The Harlem Renaissance

The northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was meant to be an
upper-class white neighborhood, but rapid overdevelopment led to
empty buildings and desperate landlords seeking to fill them. In
the early 1900s, in what became known as the Great Migration,
African-Americans from the South moved north to New York in
droves, searching for work after the war, and hoping to escape
the racial violence tearing through America. Harlem became a
centre for Black culture in the city, drawing in poets like
Langston Hughes, thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois and musicians.
These musicians pioneered new forms of jazz and blues, subverted
the expectations of Black performers and broke through into the
mainstream. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by jazz trumpeter
and composer Wynton Marsalis, as he traces the rise and fall of
the Harlem Renaissance, transporting us from rent parties to
night clubs to Broadway, as we hear a joyful, soulful explosion
of sound.


Music Featured:


Carolina Shout Echoes of Spring Willie’s Blues The Harlem Strut
Finger Buster St Louis Blues Shuffle Along Medley Love Will Find
a Way Everything Reminds Me of You Troublesome Ivories Good
Morning Blues Motto/Dead in There The Weary Blues Could Be/Bad
Luck Card/Bad Man Consider Me I, Too Black Beauty Black and Tan
Fantasy It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) Creole
Rhapsody Symphony in Black West End Blues Sobbin’ Hearted Blues
Ain’t Misbehavin’ Hotter Than That I Gotta Right to Sing the
Blues When the Saints Go Marching In


Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Alice McKee


For full track listings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for The Harlem Renaissance
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dy5s


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z