Charles Amirkhanian interviews timpanist Elayne Jones. She discusses her career, the problems of Blacks in American symphonies, and the influence of Black African music on Western European music. Includes excerpts of performances (Elayne Jones plays timpani on all of these selections).
Tchaikovsky "1812 Overture"- Morton Gould, RCA Symphony Orch.
Douglas Moore "Ballad of Baby Doe" (Overture and beginning of Act I) - Beverly Sills, Soprano.
Reinhold Gliere "Red Poppy Ballet" (excerpt) - Siegfried Landau, Music for Westchester Symphony Orchestra
Ravel "Bolero" - Morton Gould Orchestra
Beethoven "Emporor Concerto" (final movement) - Stokowski, American Symphony Orchestra; Glenn Gould, piano.
(From Folio) Elayne Jones is one of the most prominent percussionists in the United States orchestral music scene. She was chosen personally by Leopold Stokowski to work with his American Symphony Orchestra upon its founding. Jones is also one of the few Black orgestral musicians holding a first-chair position, and when recently she was fired by the San Francisco Symphony, allegedly for musical reasons, the Bay Area community (including many musicians and critics) were convinced that racism was at the base of the action.
PRA metadata viewThis recording has been digitally preserved as part of Pacifica's American Women Making History and Culture: 1963-1982 grant preservation project, and is available for research and reference . Please contact the archives via telephone: 818-506-1077 or email: americanwomen at pacificaradioarchives dot org for information on how to obtain a copy of this program. Thank you.
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