Editing Willis Laurence James

{{Short description|American musician, composer and educator}}
'''Willis Laurence James''' (September 18, 1900 – December 27, 1966) was an American musician, composer and educator. He was on the faculty of [[Spelman College]] for more than three decades.<ref>Megan Hill, [https://www.musicbyblackcomposers.org/2017/05/17/willis-laurence-james-mbc-visits-spelman-college-archives/ "Willis Laurence James – MBC visits the Spelman College Archives"], MBC (Music by Black Composers) Blog, May 17, 2017.</ref>

==Biography==
Willis James was born in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], United States, and was raised in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] and [[Jacksonville, Florida]]. Educated at the [[Florida Baptist Academy]] in Jacksonville, he studied [[violin]] with [[Sidney Woodward]]. Woodward recognized his musical talent and took James for further study to [[Atlanta, Georgia]], where from the age of 16 he was the protégé of [[Kemper Harreld]], a concert violinist and head of the [[Morehouse College]] music department. James enrolled at Morehouse in 1919, and his studies included the traditional core of music courses, as well as the violin and several other instruments. He was a member of the Morehouse Quartet and [[Morehouse College Glee Club|Glee Club]], and played violin in the college orchestra. James showed great promise as a concert violinist and performed as a recitalist and soloist throughout his career.

After receiving his [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] from Morehouse in 1923, James pursued further study with [[Oswald Blake]] and [[Edwin Gerschefski]] at the [[Chicago Musical College]].

James began his teaching career at [[Leland College]] in [[Baker, Louisiana]] (1923–29), and it was while living in [[Louisiana]] that he began collecting [[folklore]] and folksongs, particularly along the levees of the [[Mississippi River]]. In 1927 the Paramount Record Company of Chicago released a record on which he sang folksongs and for which he and [[James Edward Halligan]] transcribed the music and texts. In 1928 James married a fellow teacher at Leland College, [[Theodora Joanna Fisher]].

From 1929 to 1933, he taught at the [[Alabama State Teachers College]] at Montgomery, before accepting a teaching position at [[Spelman College]], where he would stay for the remainder of his career, serving as chairman of the music department and director of the Spelman College Glee Club. After the retirement of Kemper Harreld, he assumed the duties of director of music at both Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, and secured [[Joyce Johnson (organist)|Joyce Johnson]] as Spelman College organist.

With [[Horace Mann Bond]], president of [[Fort Valley State College]], James co-founded the Fort Valley State College Folk Festival (1940–55), and was a member of the summer faculty there from 1941 to 1949.

James continued investigating folksongs over the years and was noted for his compositions and arrangements. His theory that "the cry" was the most distinctive feature of black folksong attracted some attention. He lectured at college [[campus]]es, before professional societies, at the [[Newport Jazz Festival|Newport Jazz]] and [[Newport Folk Festival|Folk]] Festivals, and at the [[Roundtables of the Tanglewood]] music festival. He received awards from the General Education Board and the [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie Foundation]] and in 1955 received an honorary doctorate from [[Wilberforce University]]. In April 1966, he lectured at the opening of the Center for the Arts in [[Lagos]], [[Nigeria]].

At the time of his death on December 27, 1966, he left a completed [[manuscript]], ''[[Stars in De Elements]]'', which was published in 1995 as a special issue of the journal ''[[Black Sacred Music]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Eileen Southern]] (1997). ''The Music of Black Americans: A History''. [[W. W. Norton & Company]]; 3rd edition. {{ISBN|0-393-97141-4}}

==External links==
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/jamesbio.html Library of Congress]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Willis Laurence}}
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:African-American musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Montgomery, Alabama]]
[[Category:Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:Morehouse College alumni]]
[[Category:Wilberforce University alumni]]
[[Category:Roosevelt University alumni]]
[[Category:Fort Valley State University]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Alabama State University faculty]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Spelman College faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]