Cleveland Plays Music by African Americans

If you are looking for a disc of all WORLD PREMIERE performances of some very appealing American music, this is the disc for you. Wendell Logan is a composer and saxophonist who was educated at Florida A & M University, the American Conservatory, Southern Illinois University and the University of Iowa. He is presently chairman of the department of jazz studies at Oberlin Conservatory. Roots, Branches, Shapes and Shades (of Green) was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and first performed by them in February, 1991. It was composed for the pianist Neal Creque. Thomas Jefferson Anderson is Fletcher Professor of Music Emeritus at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He holds degrees from West Virginia State University, Penn State and the University of Iowa. He studied with Scott Huston, Philip Bezanson and Darius Milhaud. Chamber Concerto (Remembrances) was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and premiered in 1988. Leroy Jenkins is a virtuoso violinist, composer, arranger and educator. Born in Chicago, he earned a music degree at Florida A & M University and studied Baroque and classical masters while also developing an interest in improvised music. Under the spell of jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane he returned to Chicago and became a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, an Organization in which he is still active. Wonder Lust was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and premiered by them in 1988. Dolores White, composer, pianist, and educator, is assistant professor of music at Cuyahoga Community College. She received a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and a masters in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her Crystal Gazing was commissioned and premiered by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in 1994. In the composer's words its single movement explores "the world of crystal making, crystal gazing and the psychic state of mind while crystal gazing." David Baker was born in Indianapolis. He is now professor of music and chairman of the jazz department at Indiana University in Bloomington. He is a virtuoso performer as well as teacher. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University. His teachers have included J.J. Johnson, Janos Starker, William Russo, Bernard Heiden and Gunther Schuller. His piece Parallel Planes was also commissioned and premiered by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.