James P. Johnson
- Kenneth Kiesler, Emery Stephens, Darnell Ishmel, Elizabeth Gray, De Organizer Chorus, Lonel Woods, Monique Spells, Rabihah Davis Dunn, Kenneth Kellogg, Lori Celeste Hicks, Olivia Duval, Branden C.S. Hood, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra
- Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, Gary Hammond, Tatiana Roitman, Michael Gurt, Richard Rosenberg, Don Vappie, Creole Serenaders, Peter Mintun
- Michael Forest, VocalEssence Chorus, Paul Shaw, Jearlyn Steele, Concordia Orchestra, Philip Brunelle, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, Studio Orchestra
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.