some neglected forms of early American music.

That the blues form became a dominant influence on so much American music of the 20th Century seems undeniable. (And round and round we go). But what of the other strains, such as those trumpeted in the original post? What is their place? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why are they worth listening to?

This music is worth hearing on its own terms.

A listener can judge the value and place of the music however he or she wants, after listening to it.

But it does have some value, and some place. Seems to me.

I have to say three cheers for Archeophone specifically because they troll these byways that are written out of the official histories of American pop culture. The past was as complicated a place as today is.

[Mark Stryker]

As it happens, one of the producers of the new Fisk Jubilee Quartet set is a metro Detroit record collector named Ken Flaherty whom I profile today. He brought the rare 1911 Edison cylinders to the table -- well seven of the nine; two ended up coming from other sources. Anyway, thought folks here might be interested in the story, though it's less about the music per se than about a particular collector's passions. Also look for the link in the right-hand rail to the related story in which he talks about some of the gems in his collection. There are some sound clips in the rail too.

Main story here: http://www.freep.com/article/20101205/ENT04/12050358/Detroiter-collects-early-20th-Century-African-American-spirituals

Edited December 5, 2010 by Mark Stryker

[papsrus]

As it happens, one of the producers of the new Fisk Jubilee Quartet set is a metro Detroit record collector named Ken Flaherty whom I profile today. He brought the rare 1911 Edison cylinders to the table -- well seven of the nine; two ended up coming from other sources. Anyway, thought folks here might be interested in the story, though it's less about the music per se than about a particular collector's passions. Also look for the link in the right-hand rail to the related story in which he talks about some of the gems in his collection. There are some sound clips in the rail too.

Main story here: http://www.freep.com/article/20101205/ENT04/12050358/Detroiter-collects-early-20th-Century-African-American-spirituals

Must have been quite an experience visiting with Flaherty. Having 15 vintage phonographs is, I'm sure, largely a product of his collecting. But I wonder how many different players he would 'need' in order to be able to play all the different kinds of cylinders/records he has in his collection? Records (and cylinders, I'm sure) were early on designed to play on specific machines, yes?

Anyways, nice article. Thanks for linking it.

[Rooster_Ties]

If I focused on any of this shit, I'd never get anything done. Better to create and let the cards fall where they may. I make music because it's the best way I have of expressing myself. If no one else listens to it or likes it, oh well. My dad wrote literally 1000's of songs (with lyrics) that nobody outside of our immediate family has ever really heard. He wrote them for himself, to work through his own demons and celebrate his life, wife, and children.

Late to the game here, but I think the difference here is neatly summed up in the word "family" -- or maybe other priorities that somehow hold a similar significance. I can't imagine anyone with a spouse and kids being able to have enough time to focus on the these things -- and Jim, you rightly do not, nor did you Dad. I can't imagine many spouses putting up with too much of this either (or else I'd think it's gotta be semi-contained, at least a bunch of the time).

I'm married 10 years (going on 15 really), but with no kids (no plans for any either). If I were single, it'd be a LOT easier to get lost in this stuff, and I likely would (or at least could). I'm sure 'partnering' and/or being an active parent has a LOT to do with one's depth of interest in such things. Admittedly, I'm probably somewhere in the middle, one foot in each camp.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

Somebody mentioned William Grant Still earlier -- important certainly (like Jackie Robinson), but maybe a touch overrated.

The REAL deal is the "Satchel Paige" of African American classical composers, William Levi Dawson. His "Negro Folk Symphony" of 1934 is on my top-5 list of symphonies by American composers -- and often near or at the very top. Here's the whole thing, in a 4-part play-list on Youtube.

Little known fact: Dawson and artist Arron Douglas both taught at Lincoln High School here in Kansas City at the same time in the early 20's for about 2 years (when they were both in their mid 20's), and became life-long friends. It's not a stretch in the slightest to mention Douglas and Thomas Hart Benton in the same breath. And to bring this full circle to the actual thread-topic(!), in 1939 Douglas moved to Nashville, and founded the Art Department at Fisk, where he taught for over a quarter century. Here's a much better example than those on the Wiki page for Douglas.

Here's a couple more good examples as well...

Edited December 6, 2010 by Rooster_Ties

[Mark Stryker]

Somebody mentioned William Grant Still earlier -- important certainly (like Jackie Robinson), but maybe a touch overrated.

The REAL deal is the "Satchel Paige" of African American classical composers, William Levi Dawson. His "Negro Folk Symphony" of 1934 is on my top-5 list of symphonies by American composers -- and often near or at the very top. Here's the whole thing, in a 4-part play-list on Youtube.

Little known fact: Dawson and artist Arron Douglas both taught at Lincoln High School here in Kansas City at the same time in the early 20's for about 2 years (when they were both in their mid 20's), and became life-long friends. It's not a stretch in the slightest to mention Douglas and Thomas Hart Benton in the same breath. And to bring this full circle to the actual thread-topic(!), in 1939 Douglas moved to Nashville, and founded the Art Department at Fisk, where he taught for over a quarter century. Here's a much better example than those on the Wiki page for Douglas.

Here's a couple more good examples as well...

Don't really have time to post at length about relative merits of Still and Dawson but wanted to note quickly that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's great recording of Dawson's "Negro Folk Symphony" conducted by Neeme Jarvi is available in two incarnations, one coupled with Still's Second Symphony and Duke Ellington's "Harlem" and one couple with just Ellington ("Harlem," "The River" (suite) and "Solitude."

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Symphony-Dawson-Ellington-Harlem/dp/B000000ATE/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1291755478&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Dawson-Negro-Symphony-Ellington-Solitude/dp/B00005B1DB/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1291755478&sr=1-3

Jarvi and the DSO's equally fabulous recording of Still's First Symphony ("Afro-American") is coupled with Ellington's "The River" http://www.amazon.com/Still-Symphony-Ellington-Suite-River/dp/B000000ARJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1291755829&sr=1-1

Jarvi programmed music by black composers constantly during his 15-year tenure here and in 1998 took the Still First Symphony to Europe with the DSO -- I was privileged to accompany the orchestra on part of that tour and saw some really interesting reactions to the the piece in Vienna and elsewhere. That music was WAY off the radar for European audiences and and the blues-form of the opening movement and the banjo in the third movement seemed to both shock and mesmerize listeners.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Mark Stryker

[Rooster_Ties]

I do really like Still too (and don't mean to suggest otherwise).

I'm just completely mesmerized by that Dawson symphony. I've had both discs you mentioned, Mark, and it's a title I pick up whenever I find used copies -- just to pass along to people.

I see Naxos has recorded Still's 4th & 5th symphonies, and I've been meaning to check them out.

[Mark Stryker]

I do really like Still too (and don't mean to suggest otherwise).

I'm just completely mesmerized by that Dawson symphony. I've had both discs you mentioned, Mark, and it's a title I pick up whenever I find used copies -- just to pass along to people.

I see Naxos has recorded Still's 4th & 5th symphonies, and I've been meaning to check them out.

Haven't heard the Naxos recording, but I did hear a live performance of the obscure Fourth (1947) in 2004 by the Detroit Symphony led by then resident conductor Thomas Wilkins. This was part of the orchestra's annual Classical Roots program, subscription concerts that celebrate black composers (and performers).

Here's what I wrote about the piece in the review:

"The four-movement, 28-minute Fourth carries the subtitle "Autochthonous" and the composer said it portrays the spirit of "the American people" (note he didn't specify race). The music is typical Still -- folksy interpolations of blue notes and jaunty syncopation into an aesthetic defined by simple classical forms and Dvorak-inspired romantic expression. The piece lacks the overall impact of the First Symphony, but two slow movements sigh with urban melancholy, piquant wind scoring and arching string melodies."

[AllenLowe]

IIRC, the early Still is much more interesting as he was, once more IIRC, studying with Varese. Then he got into more folk forms and truthfully his talent deserted him - blues posturing, very shallow use of the vernacular.

The afformentioned (in another thread) Coleridge Taylor Perkinson is head and shoulders above Still in his ability to channel traditional forms and transform them into something personal and expressive. No comparison, from where I sit.

I have not, I think, however, heard the Fourth.

Edited December 8, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Mark Stryker]

IIRC, the early Still is much more interesting as he was, once more IIRC, studying with Varese. Then he got into more folk forms and truthfully his talent deserted him - blues posturing, very shallow use of the vernacular.

The afformentioned (in another thread) Coleridge Taylor Perkinson is head and shoulders above Still in his ability to channel traditional forms and transform them into something personal and expressive. No comparison, from where I sit.

I have not, I think, however, heard the Fourth.

