Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

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Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (born June 14, 1932 in Winston-Salem , North Carolina , † March 9, 2004 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American conductor and composer whose interests spanned the worlds of jazz , pop music and European art music .

Live and act

Perkinson's mother, who worked as a piano teacher, church organist and director of a theater company, named him after the Afro-European composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912). Perkinson attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City until graduation in 1949 . After his choral work “And Behold” had already won the school competition there, he then studied composition with Vittorio Giannini and Charles Mills at the Manhattan School of Music (MA 1954) and with Earl Kim at Princeton University . From 1959 to 1962 he was a faculty member at Brooklyn College . During the summer of 1960, 1962 and 1963 he studied in the Netherlands with Franco Ferrara and Dean Dixon after completing a conducting course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1960.

In 1965 Perkinson was one of the co-founders of the Symphony of the New World in New York (of which he became musical director in 1999). He was the musical director of Jerome Robbins's American Theater Lab and Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater , but also worked for the Dance Theater of Harlem , the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Negro Ensemble Company . He also worked as a guest conductor.

In addition, he wrote compositions of a symphonic nature that were commissioned by American and European orchestras, as well as film, television and ballet music. For example, he wrote a piece for Ailey “For Bird. With Love ”, which was influenced by (and dedicated to) the playing of jazz musician Charlie Parker . He gained jazz experience himself by working as a pianist with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln in 1960 and 1964 and touring Europe; In 1962 he was involved in the recording of Roach's Impulse album "It's Time" on the keys. He also wrote arrangements for Marvin Gaye , Harry Belafonte and Donald Byrd and conducted the studio orchestra for the latter in 1964. He also wrote works for Hamiet Bluiett and his ensemble (recorded on his CD "Blueblack").

Remarks

  1. ↑ Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln Love For Sale (WestWind)
  2. ↑ cf. Max Roach Discography

Discographic notes

  • "Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004): A Celebration" (Cedille Records CDR 90000 087)
  • "African Heritage Symphonic Series Volume III" (Cedille Records CDR 90000 066)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Perkinson, Coleridge-Taylor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Perkinson, Coleridge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Winston-Salem , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2004
Place of death Chicago , Illinois