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