On Saturday, December 8, 2018 at 9:00:36 AM UTC-8, JohnA wrote:
> I see that Sony is releasing the 1970s Black Composers Series on compact disc. The Box contains the 9 Lps released by Columbia Masterworks plus a disc of Spirtuals released on the regular Columbia label. Barnes & Nobel gives a release date of January 4, 2019.
>
> 0190758621524
>
> -----
> https://africlassical.blogspot.com/2013/02/anthology-black-composers-series-by.html
>
> Columbia Records' The Black composer series.
>
> It was about 1971 that Paul Freeman came to see me in Bloomington, where I was on the faculty of Indiana University. He had become aware of my work in the history, while he was well aware of the major contemporary figures, having already featured their works while on the staff of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Now he was with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and was interested in exploring the past of Black classical music.
>
> What evolved was a plan to initiate a series of recordings covering a spectrum of orchestral music. Such a project needed funding and a non-profit channel to distribute these funds. We had a very promising meeting with the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller foundation in Columbus IN and I enlisted Indiana University's School of Music to sponsor the projected grant. Unfortunately, Indiana's interest was short-lived due to campus politics and Dr. Freeman was notified in Detroit by phone that the school was no longer interested (while I could have been given the news by a short walk to my office, if not by campus phone). Had Indiana University known that we had then enlisted the interest in the world's largest record label, Columbia, some thought might have been given at least to image. At any rate, Dr. Freeman phoned me immediately, concerned that the impending grant lacked an agency. I suggested contact with the Afro-American Music Opportunities Association, a newly formed organization in Minneapolis without a significant agenda, and this instantly became our replacement.
> The intent was to produce four LPs per year, in an open-ended series. That pattern was effective for only two years. The third year only one recording was issued and Columbia's doors were closed -- despite the consistently enthusiastic reviews that blanketed all of American musical journals and newspapers.
>
> Use of European orchestras was in part an economic move. The regulations of the American Federation of Musicians at the time required the engagement of the entire orchestra, no matter the instrumentation of the work in question. Their rules further influenced the choice in that they required any American who was to conduct a European orchestra to have a title with that group. This news was brought to a meeting we had at Columbia by John Hammond, who stated that Aaron Copland had just been fined for a violation of the ruling. Dr. Freeman, beaming, announced that he had just been engaged as Guest Conductor with the Helsinki Philharmonic. Had that not been the case, we were contemplating the recording of the Nunes García Requiem in the country of its origin -- Brazil -- if not with an orchestra in Spain or Portugal. But no matter, we had decided on the chorus from Morgan State University, which had recently excelled under Nathan Carter's direction at a symposium we held in Baltimore.
>
> The series soon went out of print after Columbia's interest ended, until the College Music Society secured funding from the Ford Foundation for reissue of the entire set. Ford's proviso was that no additional profits were to be made by the reissue of the nine albums, and Columbia agreed -- but only for LP release, not for issue on the new CD format.
>
> These recordings were made available to the public, with a reduced price for College Music Society members, presented in a boxed set with the cover illustration by Dr. David Driscoll, and for which I wrote new liner notes. In all orchestral instances, Dr. Freeman was the conductor.
>
> Columbia M-32781 (1973); volume 1
> Saint-Georges: Symphony concertante, op. 13 (ed. by Barry S. Brook;
> Miriam Fried, Jaime Laredo, violins; London Symphony Orchestra)
> -----: Symphony no. 1 (ed. by D. de Lerma; London Symphony Orchestra)
> -----: Scena from Ernestine (ed. by D. de Lerma; Faye Robinson, soprano;
> London Symphony Orchestra)
> -----: String quartet no. 1 (ed. by D. de Lerma; Juilliard Quartet)
>
> Columbia M-32782 (1973); volume 2
> William Grant Still: Afro-American symphony.
> ----: 2 arias from Highway 1, U.S.A. (London Symphony Orchestra; William
> Brown, tenor)
> Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Danse nègre.
> -----: "Onaway, awake, beloved" from Hiawatha's wedding feast (William
> Brown, tenor; London Symphony Orchestra)
>
> Columbia M-32783 (1974); volume 3
> Ulysses Kay: Markings (London Symphony Orchestra)
> George Walker: Trombone concerto (Denis Wick, trombone;
> London Symphony Orchestra)
>
> Columbia M-32784 (1974); volume 4
> Roque Cordero: Violin concerto (Sanford Allen, violin; Detroit Symphony
> Orchestra)
> -----: Eight miniatures (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
>
> Columbia M-33421 (1975); volume 5
> José Maurício Nunes-Garcia: Requiem Mass, M. 185 (ed. by D. de Lerma;
> Doralene Davis, soprano; Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano;
> William Brown, tenor; Matti Tuloisela, bass-baritone;
> Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; Morgan State
> University Choir [Nathan Carter, director])
>
> Columbia M-33432 (1975); volume 6
> José White: Violin concerto (ed. by Paul Glass and Kermit Moore; Aaron Rosand,
> violin; London Symphony Orchestra)
> David Baker: Cello sonata (Janós Starker, cello; Alain Planès, piano)
>
> Columbia M-33433 (1975); volume 7
> William Grant Still: Sahdji (London Symphony Orchestra; Morgan State University
> Choir [Nathan Carter, director])
> Fela Sowande: African suite (3 excerpts; London Symphony Orchestra)
> George Walker: Lyric for strings (London Symphony Orchestra)
>
> Columbia M-33434 (1975); volume 8
> Olly Wilson: Akwan (Richard Bunger, piano; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Richard
> Bunger, piano)
> Thomas Jefferson Anderson: Squares (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra)
> Talib Rasul Hakim: Visions of Ishwara (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra)
>
> Columbia M-34556 (1978); volume 9
> George Walker: Piano concerto (Natalie Hinderas, piano; Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
> Hale Smith: Ritual and incantations (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
> Adolphus Hailstork: Celebration! (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
>
> -----
> https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/complete-album-collection/hnum/8747117
>
> In the 1970s, CBS Masterworks made a groundbreaking series of recordings featuring the music of black composers. The nine LPs released all featured the pioneering conductor Paul Freeman. Sony Classical is proud to reissue the complete Black Composer Series in a single original album collection with each CD remastered from the original analogue tapes using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology. The composers featured span several centuries and come from many different backgrounds. The earliest is the unique Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799), a composer, violinist and swordsman born in Guadeloupe who spent most of his life in France. A whole album of his music includes the Symphony op. 11 / 1, the String Quartet op. 1 / 1 and the Symphonie Concertante op. 13. Another complete album is dedicated to the Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830) and his extraordinary Requiem Mass for Queen Maria I. José Silvestre White (1835–1918), a Cuban virtuoso violinist-composer in the mould of Wieniawski, taught pupils including George Enescu, and his Violin Concerto is interpreted here by Aaron Rosand. The English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912) enjoyed considerable success in his lifetime, most of all through his cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, an aria from which is included here, as is his orchestral Danse nègre. Coleridge-Taylor visited the USA several times, and was an inspiration for the young William Grant Still (1895–1978). Still’s Afro-American Symphony, the first by a black composer to be performed by a major orchestra, draws strongly on the musical language of the blues. His ballet score Sahdji and two arias from his opera Highway 1, U. S.A. are also included. Among the many other 20th-century composers featured are the Nigerian Fela Sowande (1905–1987), the Panamanian Roque Cordero (1917–2008), and the American Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917–1995). George Walker (b. 1922) has been called “one of the greatest composers of our time” by Fanfare, and three works by this Pulitzer winner are included: the Trombone and Piano Concertos as well as his Lyric for Strings. David Baker (1931–2016), the renowned jazz cellist and composer, was a pupil of Janos Starker, who plays his Cello Sonata. Hale Smith (1925–2009), another composer deeply involved with the world of jazz, is represented by his Ritual and Incantations. Other composers featured in this collection include Olly W. Wilson, T. J. Anderson, Talib-Rasul Hakim and Adolphus Hailstork. A bonus tenth album features Smith’s Symphonic Spirituals, arrangements of 12 spirituals for voice and orchestra, first released by Paul Freeman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1979. Besides those already mentioned, the many superb performers in this collection include the London Symphony Orchestra on several albums, the Baltimore and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, and the Juilliard String Quartet. But it is the composers, many still little known today, who are the true stars of this milestone collection.
>
> -30-

