Yamekraw
{{Short description|Jazz musical composition}}
{{distinguish|Yamacraw}}
Yamekraw, a Negro Rhapsody is a jazz musical composition written by James P. Johnson in 1927 about a neighborhood of Savannah, Georgia.{{Cite web |title=James P. Johnson's 'Yamekraw, A Negro Rhapsody' | website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5192879}} It was a response to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. It was initially composed for the piano, but was first performed at Carnegie Hall as a jazz-like orchestral arrangement.{{Cite journal |author=Howland, John |year=2006 |title=Jazz Rhapsodies in Black and White: James P. Johnson's 'Yamekraw' |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25046051 |journal=American Music |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=445–509 |doi=10.2307/25046051 |jstor=25046051 |url-access=subscription }} A recording was made of Johnson performing the music on piano. A film inspired by the song was also made.
Song name
File:Yamacraw Market, Fahn Street, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia.jpg
Yamacraw was a black neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia. The song was inspired by the culture of the neighborhood, and billed as a more "authentic" rhapsody.{{Cite web|url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/robert-sengstacke-abbott-1868-1940/|title=Robert Sengstacke Abbott}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLDqDwAAQBAJ&dq=yamacraw+&pg=PT26|title=The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America|first=Ethan|last=Michaeli|date=January 12, 2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=9780547560878|via=Google Books}}{{failed verification|date=September 2024}}
Film
Murray Roth directed a short 1930 musical film inspired by the song.{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/jots.200020700/|title=YAMEKRAW|website=Library of Congress}} The film has been referred to by the title Yamekraw and Yamacraw.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/17772503|title=Yamekraw|date=October 29, 1930|oclc=17772503|via=Open WorldCat}} It is a Vitaphone Varieties film produced by Warner Brothers.
The film depicts a poor man from a rural area travelling to a large city where he encounters a dancer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/884888/yamekraw/|title=Yamekraw|website=Turner Classic Movies}} Jimmy Mordecai portrayed the lead character.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTGSCgAAQBAJ&dq=yamekraw+murray+roth&pg=PA188|title=African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography|first=Larry|last=Richards|date=September 17, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476610528|via=Google Books}} In the film, Yamekraw is described as a settlement outside Savannah, Georgia. The film was shown in 2009.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06wmovies.html|title=Film Series and Movie Listings|first=The New York|last=Times|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 5, 2009}} The song is included on the album The Symphonic Jazz of James P. Johnson.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0261436}}
- {{tcmdb title|id=884888}}