Willian Grant Still: Miss Sally's Party

[Lance]

How wonderful Sirius-XM radio is when you are traveling! The other day I heard a piece by William Grant Still that I had to have. (We've all been there, I know!). This piece was entitled Miss Sally's Dance, comprised of eight sections in all. There is a marvelous piano part in the piece, but no mention of the pianist (probably Brunelle). The one CD I could find was on the Clarion label [905] issued as long ago as 1996 and apparently again in 2004. The album is entitled "Skyward My People Rose," and includes some other Still pieces: Wailing Woman; Swanee River (Old Folks at Home), And They Lynched Him in a Tree, Reverie, Elegy. Philip Brunelle is the conductor/organist with VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus with Orchestra. William Warfield, narrator, Yolanda Williams, soprano, Hilda Harris, mezzo-soprano and the Leigh Morris Chorale is involved. William Grant Still was a Black composer born in Mississippi in 1895 and died is Los Angeles in 1978. He wrote a considerable amount of music, including symphonies, much solo piano music and other orchestral and choral pieces. Miss Sally's Dance will get your blood moving, for sure! Anybody know this piece?

[barney]

No, but I'd like to. Sounds fun - and maybe more than that.

[stickles]

Just found a youtube link for this piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3qB-ch2k2M

and here is a fresh live performance of Still's Afro-American Symphony conducted by Karina Canellakis, all the more relevant given the recent events.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dVPsrE2aCg

[barney]

Great hunting. Thank you.

[maestrob]

Yes, thank-you, stickles.

William Grant Still's music is inventive, full of depth and character, and thankfully, widely recorded and available on youtube and amazon. I hadn't heard Miss Sally's Party, though, and am happy to know the piece now.

Here's a disc of piano music that has won high praise:

[barney]

I enjoyed the piece, which was idiomatic, mildly jazzy and not without interest. But the party is much higher-toned than the pictures with the YouTube clip, which indicate a far wilder, more manic party for which this music simply wouldn't do.

[CharmNewton]

I have several discs of Still's music and enjoy it. Tuneful and colorful, he wrote for many instrumental combinations as well as for voice. It started with a song titled "Golden Days" I heard on the radio played by the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra with soprano Margaret Astrup.
Thanks for the reminder of this wonderful composer.

John