Pianist Leon Bates Performs 'African-American Originals' at Haverford College

[Leon Bates]

BiCoNews.com

Bryn Mawr & Haverford Colleges

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Section: Arts

“Guest Artist Series Presents 'African-American Originals'

By Kelly Ka Wai Lam

This Friday night, while the battle of 12 bands commenced in Lunt, the crowd at Haverford’s Marshall Auditorium was treated to a no less lively performance by Leon Bates. The Philadelphia-born concert pianist has won honors and awards locally since his student days at Temple University and has toured internationally, including in Europe and Africa. Looking around, there was a good turnout by both students as well as community members, ready to embrace some great music belonging to a genre called ragtime that was a precursor of jazz. Entitled 'African-American Originals' the concert was part of the American Roots concert series, running in conjunction with Professor Curt Cacioppo’s piano class of the same name.

“The first half was comprised of unfamiliar, mid- and late-20th century works by George Walker and Leslie Adams, whom Bates described in his extensive introduction as 'two living African-American composers writing in the classical tradition.'” “Both ‘The Baltimore Todolo' and 'The Charleston Rag' by Eubie Blake were immediate hits with positive responses from the audience, many of whom were animatedly tapping their feet to Bates’ rhythmic playing. The atmosphere continued to heat up with 'Juba Dance' from the suite 'In The Bottoms' by R. Nathaniel Dett, which Bates ended with a slow spread chord and a wry smile, inducing laughter from his listeners.” “Next came a bold and enthralling rendition of James P. Johnson’s 'Carolina Shout.' Cacioppo was highly impressed, saying that he thought it ‘the highlight of the program.' To the audience’s satisfaction, four Duke Ellington tunes that were arranged by Bates himself followed, all of which were keenly played and caused some enthusiasts to stand up and rock to the beat. The nearly two-hour program ended with a tune called 'Things Ain’t What They Used to Be' by Mercer Ellington, the son of Duke Ellington."  [H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932), R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), Duke Ellington (1899-1974), James P. Johnson (1894-1955) and George Walker (b. 1922) are profiled at AfriClassical.com]

African-American Originals
Pianist Leon Bates
H. Leslie Adams
George Walker
James P. Johnson
Classical Music