New Program Explores the Music of Black America In Migration
WDCB’s Gary Zidek visits a recent rehearsal for the Chicago premiere of TWO WINGS: THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICA IN MIGRATION.
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The husband and wife team of pianist Jason Moran and mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran will present the Chicago premiere of TWO WINGS: THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICA IN MIGRATION Friday May 24 at Symphony Center. Earlier this week, the couple was at Kenwood Academy High School rehearsing with the school’s jazz band.
Kenwood Academy’s jazz band director Gerald Powell leading the band through rehearsal of Wabash Stomp.
TWO WINGS, which was originally commissioned by Carnegie Hall, debuted in New York earlier this year. In April, the program was presented in Washington DC and Hamburg Germany. The final presentation of TWO WINGS will take place in Chicago on Friday night.
Rather than put together a concert of songs describing the Great Migration, the Morans wanted to dive deeper into the ideas and ramifications of the relocation of 6 million black Americans, who left their homes in the south to move to northern cities.
Sheet music for Wabash Stomp
TWO WINGS incorporates music and spoken word. The Morans have enlisted the words and vocal talents of different authors who serve as narrators in each of the cities TWO WINGS is being presented. In Chicago, award-winning author and critics Margo Jefferson will serve as narrator.
Author & Critic Margo Jefferson
TWO WINGS is ambitious in scope, but also incredibly intimate. The project is very personal for the creators. Jason and Alicia used their own family histories of migration as inspiration for the program.
Alicia Hall Moran, WDCB’s Gary Zidek & Jason Moran