Reminder: This set is still 'back-in-print'. A clone of the original. Getting ready for Black History Month on this M.L.K. Day. The new Florence Price disc on DG, Symphonies Nos.1 & 3, is superb. A biography of Ms. Price was just published, too. The big Marian Anderson coffee table-sized box on Sony Classical was recently priced as low as $65 on A/\/\azo/\/. A great value, if only for the new transfers and restorations of the acoustic recordings of Negro spirituals. In other news, it seems the Lee Morgan Complete Live at the Lighthouse (1970) is already o.o.p. Issued last July. Some of my favorite late '60s jass.

On 1/17/2022 6:02 PM, Oscar wrote:
> Reminder: This set is still 'back-in-print'. A clone of the original. Getting ready for Black History Month on this M.L.K. Day. The new Florence Price disc on DG, Symphonies Nos.1 & 3, is superb. A biography of Ms. Price was just published, too. The big Marian Anderson coffee table-sized box on Sony Classical was recently priced as low as $65 on A/\/\azo/\/. A great value, if only for the new transfers and restorations of the acoustic recordings of Negro spirituals. In other news, it seems the Lee Morgan Complete Live at the Lighthouse (1970) is already o.o.p. Issued last July. Some of my favorite late '60s jass.

Not arguing, but the Lee Morgan set is still listed and apparently available at Amazon, plus plenty of used ones. Also plenty at E-bay, at least one as low as $28 with free shipping. The must have pressed "too many" of these.

On 1/17/2022 6:02 PM, Oscar wrote:
> Reminder: This set is still 'back-in-print'. A clone of the original. Getting ready for Black History Month on this M.L.K. Day. The new Florence Price disc on DG, Symphonies Nos.1 & 3, is superb. A biography of Ms. Price was just published, too. The big Marian Anderson coffee table-sized box on Sony Classical was recently priced as low as $65 on A/\/\azo/\/. A great value, if only for the new transfers and restorations of the acoustic recordings of Negro spirituals. In other news, it seems the Lee Morgan Complete Live at the Lighthouse (1970) is already o.o.p. Issued last July. Some of my favorite late '60s jass.

If I was going to listen to one Lee Morgan track which should it be?

On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 4:04:31 PM, Frank Berger wrote:
>
> If I was going to listen to one Lee Morgan track which should it be?

Search For The New Land from album of same name. Also, Frank, I give my highest recommendation for I Called Him Morgan, a 2016 Swedish documentary that was distributed by Netflix. I do not have Netflix, but saw it at Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena, in March 2017. One of the best documentaries of a musician I've seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxLByThNvWU