“A Wreath for Emmett Till”
from Dialogues on Race, by Gregg August
Dialogues on Race, by Westchester Phil bassist Gregg August, is an extended suite for 12-piece jazz ensemble, three vocalists, strings and narrator. It utilizes poems by Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Marilyn Nelson and others to create a musical conversation intended to help bring awareness and foster understanding on the issue of race. The work was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery and Jerome Foundation and will be released later this summer on Iacuessa Records.
This segment, “A Wreath for Emmett Till,” sets to music a poem by Marilyn Nelson, which pays homage to the murdered young man’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, who faced her unimaginable grief by asking an entire nation to do the same.
Gregg and his musical collaborators have graciously shared this work with us, so that we may share it with you.
Read more about Gregg August here.
Read the original poem by Marilyn Nelson here.