A Blog Supreme Thu February 21, 2013 History As Symphony: The
African-American Experience In Jazz Suites Originally published
on Sat February 23, 2013 5:47 pm The Harlem Renaissance of the
1920s inspired several black artists to explore their African
heritage and the black experience in America, from enslavement
to life after emancipation and migration to cities in the north.
In the musical world, pianist James P. Johnson composed
Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody, a 12-minute portrait of a black
community in Savannah, Ga. Yamekraw was orchestrated for a 1928
performance at Carnegie Hall by black composer William Grant
Still, who would write his own Afro American Symphony in 1930.
Since then, many more African-American artists have employed the
expansive concepts of suites, symphonies and extended works to
render the saga of black life from Africa to America. Here are
excerpts from five extended jazz representations of black
history.