Worth remembering that Perkinson was born in 1932 -- 37 years after Still -- and had the fortune, as others of his generation, to inherit Still's legacy as a birthright. Not saying that Perkinson (or others) didn't ultimately perhaps write more profound music in their day than Still did in his, only that being first was not easy, and the opposition Still faced as a black composer of classical music was fierce from both whites and blacks. As far as the music goes, the Symphony No. 1 is both charming and quite affecting: an important work. Still's vocal music is strong too. The early more avant-garde Still pieces from the 20s are not heard much; the composer actually withdrew some of them and more or less turned his back on his early work -- I'd like to check them out more, since I don't really know them. Varese was a key figure for him, both as a teacher and, crucially, as an entree into the white concert world of conductors, orchestras, promoters, audiences, etc.

The whole arena of black classical composers is extraordinarily rich both musically and culturally -- Still, Dawson, Perkinson, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Ulysses Kay, Hale Smith, Olly Wilson, Carman Moore, David Baker (in classical mode), T.J. Anderson, Noel Da Costa, Wendell Logan, Adolphus Hailstork, Alvin Singleton, William Banfield, the young James Lee III and many, many others, not to mention folks coming originally from an avant-garde jazz orientation like Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Davis, James Newton, etc. who draw on European and classical influences in various ways at various times. Lines get blurry in a hurry and reductive cultural assumptions and stereotypes fall apart just as fast.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

Worth remembering that Perkinson was born in 1932 -- 37 years after Still -- and had the fortune, as others of his generation, to inherit Still's legacy as a birthright. Not saying that Perkinson (or others) didn't ultimately perhaps write more profound music in their day than Still did in his, only that being first was not easy, and the opposition Still faced as a black composer of classical music was fierce from both whites and blacks. As far as the music goes, the Symphony No. 1 is both charming and quite affecting: an important work. Still's vocal music is strong too. The early more avant-garde Still pieces from the 20s are not heard much; the composer actually withdrew some of them and more or less turned his back on his early work -- I'd like to check them out more, since I don't really know them. Varese was a key figure for him, both as a teacher and, crucially, as an entree into the white concert world of conductors, orchestras, promoters, audiences, etc.

The whole arena of black classical composers is extraordinarily rich both musically and culturally -- Still, Dawson, Perkinson, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Ulysses Kay, Hale Smith, Olly Wilson, Carman Moore, David Baker (in classical mode), T.J. Anderson, Noel Da Costa, Wendell Logan, Adolphus Hailstork, Alvin Singleton, William Banfield, the young James Lee III and many, many others, not to mention folks coming originally from an avant-garde jazz orientation like Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Davis, James Newton, etc. who draw on European and classical influences in various ways at various times. Lines get blurry in a hurry and reductive cultural assumptions and stereotypes fall apart just as fast.

Oliver Nelson has a whole body of work in this idiom that is all but unheard.

[MomsMobley]

Nelson might be undervalued (ignored) because of the soundtrack work, as was Korngold, tho' it's different transition there.

Otherwise, Stryker is right, gotta listen to things-- and read history-- in their time, not knowing what's to come.

Still could falter trying to be, say, the Black Delius but ** anybody ** would because Delius' genius was far from replicable...

George Walker's body of work-- mostly available on Albany-- is tremendous (listen to any piece with son Gregory on violin for starters) but he's such a thorny character it seems few want to embrace him. Mark, did you get or see Walker's autobiography? Also, I forget you're in

Detroit City--

Hannibal, of Bastrop (?), recorded his symphony with the DSO.

Still's vocal works should be better know but so should Virgil Thomson's.

[JSngry]

Nelson might be undervalued (ignored) because of the soundtrack work, as was Korngold, tho' it's different transition there.

I think the deal was that he wrote it all & never even tried to get it played, too busy, fatalistic outlook, etc. Seems like some of it finally got performed (once) a few years ago, but that's been it.

The English Wikipedia makes only a generic, passing mention, but French Wikipedia http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Nelson&ei=8T4ATZ_lJ4WglAeLnbzJCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Dirge%2BFor%2BChamber%2BOrchestra,%2522%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DiMC%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Div notes:

Moreover, we note that Oliver Nelson wrote a few pieces of " classical music "and / or third stream music: Divertimeto for chamber orchestra (1956), Sonata for E-flat alto sax and piano (1957) Woodwind Quintet (1960 ) Dirge for chamber orchestra (1961); Soundpieces for contralto, string quartet and piano (1963); Complex City (1966), Concerto for xylophone, marimba and vibraphone (1967); Jazzhattan later (1967); Septet 1968 (1968) ; Black suite for string quartet and jazz orchestra (1970), Concert Piece for alto saxophone and orchestra studio (1972) and Fugue and Bossa (1973).

No idea whatsoever how "worthy" any of this material is, but I'd like to at least have an opportunity to find out...

[Mark Stryker]

Nelson might be undervalued (ignored) because of the soundtrack work, as was Korngold, tho' it's different transition there.

Otherwise, Stryker is right, gotta listen to things-- and read history-- in their time, not knowing what's to come.

Still could falter trying to be, say, the Black Delius but ** anybody ** would because Delius' genius was far from replicable...

George Walker's body of work-- mostly available on Albany-- is tremendous (listen to any piece with son Gregory on violin for starters) but he's such a thorny character it seems few want to embrace him. Mark, did you get or see Walker's autobiography? Also, I forget you're in

Detroit City--

Hannibal, of Bastrop (?), recorded his symphony with the DSO.

Still's vocal works should be better know but so should Virgil Thomson's.

Walker's autobiography wasn't on my radar, so thanks for the heads up. I'll seek it out; I'm a fan. I do have most of the CDs and have heard a lot of his music played by the Detroit Symphony over the years. Here are some excerpts from concert and CD reviews written a week apart in February 2001. There's a little repetition between the two (I used the CD review to preview the concert) but since they address different pieces I've copied both below.

DSO EMBRACES PULITZER WINNER'S WORK

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra deepened an old friendship during the weekend by presenting George Walker, the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize, with a lifetime achievement award and performing his Trombone Concerto. The occasion was the orchestra's annual Classical Roots concerts, which honor black composers and musicians.

The ties between Walker and the DSO reach back at least to the 1970s and a recording of the composer's Piano Concerto. The DSO later premiered Walker's Sinfonia No. 2. Walker, 78, surely appreciated the gifts DSO leaders bestowed upon him during a ceremony Saturday, but there's no more meaningful reward for a composer than a commitment to his music.

The Trombone Concerto (1957) reveals Walker's penchant for sinewy melodies, neoclassical forms and an exciting sway of tension and release. The music is muscular and abstract but never dry, partly because Walker pits the soloist in constant dialogue with subgroups of the orchestra. DSO principal trombonist Ken Thompkins was an exceptional soloist, playing with a buttery sound and liquid legato that connected the wide-interval melodies into arcs of lyricism. He then played the darting rhythms so gracefully it called up the ghost of the late jazz trombonist J.J. Johnson.

SPIRITED CLASSICS

George Walker -- "Lilacs: The Music of George Walker." Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra; ASU Symphony; Faye Robinson, soprano; Gregory Walker, violin; etc. (Summit)

The Detroit musical community has been good to composer George Walker, and vice versa. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Paul Freeman, recorded Walker's Piano Concerto in the 1970s as part of Columbia Masterworks' historic series of LPs spotlighting black composers. Walker's "Serenata for Chamber Orchestra" was given its world premiere in Detroit by the defunct Michigan Chamber Orchestra in 1983.

This week, the DSO performs Walker's Trombone Concerto (1957) as part of the orchestra's long-running Classical Roots concerts, with DSO principal trombonist Ken Thompkins as soloist. Walker, 78, will be in town for the performances, as well as for a black-tie gala Saturday in honor of the Classical Roots series.

A new recording surveys Walker's orchestral and chamber-music scores, including "Lilacs" for voice and orchestra, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996. (He was the first black composer to win the award). Also included are the Second String Quartet (1968), the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 (1979), 1999's "Wind Set" for woodwind quintet and "Tangents" for chamber orchestra.

Walker writes muscular music that is full of free dissonance and sinewy textures. He is open to a variety of styles and techniques while ideologically beholden to none. He likes to allude to black vernacular music, but in an abstracted manner. The melismatic flourishes of soprano Faye Robinson in "Lilacs" wink at gospel traditions, and the final movement interpolates a lovely phrase from a spiritual that is then subsumed into Walker's language.

Though always well crafted, Walker's music sometimes falls into a kind of gray academic modernism. "Wind Set" suggests a bottled neoclassic tartness, and the highly compressed "Tangents" suggests more perspiration than inspiration. Yet the Second Violin Sonata is full of thorny but expressive ideas that blossom with repeated listenings. At his best, Walker underscores sharp angles with an affecting but unsentimental lyric thrust. In "Lilacs," written on a text by Walt Whitman that honors the slain Abraham Lincoln, the melodies soar above the orchestra like the star and bird symbols in the text.

