learning musical uses of proverbs in kopeyia village, ghana, west africa

I compose and arrange music in the African American jazz tradition. This musical heritage has historically assimilated external influences in a creative and dynamic way. My approach is to adapt elements of world cultures as a basis for melodic, harmonic, timbral, rhythmic, and formal materials in a given piece, as a means to inner expression.

Solkattu rhythmic syllables are the basis of the theme in Tala Vadyam, a work in an 11 beat time cycle. West African Eve songs and supporting drum rhythms form the structure of Eve and Anlo Kete while traditional luna and gungon drum conversations are the foundation for Dagbamba. Asante Akom rhythms are the origin for Wadsworth Falls, while Kadodo and Ago lead and support patterns form the core of Adzohu, played in its traditional 24 pulse bell cycle. Asante Adowa adapts traditional rhythms from the Adowa funeral music of the Asante people. The use of the Philippine kulintang ensemble instruments in their traditional way is a major part of my Pilipinas suite. Native American melodies are the main focus of Navajo Blood/Pontoosuc Waters/Springside Lands and Papago-Saguaro Song.

I use the complex layers of time from West African drumming, Javanese gamelan, and South Indian music in my works. My sense of sound and time and influences from Indian and West Asian traditions have led me to compose in many different time cycles, each with its own personality - 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, and 24 beat cycles for example - and let the music swing in an African American feel, whether the idiom is in a blues, bebop, gospel, funk, Afro-Latin, reggae, hip-hop, or experimental style. My arrangements of Caravan in 15 beats, A Night in Tunisia, Double Trouble, and Gati Shadows Within in 7 beats, and Invitation in 11 beats are expressions of this time sense.

These musical elements are manifestations of my underlying effort to connect the spirit of world cultures with an African American compositional and improvisational style, a musical parallel to what I see as a social reality of the 20th and 21st centuries.

compositions (c) and arrangements (a)
for arrangements, original composer(s) are listed in parentheses

c ray hart with tap dancer Ray Hart 1964

c hazel’s dance with Hazel and James Hartigan 1972, 1996

a caravan 1972 (Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington/Juan Tizol)

c orient 1972

c pilipinas 1972

a Nommo 1978 (Jymie Merritt)

a kaafo 1983 (the Ga People of Ghana, West Africa)

c tala vadyam 1983

c lydian sun 1983

c 36 1983

c wadsworth falls 1984

a Kaloran 1984 (from I. M. Harjito; the Indonesian people)

a Jenang Gula 1985 (from I. M. Harjito; the Indonesian people)

c r’s dream 1985

a eve 1985 (the Eve People of Ghana, West Africa)

a Afro Blue 1988 (Mongo Santamaria/John Coltrane)

c double trouble 1990

c james and hazel 1991

a Saint James Infirmary 1991 (traditional)

a Just a Closer Walk with Thee 1991 (traditional)

c prince Edward 1991

a asante adowa 1992 (the Asante people of Ghana, West Africa)

a Papago-Saguaro Song 1992 (the Papago and Saguaro peoples of Native America)

a navajo blood/pontoosuc waters/springside lands 1992 (Ed Lee Nate, the Navajo People of Native America)

a adzohu 1992 (the Eve and Fon peoples of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, West Africa)

a dagbamba 1993 (the Dagbamba people of Ghana, West Africa)

c apartheid u.s.a. 1993

a juba 1993 (African American/Georgia Sea Islands traditional)

c rodney king drums 1993

c hazel’s dance 1996

a Fables of Faubus 1996 (Charles Mingus)

a Longing 1996 (Kyoto Fujiwara)

a Freedom Jazz Dance 1996 (Eddie Harris)

a Gemini 1996 (Jimmy Heath)

c 1068 1997

a Boogie Stomp Shuffle 1997 (Charles Mingus)

a Hammerhead 1998 (Wayne Shorter)

a On Gold Mountain in Beijing 1999 (Chinese traditional)

a A Night in Tunisia 1999 (John Birks Dizzy Gillespie)

c hopi prayer music 1972 and additional text 1999

c 91 – 1, 2, 3 1999

a our family 2000 (Hazel Hartigan 1956)

a We’ll Be Together Again 2000 and additional text (Carl Fischer and Frankie Lane)

a Midnight Sun 2000 and additional text (music, Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke; lyrics, Johnny Mercer)

c parting veil 2000c passages 2000

c dondo-tap conversation for frank, edward, mary, and richie hartigan with C. K. Ladzekpo 2000

a Tenderly 2000 (Walter Lloyd Gross)

c gati shadows within 2001

a Syrinx 2001 (Claude Debussy)

a Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major theme/Padmeskoveeye Vietchera/Midnight in Moscow 2002 (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky/V. Soloviev-Sedoy and M. Matusovsky/Kenneth Ball and Jan Burgers)

c james eagle eye with Hafez Modirzadeh 2002

c railroad banjo to my heart: biff, victor, charles, and the duchess with Timothy Volpicella 2002

c three views with Hafez Modirzadeh 2002

c tatao with Danongan Kalanduyan and Hafez Modirzadeh 2002

a Jitterbug Waltz 2004 (Fats Waller)

a Invitation 2004 (Bronislau Kaper)

c dreamfireswaking 2004

a Anlo Kete 2005 (the Eve people of Ghana, West Africa)

c owl’s nightmare with Art Hirahara 2006

c divine trance 2006 music and texta waltz clog 2006 (Ray Hart 1911)

a new york rhythm 2007 (Ray Hart and Hazel Hartigan 1946)

a walking step 2007 (Hazel and James Hartigan 1947)