About Gary Powell Nash and Sojourner Truth

Gary Powell Nash, a native of Flint, Michigan is Professor of Music at Fisk University in Nashville, TN where he teaches and coordinates courses in music theory, technology, composition, applied woodwinds and conducts the Fisk Jazz Ensemble.

Nash holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Michigan State University.His former teachers include Jacob Druckman, Jere Hutcheson, Bernard Rands, Charles Ruggiero, Mark Sullivan, George Tsontakis and Ramon Zupko.As a composer of Western classical music, Nash has written musical works for orchestra, band/wind ensemble, choir, art songs (four in Chinese), electroacoustic works and instrumental chamber compositions, including two short film scores.His music has been performed in all major regions of the United States and abroad on the continents of Asia and Europe.

Nash has received numerous grants, commissions and awards for his compositions including Vanderbilt University Wind Symphony to compose On the Battlefield, With Certainty (2022) commemorating the opening of the National Museum of African American Music. Others include Southern Grandparents (2017) soprano, tenor and piano trio, commissioned by Delta State University for the Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration in 2017, 2007 UNCF/Mellon Foundation Faculty Seminar in Ghana, Tennessee Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year, 2005-6, Mississippi Arts Commission, American Composers Forum, Carnegie Hall and Fulbright, where he was Visiting Professor of Music Composition at University of the Philippines-Diliman, May 30, 2000 – March 28, 2001.Nash’s scores are published by Art of Sound Music, MusicaNeo and Tuba/Euphonium Press.11 of his compositions are featured on compact disc with five of those appearing on Albany, Centaur and Citadel Records labels.

From wikipedia: Sojourner Truth (1797 – November 26, 1883) was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first Black woman to win such a case against a white man.

Program notes by Gary Nash:
In Memoriam: Sojourner Truth (1992) orchestra is an eleven and a half minute work paying tribute to one of the bravest fighters for liberty, Sojourner Truth, an African-American woman who dedicated her life to the well-being of her fellow freed slaves. This composition is in three sections: an opening slower section with a religious tone, a somewhat faster section in a mode of protest, and a final section of fury, featuring syncopated rhythms, a conga drum beat, and a bebop-derived walking bass line. Most harmonic progressions in the composition are either plagal (a type of cadence with religious overtones) or derived from jazz. The main melodic material is a four-note motive following the rising and falling cadence of the name “Sojourner Truth”.