Re: Hannibal

The DSO just issued a recording of his piece called "Dear Mrs. Parks" on Naxos. It's was effective in the concert hall (quite ritualistic) but did not translate well to CD in my opinion. His "African Portraits" -- another sprawling orchestral work -- was recorded by the Chicago Symphony in the mid 90s. I interviewed Hannibal in conjunction with the 2009 performances of "Dear Mrs. Parks" that are the source of the recording. Here's the text:

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe's"Dear Mrs. Parks" in 2005. Scored for orchestra, choir and vocal soloists, the work transforms fictional letters of gratitude to the civil rights hero into a ritual-like oratorio. The DSO is reviving the work for its annual Classical Roots concerts. Lokumbe (born Marvin Peterson in 1948), worked with T-Bone Walker and other blues and R&B figures before making his reputation in progressive jazz circles in the '70s with Roy Haynes, Gil Evans and others. Since 1990 he's become known as a composer of large orchestral works on African-American themes. He spoke from his home in Bastrop, Texas.

QUESTION: You used to have a reputation among jazz connoisseurs as a trumpet player, but now far more people know you as an orchestral composer. How do you feel about that?

ANSWER: Charles Mingus always said, "You must always expect the unexpected." I went to New York in one river and I left in an ocean. In fact, there's only really one ocean. Everything is connected. I'm still playing, except that my solos are played by 100 or 200 people.

A classic example is the "For We Have Walked the Streets of Babylon" section in "Dear Mrs. Parks." I employ the ancient technique of call-and-response that I first heard in the cotton fields in Texas. The first call is made by the trumpets and then the response is made by the woodwinds and strings. It's this long-flowing line, like a call in the fields. In the end, just as in the fields, the church or on the bandstand with a jazz quintet, when all is understood and everyone is in agreement, everyone together goes "Yaaaaahhh."

Q: How did you get from jazz clubs to the concert hall?

A: I had just returned from a three-month tour of Europe and I was exhausted. The night before I saw Mingus in a restaurant, I recalled a day in the fields with my grandfather, who was a farmer. He said, "Son, if you plant 3 inches into the soil, the crows can come consume the seeds and even the wind might blow them away. But when you plant 16 inches into the soil, the seeds will bear fruit."

When I returned from that tour - one night here, one night there - I felt like I was planting only 3 inches into the soil. I said to Mingus, "I don't want to spend my life on the road. I want to see my children grow. I want to show more people the power of music." Between bites of this wonderfully roasted chicken he was eating, he said, "Well, just start composing more."

Q: Did you want to write for orchestra or stay within the jazz idiom?

A: The subject matter I chose had me look to the musical colors that I needed. It wasn't just a whim. I had some influence from my high school, where I played in the concert band and became aware of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and the other great lights.

Q: How did you make the transition?

A: When I began hearing these strings and combinations of instruments in my mind, I said to my dear friend Gil Evans, "I feel this music coming through me but I don't want to go by way of a conservatory." He said, "Just go to the library." I went and found what to me is the Bible of orchestration by Rimsky-Korsakov. That allowed me to make the connection with my musical experiences.

Q: What does Rosa Parks mean to you?

A: She means to me that there is hope for the world. ... She symbolizes this river of consciousness that has always existed, and she reaffirms that this consciousness will always exist.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Mark Stryker

[Mark Stryker]

Oliver Nelson has a whole body of work in this idiom that is all but unheard.

I know about Nelson's concert works but have never heard them or seen scores -- I really would like to. I found this very exhaustive online Nelson resource, including discography, that references performances and commissioning circumstances surrounding these works, but there do not seem to be recordings of most of them. Two exceptions: "A Black Suite for String Quartet and Jazz Orchestra" was released on Flying Dutchman; the early Alto Saxophone Sonata is on a couple of CDs, incluidng one performance rendered in transcription on clarinet.

Go here: http://www.dougpayne.com/nelson.htm, then click "discography" and then "concert work."

Edited December 13, 2010 by Mark Stryker

[cih]

Reading the Andrew Ward book now - ‘Dark Midnight When I Rise’ - a great read, and having had a sneak peak further on, I find that the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ amazing journey “from whipping post and auction block to concert hall and throne room” went via a performance in 1873 at the foot of a statue of King William III, down the road in Hull that was a very familiar landmark in my student days... gone is the adjacent hotel they stayed in, and no clue anywhere (including the web) to suggest their passage through that place.

Edited February 14, 2011 by cih

[AllenLowe]

glad you mentioned Andrew Ward's book, which is a must-read on the subject (and he also happens to be my brother-in-law).

[medjuck]

Story about this release on NPR this morning

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/26/134028602/at-fisk-university-a-tradition-of-spirituals

Lots of interviews and music samples. I liked the music I heard but not enough to make me buy the cd. (Let the slamming begin.)