Friday, August 9, 2013

Jazz News: 'Riverwalk Jazz' combines 'the music of Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller and James P. Johnson with the poetry of Langston Hughes'

Victory Stride: The Symphonic Music of James P. Johnson
The Concordia Orchestra
Marin Alsop, Conductor
Music Masters 67140 (1994)

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

James P. Johnson (1894-1955), African American Pianist and Composer, and Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974), African American Composer, Pianist and Bandleader of Classical Music and Jazz, are featured at AfriClassical.com


Music And Poetry Of The Harlem Renaissance This Week On Riverwalk Jazz
This week Riverwalk Jazz captures the high spirit of the Harlem Renaissance with a program combining the music of Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller and James P. Johnson with the poetry of Langston Hughes, the "Poet Laureate of the Harlem Renaissance." The show features theater legend William Warfield and Broadway's Vernel Bagneris performing Hughes' poetry; and piano virtuoso Dick Hyman joining The Jim Cullum Jr. Jazz Band.

The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. You can also drop in on a continuous stream of shows at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound.

There was a time when Harlem was the center of the universe for many African Americans. In the 1920s thousands of black families found a place to call home in this new suburb of Manhattan north of Central Park. Black churches and political organizations sprang up next door to black theaters, dance halls and dives. This coming together of poets and musicians, intellectuals and entrepreneurs gave rise to the Harlem Renaissance, a time when all things seemed possible. All along Harlem's bustling Lenox Avenue, optimism was in the air, and cash jingled in the pockets of stylish new suits. It was the world of the "New Negro" whose ideas and art are at the heart of the Jazz Age.

No comments: