music
‘Ballad of an American’: Composer Earl Robinson and working-class culture
April 27, 2022Best known for composing the music for songs like “The House I Live In,” “Joe Hill,” and “Black and White,” Earl Robinson’s music became a critical part of U.S. working-class culture in the 20th century.
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Classical CDs highlight African-American and women’s contributions
April 11, 2022Under review here are three classical CDs featuring African-American composers with greater or lesser (mostly lesser) familiarity, and one non-Black Bostonian lady.
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Expressions of African-American music on CD—and all that jazz
March 7, 2022Jazz is widely recognized as perhaps the only musical art form originating in the United States, thanks largely to its African-American inventors.
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For African-American History Month: Three vocal CDs in review
February 14, 2022It seems like a very apt project for interfaith and interracial collaboration.
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Blues singer Bessie Smith shines in a new novel in memoir form
January 7, 2022If Bessie Smith’s story itself is an American phenomenon worthy of recapitulating in any number of artistic forms, it’s as a writer that Crittendon shines.
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