From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of composers of African ancestry .
H. Leslie Adams
Michael Abels , US (born 1962)
Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah , Egypt (born 1962)
Muhal Richard Abrams , US (1930–2017)
H. Leslie Adams , US (born 1932)
Eleanor Alberga ,
Jamaica (born 1949)
Alcione , Brazil (born 1947)
Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge (Montague Ring), England (1866–1956)
Kenneth Amis , US (born 1970)
Thomas Jefferson Anderson (TJ), US (born 1928)
Lil Hardin Armstrong , US (1898–1971)
David Baker , US (1931–2016)
Count Basie , US, pianist, bandleader
Leon Bates , US, pianist
Catalina Berroa , Cuba (1849–1911)
Eubie Blake (James Hubert Blake), US (1887–1983)
James A. Bland , US (1854–1911)
Margaret Allison Bonds , US (1913–1972)
John William Boone , US (1864–1927)
Anthony Braxton , US (born 1945)
George Bridgetower , Poland (1779–1860), violinist and composer
Courtney Bryan , US (born 1982/1983), pianist and composer
James Tim Brymn , US (1881–1946)
Harry Burleigh , US (1866–1949)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor c. 1893
Billy Childs , US (born 1957)
Robert Allen "Bob" Cole , US (1868–1911)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ,
England (1875–1912)
Ornette Coleman , US (1930–2015)
Alice Coltrane , US (1937–2007)
John Coltrane , US (1926–1967)
Geraldine Connor , UK (1952–2011)
Will Marion Cook , US (1869–1944)
Roque Cordero ,
Panama (1917–2008)
Arthur Cunningham , US (1928–1997)
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club, Broadway, NYC
Adolphus Hailstork , US (born 1941)
W. C. Handy (William Christopher Handy), US (1873–1958),
blues
Edward W. Hardy , US (born 1992), composer, violinist
Robert A. Harris , US (born 1938)
Henry Hart , US (1839–1915)
Scott Hayden , US (1882–1915),
ragtime
Talib Rasul Hakim , US (1940–1988)
Fletcher Henderson , US (1897–1952),
jazz big band leader
Ernest Hogan , US (1865–1909)
Moses Hogan , US (1957–2003)
David Hurd , US (born 1950)
Scott Joplin
Michael Jackson , US (1958–2009), singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, choreographer, musician, businessman
Tony Jackson , US (1876–1921), pianist
Leroy Jenkins , US (1932–2007)
Jose Julian Jiménez , Cuba (1823–1880)
Lico Jiménez (José Manuel Jiménez Berroa), Cuba (1851–1917)
Francis Johnson , US (1792–1844)
Hall Johnson , US (1888–1970)
James Price Johnson , US (1894–1955)
J. Rosamond Johnson , US (1873–1954)
Victor C. Johnson, US (born 1978)
Irving Jones , US (1873-1932) ragtime composer
Trevor Jones , South Africa and United Kingdom (born 1949), film composer
Scott Joplin , US (1868–1917)
Quincy Jones , US (born 1933)
Joe Jordan , US (1882–1971)
Vicente Lusitano , Portugal, born in the early 1500s
Charles Lucien Lambert , US (c. 1828–1896)
Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert , France (1858–1945)
Sidney Lambert , US (1838–1905)
Ludovic Lamothe , Haiti (1882–1953)
Tania León , Cuba (born 1943)
John Lewis , US (1920–2001)
Melba Liston , US (1926–1999)
Sam Lucas , US (1850–1916)
Thelonious Monk at
Minton's Playhouse , 1947
Bobby McFerrin (Robert McFerrin Jr.), US (born 1950), jazz composer-vocalist-conductor
Wynton Marsalis , US (born 1961)
Arthur Marshall , US (1881–1968),
ragtime
Paul D. Miller aka
DJ Spooky , US (born 1970)
Charles Mingus , US (1922–1979)
Roscoe Mitchell , US (born 1940)
Thelonious Monk , US (1917–1982)
Carman Moore, US (born 1936)
Undine Smith Moore , US (1904–1989)
Jeffrey Mumford , US (born 1955)
Diedre Murray , US (born 1951)
Billy Myles (William Myles Nobles), US (1924–2005)
Saint-Georges in 1768, aged 22
Price , date unknown
William Grant Still
Chevalier de Saint-Georges , Guadeloupe (c. 1739–1799)
Ignatius Sancho ,
England (c. 1729–1780)
James Scott , US (1886–1938)
Jacob J. Sawyer, US (1856–1885)
Wayne Shorter , US (born 1933)
Alvin Singleton , US (born 1940)
Chris Smith , US (1879–1949)
Hale Smith , US (1925–2009)
Fela Sowande , Nigeria (1905–1987)
William Grant Still , US (1895–1978)
Howard Swanson , US (1907–1978)
Billy Strayhorn (William Thomas Strayhorn), US (1917–1967), one of the most highly regarded jazz and big band composers and arrangers; Ellington's friend and arranger
George Walker at right
Fats Waller
George Walker , US (1922–2018)
Fats Waller , US (1904–1943), singer,
jazz musician
Pete Wentz , bassist of the band
Fall Out Boy
Randy Weston , US (1926–2018)
Clarence Cameron White , US (1880–1960)
Joseph White (José Silvestre White Lafitte)
Cuba (1835–1918)
Thomas Wiggins (Bethune) or "Blind Tom", US (1849–1908)
Clarence Williams , US (1898–1965)
Julius Penson Williams , US (born 1954)
Mary Lou Williams , US (1910–1981)
Olly Wilson , US (1937–2018)
John Wesley Work III , US (1901–1967)
Stevie Wonder (born 1950)
Dates of birth and death are unknown for several composers whose music, published during the 19th century, is described in
"Historical Notes on African-American and Jamaican Melodies" . These composers include Harry Bloodgood, Samuel Butler, Dudley C. Clark, Harry Davis, Pete Devonear, Fred C. Lyons, Henry Newman, James S. Putnam, and Francis V. Seymour.
Tim Brooks, Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919 , Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., editor, International Dictionary of Black Composers , Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, two volumes, 1999.
Eileen Southern, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Lester Sullivan, "Composers of Color of Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The History Behind the Music", Black Music Research Journal , vol. 8, no. 1 (1988), 51–82.