Willis Laurence James
Willis Laurence James (September 18, 1900 – December 27, 1966) was an American musician, composer and educator. He was on the faculty of Spelman College for more than three decades.[1]
Biography
Willis James was born in
After receiving his B.A. from Morehouse in 1923, James pursued further study with Oswald Blake and Edwin Gerschefski at the Chicago Musical College.
James began his teaching career at Leland College in Baker, Louisiana (1923–29), and it was while living in Louisiana that he began collecting folklore and folksongs, particularly along the levees of the Mississippi River. In 1927 the Paramount Record Company of Chicago released a record on which he sang folksongs and for which he and James Edward Halligan transcribed the music and texts. In 1928 James married a fellow teacher at Leland College, Theodora Joanna Fisher.
From 1929 to 1933, he taught at the
With
James continued investigating folksongs over the years and was noted for his compositions and arrangements. His theory that "the cry" was the most distinctive feature of black folksong attracted some attention. He lectured at college campuses, before professional societies, at the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, and at the Roundtables of the Tanglewood music festival. He received awards from the General Education Board and the Carnegie Foundation and in 1955 received an honorary doctorate from Wilberforce University. In April 1966, he lectured at the opening of the Center for the Arts in Lagos, Nigeria.
At the time of his death on December 27, 1966, he left a completed manuscript, Stars in De Elements, which was published in 1995 as a special issue of the journal Black Sacred Music.
References
- ^ Megan Hill, "Willis Laurence James – MBC visits the Spelman College Archives", MBC (Music by Black Composers) Blog, May 17, 2017.
- ISBN 0-393-97141-4