List of composers of African descent

This is a list of composers of African descent.

The list

• Michael Abels, USA (born 1962)
• Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah, Egypt (born 1962)
• Muhal Richard Abrams, USA (born 1930)
• Leslie Adams, USA (born 1932)
• Eleanor Alberga, Jamaica (born 1949)
• Alcione, Brazil (born 1947)
• Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge (Montague Ring), England (1866–1956)
• Kenneth Amis, USA (born 1970)
• Thomas Jefferson Anderson (TJ), USA (born 1928)
• David Baker, USA (born 1931)
• Renee C Baker USA born 1957
• Leon Bates, USA, pianist
• Catalina Berroa, Cuba (1849–1911)
• Eubie Blake (James Hubert Blake), USA (1883–1983)
• James A. Bland, USA (1854–1911)
• Margaret Allison Bonds, USA (1913–1972)
• John William Boone, USA (1864–1927)
• Anthony Braxton, USA (born 1945)
• George Bridgetower, Poland (1779–1860), violinist and composer
• Leo Brouwer, Cuba (born 1935)
• James Tim Brymn, USA (1881–1946)
• Harry Burleigh, USA (1866–1949)
• Billy Childs, USA (born 1957)
• Robert Allen "Bob" Cole, USA (1868–1911)
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, England (1875–1912)
• Ornette Coleman, USA (born 1930)
• Will Marion Cook, USA (1869–1944)
• Roque Cordero, Panama (born 1917)
• Arthur Cunningham, USA (born 1928)
• William L. Dawson, USA (1899–1990)
• Anthony Davis, USA (born 1951)
• Gussie Lord Davis, USA (1863–1899)
• Edmond Dédé, USA (1827–1903)
• Leonard De Paur, USA (1914–1998)
• Robert Nathaniel Dett, Canada (1882–1943)
• John Thomas Douglass, USA (1847–1886)
• Rudolph Dunbar, Guyana (1907–1988)
• Leslie Dunner, USA (born 1956)
• Julius Eastman, USA (1940–1990)
• Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington), USA (1899–1974), jazz big band leader
• Joseph Antonio Emidy, Guinea (1775–1835)
• James Reese Europe, USA (1881–1919)
• Donal Fox, USA (born 1952)
• Harry P. Guy, USA (1870–1950)
• Adolphus Hailstork, USA (born 1941)
• W.C. Handy (William Christopher Handy) (1873–1958), USA blues
• Robert A. Harris USA (born 1938)
• Henry Hart, USA (1839–1915)
• Scott Hayden, USA (1882–1915), ragtime
• Bobby McFerrin (Robert McFerrin Jr.), USA (born 1950), jazz composer-vocalist-conductor
• Talib Rasul Hakim, USA (1940–1988)
• Fletcher Henderson, USA (1897–1952), jazz big band leader
• Ernest Hogan, USA (1865–1909)
• Moses Hogan, USA (1957–2003)
• Paris L. Holley, USA (born 1952)
• Michael Jackson, USA (1958–2009), singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, choreographer, musician, businessman
• Tony Jackson, USA (1876–1921), pianist
• Leroy Jenkins, USA (born 1932)
• Jose Julian Jiménez, Cuba (1823–1880)
• Lico Jiménez (José Manuel Jiménez Berroa), Cuba (1851–1917)
• Francis Johnson, USA (1792–1844)
• Hall Johnson, USA (1888–1970)
• James Price Johnson, USA (1894–1955)
• J. Rosamond Johnson, USA (1873–1954)
• Scott Joplin, USA (1868–1917)
• Quincy Jones, USA (born 1933)
• Harold C. Mims, USA (born 1958)
• Joe Jordan, USA (1882–1971)
• Ulysses Simpson Kay, USA (1917–1995)
• Eric Lacy, USA (born 1969)
• Charles Lucien Lambert, USA (c. 1828–1896)
• Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert, France (1858–1945)
• Sidney Lambert, USA (born 1838)
• Ludovic Lamothe, Haiti (1882–1953)
• Sam Lucas, USA (1850–1916)
• Wynton Marsalis, USA (born 1961)
• Arthur Marshall, USA (1881–1968), ragtime
• Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, USA (born 1970)
• Harold C. Mims, USA
• Roscoe Mitchell, USA (born 1940)
• Thelonious Monk, USA (1917–1982)
• Undine Smith Moore, USA (1905–1989)
• Jeffrey Mumford, USA (born 1955)
• Diedre Murray, USA (born 1951)
• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, USA (1932–2004)
• Julia Perry, USA (1924–1979)
• Zenobia Powell Perry, USA (1908–2004)
• Marvin Peterson, USA (born 1948), jazz composer
• Armand John Piron, USA (1888–1943)
• Florence Beatrice Price, USA (1887–1953)
• Amadeo Roldán, Cuba (1900–1939)
• Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Guadeloupe (c. 1739–1799)
• Ignatius Sancho, England, (c. 1729–1780)
• James Scott, USA (1886–1938)
• Alvin Singleton, USA (born 1940)
• Chris Smith, USA (1879–1949)
• Hale Smith, USA (born 1925)
• Fela Sowande, Nigeria (1905–1987)
• William Grant Still, USA (1895–1978)
• Howard Swanson, USA (1907–1978)
• Billy Strayhorn (William Thomas Strayhorn), USA (1917–1967), one of the most highly regarded jazz and big band composers and arrangers; Ellington's friend and arranger
• Shirley Thompson, English-born composer of Jamaican descent
• Henry Threadgill, USA (born 1944), jazz composer
• George Walker, USA (born 1922)
• Fats Waller, USA (1904–1943), singer, jazz musician
• Clarence Cameron White, USA (1880–1960)
• Joseph White (José Silvestre White Lafitte) Cuba (1835–1918)
• Thomas Wiggins (Bethune) or "Blind Tom", USA (1849–1908)
• Clarence Williams, USA (1898–1965)
• Olly Wilson, USA (born 1937)
• John Wesley Work III, USA (1901–1967)
• Stevie Wonder, (born 1950)
• Pamela Z, USA (born 1956)
• Pete Wentz,^[1] bassist of the band Fall Out Boy
• Prince Rogers Nelson aka "PRINCE", USA, (1958-2016)

Dates of birth and death are unknown for several composers whose music, published during the 19th century, is described in Historical Notes on African-American and Jamaican Melodies. These composers include Harry Bloodgood, Samuel Butler, Dudley C. Clark, Harry Davis, Pete Devonear, Fred C. Lyons, Henry Newman, James S. Putnam, and Francis V. Seymour.

See also

• List of African-Americans

References

• Tim Brooks, Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2004.
• Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., editor, International Dictionary of Black Composers, Center for Black Music Research, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago, two volumes, 1999.
• Eileen Southern, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1982.
• Lester Sullivan, "Composers of Color of Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The History Behind the Music", Black Music Research Journal, vol. 8, no. 1 (1988), 51–82.

External links

• Orchestral Music of African-American Composers
• Discography of Center for Black Music Research: Music by Black Composers
• Classical Music Recordings of Black Composers: a reference guide
• Historical Notes on African-American Melodies and Composers
• Historical Notes on African Melodies and Composers
• Black History and Classical Music
• Myrtle Hart Society
• Composers of African Descent
• H. L. Smith, II
• Perspectives of Black Composers