Research Catalog

Title

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson papers, 1975-1978.

Author

Perkinson, Coleridge-Taylor.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Gaye, Marvin.
• Ware, Leon, 1940-
• Blackbyrds (Musical group)

Description

4.02 linear feet (6 boxes )

Summary

The Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson papers document only a small part of Perkinson's long and varied career, but include some of his work as an arranger for Motown Records, as well as Marvin Gaye.

Subjects

• Arrangers (Musicians)
• Scores
• Perkinson, Coleridge-Taylor
• Composers
• African American composers
• African American musicians
• Arrangers (Musicians) > United States > 20th century
• Television music

Genre/Form

Scores.

Source (note)

• Gordon, Richard

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• in the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago.

Biography (note)

• Although he was a multifaceted arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) had a brief, but significant involvement with popular music, as an arranger for Motown recording artists in general, and Marvin Gaye in particular.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

JPB 07-3

OCLC

181340284

Author

Perkinson, Coleridge-Taylor.

Title

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson papers, 1975-1978.

Biography

Although he was a multifaceted arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) had a brief, but significant involvement with popular music, as an arranger for Motown recording artists in general, and Marvin Gaye in particular. Named after the Afro-British composer and conductor, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Perkinson was born in in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and moved to New York as a child. He attended the High School of Music and Art, New York University, and the Manhattan School of Music. Perkinson's professional accomplishments would span a remarkably wide range of fields, including classical music, jazz, popular music, dance, film soundtracks, scores for television, and music education. In 1965, he co-founded the Symphony of the New World in New York. His jazz credits include a short stint playing piano in Max Roach's Quartet and work with Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds. He straddled the jazz and dance worlds when he wrote a ballet for Alvin Ailey inspired by Charlie Parker, For Bird, With Love (1985). Other work for dance companies included serving as music director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jerome Robbins's American Theater Lab, and the Dance Theater of Harlem. Perkinson also had numerous film and television credits, including Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975) and The Barbara McNair Show (1969-1971). His career in education began at Brooklyn College in 1959 and ended at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois, where he directed the Center for Black Music Research and the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble until the time of his death. Among his most notable efforts as an arranger of popular music are his work on Marvin Gaye's album, I Want You (1976) and Leon Ware's Musical Massage (1976).

Location of Other Archival Materials

See also Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson collection in the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago.

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Music & Recorded Sound Division Special Collections material

Finding Aid

Occupation

Arrangers (Musicians)

Composers.

Added Author

Gaye, Marvin.

Ware, Leon, 1940-

Blackbyrds (Musical group)

Research Call Number

JPB 07-3