Modern Notebook for January 16, 2022

Photo: Composer Anthony R. Green (Photo credit: Nathan Hall)

On this week’s Modern Notebook: in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’ll feature several pieces about Black history in America, including a work by Jeff Scott which pays tribute to historically Black neighborhoods in Detroit.


Plus, a dance suite by Anthony Green inspired by several Black historical figures from Massachusetts titled The Green Double.



Featuring music by Tyshawn Sorey, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Shelley Washington, and others; and performances by Catalyst Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, baritone Will Liverman, Transient Canvas, and more.


Join Tyler Kline for the next Modern Notebook, Sunday night from 8 to 10 ET on Classical WSMR 89.1 and 103.9. Streaming at wsmr.org.


Hour 1

  • Introduction from Tyshawn Sorey’s The Inner Spectrum of Variables.
  • Jessie Montgomery’s Banner.
  • Homage to Paradise Valley by Jeff Scott.
  • Ballad of Birmingham from Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Two Black Churches.
  • Jace Clayton’s Lethe’s Children.

Hour 2

  • Rebounds by Jonathan Bailey Holland.
  • Carlos Simon’s Lickety Split.
  • The Green Double: A Historical Dance Suite by Anthony R. Green.
  • Shelley Washington’s Middleground.
  • Pursuit by Billy Childs.
  • Nina Simone’s Fodder on my Wings.

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