Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation

Contents

Contents Foreword Anne-Katrin Gramberg xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction Barbara A. Baker 1 Observations, Interpretations, and Conversations 1 In Response to Being Awarded a Citation for Distinguished Literary Achievement by an Alabamian (2003) Albert Murray 13 2 King of Cats (1996) Henry Louis Gates Jr 15 3 TradingTwelves:The Omni-American Literary Identity of Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison John F. Callahan 37 4 Cosmos Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation Barbara A. Baker 52 5 Albert Murray andVisual Art Paul Devlin 68 6 Murray and Mann:Variations on aTheme Lauren Walsh 84 7 Dewey’s Pragmatism Extended: Education and Aesthetic Practice in TrainWhistle Guitar Roberta S. Maguire 102 contents viii 8 Albert Murray andTuskegee Institute: Art as the Measure of Place Caroline Gebhard 114 9 A Conversation with Albert Murray (1996) Don Noble 130 10 Albert Murray’s House of Blues (1997) Roy Hoffman 138 11 An Interview with Michele Murray Lauren Walsh and Paul Devlin 147 12 Conjugations and Reiterations: An Interview with Albert Murray (2003) Barbara A. Baker 155 13 Murray’s Mulatto America Maurice Pogue 164 14 ChinaberryTree, ChinaberryTree Bert Hitchcock 179 15 Scooter Comes Home Jay Lamar 191 Reminiscences and Appreciations 16 Wynton Marsalis on Albert Murray (2001) Roberta S. Maguire 199 17 Albert Murray’s Du Bois Medal Citation (2007) Henry Louis Gates Jr. 202 18 At the Bar and on the Avenue with My Pal Al Murray Sidney Offit 204 Contents ix 19 My Beginnings with Albert Louis A. “Mike” Rabb 207 20 The White Man Between Albert Murray and Stanley Crouch Sanford Pinsker 209 21 On Michael James and Albert Murray Paul Devlin 211 22 Michael James on Albert Murray Greg Thomas 214 23 GregThomas and “the Professor” Greg Thomas 216 24 Life and Literature Lessons Learned Gail Buckley 219 25 A Giant in Heart and Mind Elizabeth Mayer Fiedorek 221 26 MyTravels through Cosmos Murray Eugene Holley Jr. 223 27 Afternoons with Murray: Heart and Soul in the Key of Swing Carol Friedman 227 Works Cited 231 Contributors 237 Index 241 ...