The Harlem Renaissance Remembered: Essays Edited with a Memoir by Arna Bontemps

New York City, uptown, the 1920s. Poets, writers, dancers, and musicians came to Harlem to experience the excitement of the jazz age and to see the cabarets and floor shows at the Apollo Theatre and the Cotton Club. People flocked to Harlem to hear the genius of band leader Duke Ellington, the jazz-poetry of Langston Hughes, and the romantic lyricism of Countee Cullen. The Harlem Renaissance produced some of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential artists, figures at the center of the spectacular jazz era. These African American artists created a new American sound and a new American culture. This unique recording tells the Harlem Renaissance story through the spoken word and live music of some of its most famous works. Experience it all yourself in… THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE REMEMBERED Foreword and Afterword by Jonathan Gross, Ph.D. — Hear the story of Harlem, told through the words of its poets and the sound of its musicians. Imagine yourself in the Cotton Club where Duke Ellington and his famous orchestra performed their hit song, “Take the A Train”. Listen to Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” recited aloud while the strains of “Mood Indigo” play from a distant radio. Learn what the world was like in the 1920s when the Harlem Renaissance was at its height, and why it is still so important today.

Jonathan Gross, Ph.D. (Columbia University) is Professor of English at DePaul University and the author of more than five books. He has played with City Rhythm (1987-1992), Jimmy D. Lane (1993), Breezin’ (1994-2009), and Lush Life, a jazz trio that has performed at fundraisers for Rahm Emanuel, Lookingglass Theatre, and the Chicago Cultural Center (2001-2005).

“Mack” Jay Jordan played as one of the Ebon-knights with the Ramsey Lewis trio at the Baby Grand Cafe (1954) at 8th avenue and 125th Street in New York City. He then worked as a Nat King Cole act as part of Legends in Concert, playing for ten years in Las Vegas and touring Japan and London.