'Take A Chance' is a Recorded Work of Hale Smith, Who Passed Away Nov. 24, 2009

[Hale Smith; Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002)]

Today, Nov. 24, 2011, is the second anniversary of the passing of the innovative composer Hale Smith (1925-2009), who is featured at AfriClassical.com, which presents his complete Works List as compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. Hale Smith contributed richly to both Jazz and Classical Music. This seems an appropriate occasion to discuss Take A Chance (10:54), the composition of Hale Smith on the recording Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers. Dr. Myron Moss writes the liner notes:

“Hale Smith's music puts a less-expressionist, more human face on atonal composition. Born in Cleveland in 1925, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He had a single composition teacher, Marcel Dick, whom he credits with evoking the individuality of his students (including Gardner Read and Donald Erb), while conveying the range of twelve-tone and atonal approaches to composition. Smith has focused on songs and choral pieces from early in his career, including the widely-praised In Memoriam Beryl Rubinstein (1953). His orchestral pieces Contours, Ritual and Incantations, and Innerflexions have all been recorded.

“Smith began writing band music while working as an editor at Frank Music for Arnold Broido. In the early 1960s Broido wanted to start a series bringing contemporary compositional techniques to school-music compositions. This 'Adventures in Form' series ultimately included Vaclav Nelhybel's Prelude and Fugue and Don Gillis' Instant Music. Broido had Smith start the series with Somersault, a twelve-tone piece, and Take A Chance, a piece with aleatoric elements. Take A Chance consists of five long statements ('variations') all based on the same warm-sounding but atonal harmonic structure. Variation I may be taken as the initial theme, Smith calls it 'a passionate song.' Variation II is a light-hearted march. Variations III and IV allow individual improvisation on prescribed notes; improvisation is especially necessary in Variation IV, where it provides the only melody. Smith's notes on the score also propose that the performing ensemble combine any two variations simultaneously, and experiment with varying the instrumentation within variations. In the performance recorded here, conductor/composer Jack Stamp has responded to Smith's invitation. His scheme for this performance consists of Variation I, Variation V, Variation II, Variations I and II together, the Variation IV (featuring improvising soloists on flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet), and finally the combination of Variations I and V. (These segments sometimes follow each other without pause. It may assist listeners in keeping track of the form to know that each segment is about 1:50 long.) What is recorded here is but one realization of a work that reflects not only high craftmanship with atonal materials, but also high confidence, characteristic of the sixties, in the artistic capacity of our youth in public schools.”

Regina Harris Baiocchi: 'Thanks for keeping Hale Smith's name in the public's consciousness.'

[Hale Smith (1925-2009) and Regina Harris Baiocchi]

On June 29, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “Hale Smith, Innovative Composer of Classical Music & Jazz, Was Born June 29, 1925.” For many years toward the end of his life, composer and Professor Hale Smith of Freeport, New York was both friend and mentor to the Chicago composer and poet Regina Harris Baiocchi. The two would talk regularly for hours, about music and life, on a dedicated phone line. Regina sends this response to our post:

“Dear Bill:

Thanks for keeping Hale Smith's name in the public's consciousness. Hale is happy to know that he is remembered fondly by so many colleagues, proteges, and friends. What better way to commemorate the 85th anniversary of Hale's birth! All the best...

Peace,

Regina

http://www.ReginaHarrisBaiocchi.com

http://www.HaikuFest.com
[Hale Smith (1925-2009) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, whose website is http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

Regina Harris Baiocchi on Randye Jones at Symposium: 'This is a great tribute to Hale Smith, Burleigh and other composers'

[Regina Harris Baiocchi]

Yesterday AfriClassical posted: “Randye Jones: 'Interpreting Spiritual Art Songs' at Singing Symposium, St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, July 10-13.” We sent the link to Regina Harris Baiocchi, a composer to whom Hale Smith was a friend and mentor for many years. She is also founder of Haiku Fest, a poetry program for children in Chicago. Regina has replied:

“Dear Bill:

This is a great tribute to Hale Smith, Burleigh and other composers whose music Ms. Jones will sing. Thanks for keeping me in your circle. Kudos to Ms. Jones for keeping Hale's music alive!

