Ed Bland
Maya Angelou
John Malveaux of
writes:
Composer Ed Bland was born on the South Side of Chicago
1926-2013
. His father was a postal worker but also a self-taught literary critic
with illustrious friends such as Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks and
Langston Hughes. Ed Bland studied at both the University of Chicago and
the American Conservatory of Music on the G.I. Bill.
Among
his compositions is a concerto for electric violin and chamber
orchestra. He composed scores for the TV play A Raisin in the Sun (1989)
and the film A Soldier's Story (1984). Another notable work is Sketches Set Seven for piano.
He
also wrote, directed, and produced the 1959 film Cry of Jazz. In the
1990s, this documentary was rediscovered by scholars and celebrated as
an early example of independent black filmmaking. It was soon restored
and reissued on DVD in 1996, and in 2010 the Library of Congress added
it to its National Film Registry collection as “a historic and
fascinating film that comments on racism and the appropriation of jazz
by those who fail to understand its artistic and cultural origins.
Ed Bland composed jazz interlude music for the original recording of Black Pearls: The Poetry Of Maya Angelou before
Maya Angelou great rise to popularity. The FIRST public airing of the
recording is scheduled Sunday Sept 2, 2018 during the free END of SUMMER
Music & Cultural Celebration, Exposition Park-Christmas Tree Lane,
Los Angeles presented by 59th district state assemblymember Reggie
Jones-Sawyers See pic 1-Maya Angelou and pic 2-Ed Bland
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