Evening Eclectic July 7, 2024 John Jeter - Music of Louis Wayne Ballard

Tonight on Contemporary Classics I am talking with John Jeter, conductor of the Fort Smith Symphony orchestra  and who the New York Times has called “an angelic force for overlooked American music”.  John Jeter began almost 20 years ago bringing to public attention the music of black American composer William Grant Still.  At that time there were only a handful of albums featuring Still’s music.  But since then it has become a cottage industry to issue recordings of the music of black American composers from the 20th century.  And since 2019 he added three albums of the music of Florence Price to his ever expanding number of albums promoting underrepresented composers.  And this past November, John Jeter and the Fort Smith Symphony released their latest album featuring the music of American First Nation’s composer Louis Wayne Ballard entitled Louis Wayne Ballard: The Four Moons/ Devil's Promenade/ Fantasy Aborigine No. 3 / Scenes from Indian Life on Naxos Records.