Peace,

Regina”

http://www.ReginaHarrisBaiocchi.com

http://www.HaikuFest.com

DSO Blog: 5 Works of Hale Smith on Detroit Symphony Orchestra's 'Classical Roots' Program March 4 & 5

[Hale Smith (1925-2009)]

DSO Blog
Performance Information

CLASSICAL ROOTS: Daniel Bernard Roumain

Andrè Raphel, conductor; Daniel Bernard Roumain, violin; Angela M. Brown, soprano; Brazeal Dennard Chorale

Fri., Mar. 4 at 10:45 a.m.

Sat. Mar. 5 at 8:30 p.m.

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing arr. Roland Carter

Selections of Spirituals Brazeal Dennard Chorale

Augustus Hill, conductor

Dancers, Dreamers, and Presidents Daniel Bernard Roumain

Let us Break Bread Hale Smith, from Four Spirituals

Jesus Lay your Head in the Window Hale Smith, from Four Spirituals

This Little Light of Mine Hale Smith, from Four Spirituals

Witness Hale Smith, from Four Spirituals

Negro Folk Symphony William Dawson

By Yearning and By Beautiful Hale Smith

CLASSICAL ROOTS CELEBRATION

MGM Grand Detroit

Sponsored by MGM Grand Detroit and HOUR Magazine

Sat., Mar. 5

6:30 p.m. Reception and Strolling Dinner

8:30 p.m. Classical Roots Concert

10:30 p.m. Dessert & Dancing

Black Tie Event

[The African American composer, pianist and professor Hale Smith passed away on November 24, 2009 after a lengthy illness. His complete Works List has been compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma and is featured on the composer's page at AfriClassical.com.]

PRLog.Org: 'Pianist Jade Simmons joins in Musical Black History Month Celebration' Feb. 6

[Pianist Jade Simmons]

Pianist Jade Simmons will perform solo pieces, a jazz-inspired duet and riveting songs with soprano Tara Nova in the Salute to Black History Month, a musical celebration organized in part by the Long Island Composers Association

“PRLog (Press Release) – Jan 24, 2011 – On Sunday, February 6th, pianist Jade Simmons will join Long Island Composer Association director Paul Hefner and a group of renowned musicians, including soprano Tara Nova, for an exciting and eclectic musical celebration of Black History month. According to Sergio Mims of Ebony/Jet Magazine, 'Among the new generation of classical music artists, few are making the huge impact and receiving the kind of acclaim that pianist Jade Simmons has been of late.' Simmons will put her talents to work in solo pieces by the late African-American composer Hale Smith, whose wife will be in attendance. Jade will join pianist and LICA member Paul Hefner in a jazz inspired piano duet and will accompany Ms. Nova in a selection of songs. The program includes pieces by members of the Long Island Composer Association. Last year's Salute garnered a lengthy feature article in The New York Times.

“A frequent performer in New York, Simmons has performed twice on the innovative Look and Listen Festival, at Symphony Space, at Harlem Stage, in Merkin and Town Halls, and in alternative spaces like Brooklyn's BamCafé, Le Poisson Rouge and Joe's Pub. She has collaborated with the likes of renowned pianist Ursula Oppens, Alondra de la Parra and her Philharmonic of the Americas and esteemed chamber ensemble An Die Musik. On Long Island, she has played with the North Shore Symphony. Jade brings a decisive flair to Contemporary Classical music and her interpretations have been hailed by living composers such as John Corigliano and Guggenheim Award-winning Composer Tania León who says of Jade, '... one could not ask for more, a performer who takes the written score to heart and makes it her own.'

The Salute to Black History Month concert takes place on Sunday, February 6, 2011, 2PM at South Nassau Universalist Unitarian Church, 228 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, NY 11520. LICA composers and artists featured include Paul Hefner, Jay Anthony Gach, Hale Smith, Tara Nova, Herbert A. Deutsch, Herb Rothgarber, Rob Schwimmer, Larry Dresner and Henry Martin. For more information on the concert: email the Long Island Composers Association at info@licamusic.org or call them at 516-799-8815. For more information on Jade Simmons, please visit http://www.jademedia.org For more information on LICA, please visit http://www.licamusic.org [Hale Smith (1925-2009) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a complete Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma.]

Tufts Prof. John McDonald:'Hale Smith was a very talented but underappreciated composer'

[Hale Smith]

Hale Smith (1925-2009) made important contributions to Classical Music as well as Jazz. A complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma can be found on the Hale Smith page at AfriClassical.com.

