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Val Gray Ward : Rhapsody In Hughes 101
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A notable singer, actress and producer delivering Jazzy blues vocals and spoken poetry with insight and conviction.
Genre: Jazz: Jazz Vocals
Release Date: 1902
Rhapsody In Hughes 101
Val Gray Ward
Record Label: Kumi Entertainment
  • Buy CD - $12.99

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Preview Song Name Time Buy
1. Weary Blues 3:57 Album Only
2. Trumpet Player: 52nd Street 2:30 Album Only
3. Still Here 1:04 Album Only
4. The Negro Speaks of Rivers 5:15 Album Only
5. Harlem Sweeties 4:09 Album Only
6. Tambourines! 0:43 Album Only
7. Sunday Morning Prophecy 2:22 Album Only
8. Sylvester's Dying Bed 1:28 Album Only
9. Note On Commercial Theater 6:19 Album Only
10. Junior Addict 2:30 Album Only
11. Song For Billy Holiday 1:59 Album Only
12. Troubled Woman 3:58 Album Only
13. Harlem Sweeties (Dance Remix) 4:37 Album Only
14. My People 0:54 Album Only
15. Aunt Sue's Stories 2:04 Album Only
16. Lullaby (For A Black Mother) 4:19 Album Only
17. Negro Mother 7:56 Album Only
18. As I Grew Older 2:15 Album Only
19. To Dorothy Maynor 1:03 Album Only
20. Let America Be America Again 7:52 Album Only
21. I Dream A World 3:14 Album Only
22. Do Nothin' 'Till You Hear From Me 2:20 Album Only
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Album Notes

Val Gray Ward is an internationally-known actress, producer and theater personality who has made major contributions to the cultural life of Chicago and America through her work as dramatist, founder and artistic director of the Kuumba Theatre.

Since its founding in 1968, Kuumba has never missed a season in which plays were offered to a grateful Chicago audience. Kuumba has also produced many shows that toured in cities such as Louisville, Atlanta, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Montreal, and Osaka, Japan. As the principal creative force behind the Kuumba Theatre, Ward has produced and directed such plays as Sister Son / ji by Sonia Sanchez, Ricky by Eugenia Collier, Five on the Black Hand Side by Charles Fuller, and The Image Makers by Eugene Perkins. She also created the Emmy Award Winning Precious Memories: Strolling 47th Street which aired over the PBS network in September 1988. Val Gray Ward has also appeared in her one- woman show, I Am A Black Woman from 1966 to the present at colleges and universities, conferences and educational meetings across the country. She currently lives in Syracuse, New York.

http://www.freshangles.com/realtime/education/articles/27.html
http://www.kuce.org/hughes/ward2.html
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=228&category=artMakers

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REVIEWS

Da BOMB!
author: karendee
                            
The CD is a great marriage of music and spoken word, it truly captured the tone, enviroment, and heart that Mr. Hughes conveyed in his poetry.  I simply love it.

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Langston Hughes For Our Age
author: Timothy J. Etherington
                            
Excellent reading of excellent poetry with excellent music accompanying.

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Val Ward shines through on every line of "Raphosdy in Hughes 101
author: Mark Bialzczak - Syracuse Post Standard
                            
On TRUMPET PLAYER:52nd Street she's as silky and sassy as the cool-cat horn player, then as wound up as a hot jam.  On NEGRO MOTHER, she's so sad you hear her voice crack, and it's enough to make your heart break.  This collection strays strickly from the spoken work.  With just the right amount of Jazz instrumentation.  Gray Ward's just a bit short of flat-out singing.  Put it on when you want to get into a poetic pool deep in wisdom and insight from the rhythm and flow of Langston Hughes works.  Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop,Rap and Negro Spiritual..

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An historical treasure
author: Mari Evans - Poet
                            
We all see Langston as our epic hero, our literary icon, our cultural Renaissance man.  Val's skill, respect, and understanding of our cultural nuances does him justice.  The CD will prove to be an historical treasure.

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