ASK YOUR MAMA: TWELVE MOODS FOR JAZZ

"Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz" is an 800-line suite of poems written by Hughes. A researcher, Dr. John Wright, noted that it contained suggestions that it be interspersed with musical interludes; yet such music had not been composed. He and jazz artist Dr. McCurdy then partnered to create a multi-media performance of spoken word, videography from the Harlem Renaissance, and live jazz quartet. The presentation recreates Langston Hughes' vision of the global struggle for freedom in the early 1960s and is now performed by McCurdy's jazz quartet and spoken-word artist Dr. Diane Richardson.

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