The Tufts Daily

“University to host first−ever music festival featuring Tufts composers

By Amelie Hecht

Published: Friday, March 12, 2010

Culture groups will host performances during the expanded Culture Fest.

Tufts will host a weeklong music festival beginning Sunday featuring Tufts composers performing alongside guest musicians in a notable collaboration between different musical talents. The festival, which Professor of Music John McDonald organized, will include four distinct performances throughout the week and facilitate collective work between musicians.”

“A portion of Thursday evening will honor the recently deceased composer Hale Smith, McDonald said. Joel Smith, a lecturer in the music department and a former student of Smith’s, will play two movements of a piece he composed. 'It’s a tribute to Hale Smith,' Joel Smith said. 'I am going to be playing a work that I had worked on with him when I was a student.' McDonald expressed his desire to acknowledge Hale Smith’s contributions to the music world with this concert. 'Hale Smith was a very talented but underappreciated composer, and I really wanted to give him his due recognition,' McDonald said.”

Joel LaRue Smith: 'I worked on the 2nd and 3rd movements of the Sonata with Hale [Smith]'

[Joel Larue Smith]

The African American composer Hale Smith (1925-2009) was an influential figure in both Classical Music and Jazz. He is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a complete Works List compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma. Since his death on November 24, 2009, some of his former students and friends have recounted their relationships with him. On March 5, 2010 AfriClassical posted news from Boston.com of a performance on March 19, 2010 at the Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center: “Tufts U.: 'Joel LaRue Smith, a former student of Hale Smith, features a work in honor of Hale Smith's life in music.'” “A special appearance by pianist Joel LaRue Smith, a former student of Hale Smith, features a work in honor of Hale Smith’s life in music.”

Joel Larue Smith was kind enough to contact us after the post appeared. He explained the work he will perform is his Piano Sonata No. 1, and added: “I worked on the 2nd and 3rd movements of the Sonata with Hale.” “Attached are the program notes for the Piano Sonata. Since, I will be only playing the second and third movements, I have only included information regarding those movements.”

Piano Sonata No.1

Program Notes

Lamentations

The second movement is entitled Lamentations. This movement is marked as adagio and opens with a simple melody in the right hand, with an arpeggiated accompaniment in the left hand. The entire piece evokes the simultaneous feelings of lament and triumph. The use of strategically placed minor second intervals in the melody, along with a cascading and descending chordal structure in the left hand accompaniment helps to imply a vision of uncontrollable weeping. The movement seeks to show the power of being able to feel sadness as a sign of life, humility and affirmation of one’s compassion for humanity.

Conversions

Written in a mixed meter, this movement evokes a montage of emotions. The concept of this movement is derived from taking a small idea, and watching its change, transformation, innovation and conversion. Through the use of rhythmic displacement, register manipulation and intervallic inversion, simple motifs are converted to grand ideas. The development section of the movement was written to imply a locomotive train adjusting its speed and location in time and space. The development leads to a long transition section, which then introduces a rhapsodic melody accompanied by lush jazz harmonies. The transition section rejoins the composition to the recapitulation. The movement is kinetic, alive, bold and unforgiving regarding the combined use of Classical music, Latin American music and Jazz as a joint form of expression.

American Composers Alliance: 'T.J. Anderson's memorial to Hale Smith' in New Music Box

[T. J. Anderson and Hale Smith in Winchester, MA 1977; photo by Lois Anderson (From New Music Box)]

Composers.com
T.J. Anderson's memorial to Hale Smith
Hale Smith (1925-2009), a classical composer who also worked as a performer and arranger with jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Chico Hamilton, died Tuesday at his home in Freeport, L.I. The noted composer and longtime friend of Smith, T.J. Anderson, reflects on the life of Hale Smith in New Music Box.

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This is beautiful - thanks for sharing it. I'm going to forward it on... Suzanne Flandreau

Do The Math: 'Feathers' by Late Composer Hale Smith 'glows with alien splendor.'

[“Music of Hale Smith”; CRI 860 (2000)]

Do The Math
Hale Smith (1925-2009)
“The NY Times obit doesn't mention Hale Smith's most significant work for jazz musicians, 'Feathers,' recorded in 1960 on Eric Dolphy's Out There with Ron Carter, cello, George Duvivier, bass, and Roy Haynes, drums.” “'Feathers' seems to me to be one of the finest 'Third Stream' works of the era.” “It's a shame that Smith didn't write more music like this (that has been recorded, anyway). The CRI anthology, while excellent, is conventional in comparison. Nothing else has ever sounded like 'Feathers,' which glows with alien splendor.”

