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