6 - Langston Hughes & Jazz

A Verse Reaction

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Sarah Roberts on American Jazz Music. She then applies the context to four poems by Langston Hughes: “Jazzonia,” “The Weary Blues,” “Minnie Sings Her Blues,” and “Lennox Avenue: Midnight.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Sarah Roberts) Starts: 15:15

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 28:45

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Dr. Sarah Roberts - Associate Professor of Music teaching saxophone and jazz at UT Tyler - in her 10th year at UT Tyler

Serving as the Interim Director of the School of Performing Arts

Has an extremely diverse background of performing classical, jazz, and all points in between.

In jazz has performed with Phil Woods, Tom Bones Malone, Wayne Bergeron, Kirk Whalum, Chris Vadala, and Clay Jenkins. Dr. Roberts has also performed for such acts as The O’Jays, Johnny Mathis, and The Temptations.

She is a Selmer Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist Clinician.

For more information: sarahlynnroberts.com

Resources:

Getty Images: Langston Hughes - https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/langston-hughes

National Portrait Gallery: Langston Hughes by Winhold Reiss https://npg.si.edu/learn/classroom-resource/langston-hughes-1902%E2%80%931967

Hughes, Langston and Arnold Rampersad. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage, 1995.

Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes (2 vol). Oxford, 2002.

Video of Hughes reading “The Weary Blues”: https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2014/jazz-poetry-langston-hughes

Audio of Hughes reading several poems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRF7mU4zrg

Jacob Lawrence - https://www.moas.org/Jacob-Lawrence-and-the-Harlem-Renaissance-1-57.html [See 1943’s Nightlife] and https://www.moma.org/artists/3418#works