Broaden Your Concert Repertoire - "Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora"

Here with a composition by Valerie Capers (1935-present). Capers was born in New York to a family who introduced her to the sounds of Jazz and classical music. Her father was, in fact, a professional jazz pianist who was friends with the infamous Fats Waller. Capers was blind since the age of 6 but didn't let that stop her from striving toward musical excellence. Capers went on to study at Juilliard where she achieved her bachelors and masters degrees. Capers became the first blind graduate of Juilliard! Additionally, Capers designed a jazz curriculum and was an advisor to blind students at Manhattan School of Music. Capers composed a large number of works for solo piano, choirs and orchestra. Such works as "Sing about Love" (A Christmas cantata) and "Portraits in Jazz" (A set of intermediate level piano works). (1)

This piece, 'The Monk' is from Capers "Portraits in Jazz". It is also featured in William H. Chapham Nyahos' 2007 OUP publication, "Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora: Volume 1". This work is like a homage to the Bebop musician, Thelonious Monk (1917-82) (2). It contains a multiplicity of his signatures such as the use of open 5ths and 7ths, the use of cluster chords on 'off beats' and a quote from "Straight no Chaser" near the end of the first section. (3)

This is a really great composition! It deserves air time in exams, concerts and for pleasure play. Chapman Nyaho has produced an incredible 5-volume set of publications worthy of every pianists attention! It is time we included the amazing work of African composers. I imagine a concert hall full of people coming to hear a varied program - one where we could hear the likes of Couperin, CPE Bach, Chopin, Yiruma and Capers one after the other. What an enriching sonic experience that would be!

Please consider purchasing Chapman Nyahos' "Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora" at https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/p/piano-music-of-the-african-diaspora-african/?cc=gb&lang=en& . I have two of my pupils already commencing study of the first volume from which this piece is taken.

God bless you,

Mark Dowling

(MJDKeys)

References:

(1) Wikipedia. 2020. Valerie Capers. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Capers. [Accessed 2 February 2021].

(2) Wikipedia. 2021. Thelonious Monk. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk. [Accessed 2 February 2021].

(3) Chapman Nyaho, W., 2007. Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press.