Musical Landscapes in Color

Musical Landscapes in Color

Author: Bill Banfield

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2004-09-01

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 0585464162

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A sequel to the award-winning The Black Composer Speaks (Scarecrow Press, 1978), this exploration of the creative world of African American composers traces the lives and careers of 40 talented individuals and, in their own words, provides perspectives on a world that has been slow to recognize their remarkable contributions to classical music. The discussion places the music of these composers within the greater context of Western art music, but analyzes it through the lenses of sociology, Western concepts of art and taste, and vernacular musical forms, including spirituals, blues, jazz, and contemporary popular music. Each chapter is devoted to an individual composer, who discusses his or her musical training, compositional techniques and style, and the composer's personal philosophy as reflected in his or her music. A selected list of compositions for each composer is included, as well as a photo and sample of the composer's "hand." Banfield offers unprecedented insight into the history and influence of the African American composer with this documentary, which will appeal to everyone from the music scholar to the general reader.


The Twentieth-century Composer Speaks

The Twentieth-century Composer Speaks

Author: Mari Nishimura

Publisher: Fallen Leaf Reference Books in

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This index cites over one thousand interviews with composers of the 20th century. Each entry lists the name and life-spans of the composer interviewed, the date and place of the interview, the name of the interviewer, topics discussed, and a full citation of the sources of the interview. Indexed by interviewers' names and by subjects.


Brass Music of Black Composers

Brass Music of Black Composers

Author: Aaron Horne

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1996-05-16

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 0313064865

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Aaron Horne provides the most comprehensive guide to brass music written by black composers. He covers composers from around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Included in the book is biographical information; commission, duration, instrumentation, date of publication, premiere, publisher, discography for each piece; bibliographical sources; and an index which groups the music by numbers, medium, and ensemble. This is the fourth volume in Aaron Horne's monumental effort to provide the most comprehensive guide to music composed by black composers. In this volume he covers composers from around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, including William Grant Still, Ulysses Kay, Anthony Davis, John Coltrane, and other major figures from the world of classical, jazz, and popular music. The main body of the book is divided into sections devoted to African, African American, Afro-European, and Afro-Latino composers. Within each section composers are arranged alphabetically; each entry provides biographical information as well as commission, duration, instrumentation, date of publication, premiere, publisher, discography for each composition. Backmatter includes a Brass Music Index which groups the music by numbers, medium, and ensembles; a title index; discography; and bibliography. As with the earlier volumes, this is an essential reference tool for anyone with an interest in researching and/or performing the music of black composers.


Africa Speaks, America Answers

Africa Speaks, America Answers

Author: Robin D. G. Kelley

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2012-03-13

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0674065247

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, pianist Randy Weston and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik celebrated with song the revolutions spreading across Africa. In Ghana and South Africa, drummer Guy Warren and vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin fused local musical forms with the dizzying innovations of modern jazz. These four were among hundreds of musicians in the 1950's and '60's who forged connections between jazz and Africa that definitively reshaped both their music and the world. Each artist identified in particular ways with Africa's struggle for liberation and made music dedicated to, or inspired by, demands for independence and self-determination. That music was the wild, boundary-breaking exultation of modern jazz. The result was an abundance of conversation, collaboration, and tension between African and African American musicians during the era of decolonization. This collective biography demonstrates how modern Africa reshaped jazz, how modern jazz helped form a new African identity, and how musical convergences and crossings altered politics and culture on both continents. In a crucial moment when freedom electrified the African diaspora, these black artists sought one another out to create new modes of expression. Documenting individuals and places, from Lagos to Chicago, from New York to Cape Town, Robin Kelley gives us a meditation on modernity: we see innovation not as an imposition from the West but rather as indigenous, multilingual, and messy, the result of innumerable exchanges across a breadth of cultures.


The Music of Black Americans

The Music of Black Americans

Author: Eileen Southern

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 710

ISBN-13: 9780393038439

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Beginning with the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies, Eileen Southern weaves a fascinating narrative of intense musical activity. As singers, players, and composers, black American musicians are fully chronicled in this landmark book. Now in the third edition, the author has brought the entire text up to date and has added a wealth of new material covering the latest developments in gospel, blues, jazz, classical, crossover, Broadway, and rap as they relate to African American music.


Mingus Speaks

Mingus Speaks

Author: Charles Mingus

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2013-04

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0520275233

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In-depth interviews, conducted several years before Mingus died, capture the composer's spirit and voice, revealing how he saw himself as composer and performer, how he viewed his peers and predecessors, how he created his extraordinary music, and how he looked at race. Augmented with interviews and commentary by ten close associates--including Mingus's wife Sue, Teo Macero, George Wein, and Sy Johnson.


Encyclopedia of African American Music [3 volumes]

Encyclopedia of African American Music [3 volumes]

Author: Tammy L. Kernodle

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-12-17

Total Pages: 1267

ISBN-13: 0313342008

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

African Americans' historical roots are encapsulated in the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms of their music. In the 18th and 19th centuries, African slaves, longing for emancipation, expressed their hopes and dreams through spirituals. Inspired by African civilization and culture, as well as religion, art, literature, and social issues, this influential, joyous, tragic, uplifting, challenging, and enduring music evolved into many diverse genres, including jazz, blues, rock and roll, soul, swing, and hip hop. Providing a lyrical history of our nation, this groundbreaking encyclopedia, the first of its kind, showcases all facets of African American music including folk, religious, concert and popular styles. Over 500 in-depth entries by more than 100 scholars on a vast range of topics such as genres, styles, individuals, groups, and collectives as well as historical topics such as music of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and numerous others. Offering balanced representation of key individuals, groups, and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and other perspectives not usually approached, this indispensable reference illuminates the profound role that African American music has played in American cultural history. Editors Price, Kernodle, and Maxile provide balanced representation of various individuals, groups and ensembles associated with diverse religious beliefs, political affiliations, and perspectives. Also highlighted are the major record labels, institutions of higher learning, and various cultural venues that have had a tremendous impact on the development and preservation of African American music. Among the featured: Motown Records, Black Swan Records, Fisk University, Gospel Music Workshop of America, The Cotton Club, Center for Black Music Research, and more. With a broad scope, substantial entries, current coverage, and special attention to historical, political, and social contexts, this encyclopedia is designed specifically for high school and undergraduate students. Academic and public libraries will treasure this resource as an incomparable guide to our nation's African American heritage.