The Black Composer Speaks Collection, 1958-1987, bulk 1970-1977

Summary

Creator:
Afro-American Arts Institute, Indiana University
Abstract:
This collection includes interviews and research materails used for the production of the book The Black Composer Speaks (1978), a project initiated by the Afro-American Arts Institute at Indiana University, and co-edited by Lida M. Belt, David N. Baker and Herman C. Hudson. The majority of the interviews were conducted by Lida Belt (Baker).
Extent:
10 document case(s) (4.78 linear feet), 2 audiocassette(s) (analog ; approximately 1.5 hours), and 14 audiotape reel(s) (approximately 24.5 hours)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

AAAI Black Composer Speaks Collection, SC 35, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

The Black Composer Speaks book was the product of three co-editors affiliated with the Indiana University Afro-American Arts Institute: David N. Baker, Lida M. Belt (Baker), and Herman C. Hudson. Indiana University Jacobs School of Music professor David Baker, an accomplished composer, musician, and pedagogue, appears to have been instrumental in contacting many of the composers featured in this book. Lida Belt, who was a graduate student at the time, conducted most of the interviews that were transcribed in the text. Herman Hudson founded the university's Afro-American studies program and played a key role in establishing the Afro-American Arts Institute.

While many of the composers included in the project transcend genre boundaries, most are arguably known more for either their contributions to the jazz literature or to classical music. Interviews with jazz-oriented composers include Herbie Hancock, Oliver Nelson, George Russell, and Archie Shepp. Interviews with composers better known for their contributions to classical music include Noel DaCosta, Talib Rasul Hakim, Ulysses Kay, Undine Smith Moore, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Hale Smith, George Walker, and Olly Wilson. Baker's own prolific work has straddled the line between the two idioms.

Scope and Contents:

This collection consists of 9 boxes of documents and 16 audiotapes pertaining to The Black Composer Speaks project sponsored by the Indiana University Afro-American Arts Institute. Based on interviews with fifteen African American composers, the project culminated in 1978 with the publication of a book by the same title, co-edited by David N. Baker, Lida M. Belt, and Herman C. Hudson. Included in the collection is biographical information, notes about composers and surveys of their compositions, bibliographies, discographies, articles and clippings, concert programs, photographs and correspondence.

The bulk of the interviews were conducted by Lida M. Belt (now Lida Baker). Several versions of the interview transcripts are included, ranging from original unedited transcripts to the final versions for publication. Several additional transcripts are for interviews conducted by David Baker, the source of which is unknown. There is fairly comprehensive information on the composers featured in the 1978 edition of The Black Composer Speaks: T.J. Anderson, David Baker, Noel Da Costa, Talib Rasul Hakim, Herbie Hancock, Ulysses Kay, Undine Smith Moore, Oliver Nelson, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, George Russell, Archie Shepp, Hale Smith, Howard Swanson, George Walker, and Olly Wilson.

This collection also includes information on significant figures not included in the 1978 edition: Valerie Capers, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Michael V.W. Jordan, and Portia K. Maultsby. Some of these composers may have been intended for the second volume which was proposed in 1986 but not completed. Audio recordings are included for the interviews conducted by Lida Belt with Baker, Coleman (the material from this interview is not included in the book), Da Costa, Hakim, Hancock, Kay, Perkinson, Russell, Shepp, Smith, Walker, and Wilson. Some of the correspondence pertains to topics beyond the scope of The Black Composer Speaks project. Correspondence between Indiana University and Undine Smith Moore provide details on her visits to campus, receipt of an honorary degree, a video documentary, and commission of a new work. Correspondence with Dominique-Rene de Lerma outlines Indiana University's efforts to establish a Black Music Center, a Black Music Collection (currently part of the William & Gayle Cook Music Library in the Jacobs School of Music), and a "Weekends with Black Music" concert series. Also included is information about Midwest regional meetings pertaining to the selection of artist for the Second Festival of Black Art and Culture held in Lagos, Nigeria, and information on former IU Soul Revue member and Broadway singer Mary Denise Bentley which was likely added to this collection at a later date but does not seem relevant to the project.

Acquisition information:
Deposited by the African American Arts Institute, Indiana University in 2012.
Processing Information:

Processed by AAAMC Staff. Completed in 2015.

Arrangement:

Arranged in two series:

Series 1: Research Materials
Series 2: Audiovisual Materials
Bibliography:

Edited interview transcripts and lists of compositions published in: Baker, David, Lida Belt Baker, and Herman C Hudson. The Black Composer Speaks. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978 (ML390 .B64 1978).

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Use of time-based media materials (audio and video) may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Access to streaming audio, moving image, and full resolution digital image materials may currently be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an IU account or who are physically present on campus. Remote streaming to individual researchers may be allowed with the completion of applicable forms.

For further information about access to online audiovisual materials, contact AAAMC staff at aaamc@indiana.edu.

Terms of access:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Indiana Public Records Act (5-14-3-2 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Indiana University assumes no responsibility.

Copyright is retained by the creators/authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. All requests for copying and publishing materials must be submitted in writing to the Archives of African American Music and Culture, and may require the written permission of the creator(s)/author(s) or donor(s).

Preferred citation:

AAAI Black Composer Speaks Collection, SC 35, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Location of this collection:
Herman B Wells Library
1320 E 10th St
West Tower, Suite 305
Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
Visit Archives of African American Music and Culture
Before you visit:
Campus:
Indiana University Bloomington
Contact:
812-855-8547
aaamc@iu.edu