Melting Pot Liner Notes

Melting Pot is a four movement song cycle of through-composed jazz, opera and hip-hop that confronts contemporary social issues through classic American poetry. The sound is a result of a collaborative language that combines the talent of many artists from many musical genres. These four songs feature Medusa (a rapper), Nmon Ford, (a classical baritone), Tonya Pinkins, (an actress and singer), as well as many talented players and remixers. The text is a setting of the political poetry of the Harlem Renaissance and other "jazz" poets. There are also “collaborations” with John Philip Sousa, Scott Joplin, Stephen Foster, as well as political figures (George W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson and others). Timbral manipulation is used as an essential tool for musical and text clarification.

The work is very American, almost a neo-lvesian "mashup." This form of composition truly interests me; it is the culmination of years of composing with jazz and setting serious poetry. It combines the humanity o