Sonata

Sonata for Flute and Piano by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

For Harold Jones

I. Andante moderato

II. Slowly, rubato

III. Rondo

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) was an innovative African-American composer whose interests spanned the worlds of jazz, dance, pop, film, television, and classical music. He was named after Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912). He majored in education for two years at New York University (1949-1951), then transferred to the Manhattan School of Music in 1951 (B.M., 1953; M.M., composition, 1954) where he was a composition major. His interest in jazz was stimulated while enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music in association with classmates Julius Watkins, Herbie Mann, Donald Byrd, and Max Roach. His ballet scores include works for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey, and the Eleo Pomare Dance Company. He composed and conducted scores for numerous award-winning theatrical, television, and documentary films and has arranged for jazz and popular artists including Harry Belafonte and Marvin Gaye. He conducted orchestras all over the world and served as music director or composer-in-residence for the Negro Ensemble Company, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem and various theatre groups. From 1998 until his death in 2004, Perkinson was affiliated with the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago.