James P. Johnson
- Rabihah Davis Dunn, Kenneth Kellogg, Lori Celeste Hicks, Elizabeth Gray, Monique Spells, Olivia Duval, Branden C.S. Hood, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Darnell Ishmel, Kenneth Kiesler, Lonel Woods, Emery Stephens, De Organizer Chorus
- Creole Serenaders, Peter Mintun, Don Vappie, Richard Rosenberg, Tatiana Roitman, Gary Hammond, Michael Gurt, Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra
- Studio Orchestra, Philip Brunelle, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, Michael Forest, Jearlyn Steele, Concordia Orchestra, Paul Shaw, VocalEssence Chorus
Biography
Active throughout the 1920s and '30s, the sophisticated and influential musician James P. Johnson synthesized many strands of black music--ragtime, blues, popular and sacred song--with his own original stride piano style. Though his young protege Fats Waller went on to popularize stride, Johnson was the masterly father of the style. The majority of his more ambitious works for symphony orchestra have been lost to history, due to the complete lack of respect shown black composers by the classical music world at the time.