David Nathaniel Baker, Jr (21 December 1931 – 26 March 2016) was an extraordinarily accomplished African-American composer, author, conductor, and teacher; and among the most influential voices in contemporary American music in a career that spanned…
Black composer Chad "Sir Wick" Hughes fell in love with cello suites in 1995. As written on his website, "As I came home (to the dorms) from marching band practice at the University of Michigan, I heard not only a glorious euphonium sound, but I…
A musical description of fire and its hunger. It begins as embers of coal and wood glowing with radiant danger-a soft sustained and ominous sound. Slowly, fuel is added to the potential of flame and slowly catches fire, one flicker at a time until it…
Black composer Freddie Bryant's "Fantasia on a Theme by Charlie Haden": 'For Turiya' was originally recorded in 1996. As indicated in linernotes on the composer's website, "It is a through-composed piece using the theme from Charlie Haden’s beautiful…
The title Fanmi Imèn is Haitian Creole for Maya Angelou’s famous work, Human Family. Both the musical and literary poems acknowledge differences within mankind, either due to ethnicity, background, or geography, but Angelou’s refrain: “we are more…