The Works List at AfriClassical.com, by Professor Dominique-René de Lerma, has this entry:
"Feathers, for jazz quartet. LP: Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Ron Carter, cello; George Duvivier, double bass; Roy Haynes, drums New Jazz NJLP-8252 & Prestige PR-7652 & Prestige 24008 & Prestige tapes M82408DP & M52408DR & Esquire 32-153 & Xtra 5054 (1960)."

Charles Darden: 'an authority on the life and music of the ragtime composer Scott Joplin'

[Photo of Charles Darden at Bonchoeur.blogspot.com]

Charles Darden posted a comment today on “Darryl Taylor Offers Condolences On Passing of Composer Hale Smith”: “I will always remember Hale Smith's encouraging words and advice to me as a young black conductor. He also urged to write and perform 'Great Scott!' the story of the life of Scott Joplin, which I continue to perform. Thank you Hale. Charles Darden”

Bonchoeur.blogspot.com/
Charles Darden Bio
March 7, 2008
Charles Darden is Director of Music of the Anglican Church, and Director of La Chorale De Bons Choeurs, on the island of St. Barts in the Caribbean French West Indies. He is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He grew up in California and was the founder and conductor of the Berkeley Free Orchestra. In 1970, Seiji Ozawa appointed him Apprentice Conductor to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Later, he was twice a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he studied with Leonard Bernstein. In 1975, Lorin Maazel appointed him Conducting Assistant to the Cleveland Orchestra. He was later appointed Musical Director of the Ballet Rambert in London and later Principal Conductor of the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York. He was a frequent guest conductor in Europe, primarily in Norway, where he was a regular conductor with the Den Norske Opera. He is an accomplished pianist and has appeared as Jasbo Brown in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Porgy and Bess. Mr. Darden is an authority on the life and music of the ragtime composer Scott Joplin. He wrote the one-man show Great Scott! outlining the life of the ragtime composer Scott Joplin. [Full Post]

Hale Smith's 'Feathers' 'provides a fantastic ending to one of the seminal recordings of jazz'

[Hale Smith (b. 1925) is an African American composer who is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma can be found]

Jazzbonotes.com

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

“Out There/Eric Dolphy

Category: 1960s, Avant-Guarde, Essential, Post-Bop, Reviews

Written by Michael Kydonieus
Dolphy ends the date with the haunting Feathers, by the obscure composer Hale Smith. The harmonic progression and melody are surprising but feel inevitable, which is the ultimate tribute to a composer. The natural poignancy of the composition is intensified by the almost guitar-like plucking of thirds by Ron Carter on the cello. Somewhat amusingly, Dolphy chooses not to take the solo at the rubato pace of the head, but instead has Hayes and Duviver provide a gentle swing for his flights on alto. Feathers provides a fantastic ending to one of the seminal recordings of jazz.

“Out There is unique in the jazz literature, as far as I know, a mixture of post-bop, chamber music, and the avant guarde. Yet, for jazz fans with a dash of adventure in their souls, it’s remarkably accessible, and well worth seeking out.”

Berklee College of Music: 'The Art Music of Black Composers' Nov. 25, 7:30 PM

[Somewhere Far Away: The Music of Julius Williams; Dvorak Symphony Orchestra; Julius Williams, conductor; Videmus/Albany Records (2008) (Release Date Dec. 1, 2008)]

Berklee College of Music
Africana Music Studies Programming 2008/2009

The Art Music of Black Composers

Tuesday, November 25, 7:30 p.m., David Friend Recital Hall

Classical compositions by Julius Williams, Jonathan Holland, Chevalier de St. Georges, Margaret Bonds, Hale Smith, Evelyn Simpson-Currenton, John Carter, and William Banfield, with special guest composer/pianist Patrice Rushen. Performers will include Duane Moody, Matthew Truss, Krystal Banfield, Kudisan Kai, Gabrielle Goodman, Jennifer Elowsky-Fox, and others.  [Julius P. Williams is a Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music.  Prof. Williams, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Margaret A. Bonds and Hale Smith are profiled at AfriClassical.com]