Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Papers of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1975-1978) Open To Public at New York Public Library


[Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Conducting the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble; Photo courtesy of the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago]

Guide to the Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Papers, 1975-1978
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) was an African American composer and conductor. William F. Johnson of The Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts completed a “Guide to the Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Papers, 1975-1978” in October 2007. The collection was donated by Richard Gordon, and processed through a gift from Robert W. Wilson.

Scope & Content Note: “The Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Papers document only a small part of Perkinson’s long and varied career, but they include the period with the highest public profile, his work as an arranger for Motown and Marvin Gaye. The collection consists almost entirely of finished full scores, and instrumental parts along with some sketches (mainly in the television music). There is no directly personal or biographical material to be found in the papers.”

Series I: “The scores and parts in this series cover work for the Blackbyrds (these arrangements are actually credited to Wade Marcus), Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and Leon Ware.” “Also included in this series is a folder of general personal papers containing a small number of items such as song lyrics, sheet music and correspondence.”

Series II: “This series includes material Perkinson composed for two short-lived television shows,
Harris and Company and The Plant Family, as well as some finished cues and sketches with no identification that could belong to either or neither of the two.” [Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is a specialist in African heritage in classical music, and has kindly made his research file on Perkinson available for the composer's page at AfriClassical.com]






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