Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
William Grant Still

William Grant Still

Smith, Catherine Parsons

Paperback

Series: American Composers

Biographies GeneralMusiciansGeneral Music

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0252087046
ISBN13: 9780252087042
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: Jul 12 2022
Pages: 136
Language: English
Once called the dean of African American composers, William Grant Still created a unique version of musical modernism that influenced commercial music, symphonic music, and opera. The acclaimed and enormously popular Afro-American Symphony, like many of his works, drew on Black American musical heritage, and Still was the first Black composer to have his work performed by a major symphony orchestra.

Catherine Parsons Smith's biography tracks the composer's interrelated careers in popular and concert music. Still's artistic journey took him from conservatory study with George W. Chadwick to collaborating with Langston Hughes, working as a commercial arranger and composer on Broadway and radio, arranging for artists like Sophie Tucker and Artie Shaw, and serving as the recording director for the first Black-owned record label. But despite his prolific production and multidimensional talents, Still endured financial struggles and declining attention to his work.

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