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About
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Harrison Leslie Adams studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music as well as California State University, Long Beach and Ohio State University. Since earning his Ph.D. at Ohio State University in 1973, Adams has taught at several universities throughout the United States.
H. Leslie Adams is a champion of lyrical song repertoire and is known for his incredibly tonal and highly enjoyable music, which always has a specific emphasis on brilliantly expressing the poetry. In Adams music, contemporary compositional techniques are fused with elements of African American folksong and jazz.
–Christie Finn
Source: Josephine Wright’s article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Related Information
Songs
Amazing Grace
H. Leslie Adams
H. Leslie Adams
Branch by Branch
H. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: Five Millay Songs
Creole Girl
H. Leslie Adams
Leslie Morgan Collins
Song Collection: Nightsongs
Daybirth
Song CollectionH. Leslie Adams
Joette McDonald
Drums of Tragedy
H. Leslie Adams
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: Nightsongs
Five Millay Songs
Song CollectionH. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
For You There is No Song
H. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: Five Millay Songs
Gone Again is Summer the Lovely
H. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: Five Millay Songs
Homesick Blues
H. Leslie Adams
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: The Wider View
Li'l Gal / My Man
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Wider View
Love Come and Love Gone
H. Leslie Adams
Georgia Douglas Johnson
Song Collection: The Wider View
Love Memory
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Love Rejoices
H. Leslie Adams
James Dillet Freeman
Song Collection: The Wider View
Love Request
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Nightsongs
Song CollectionH. Leslie Adams
Langston Hughes
Georgia Douglas Johnson
Clarissa Scott Delany
James Weldon Johnson
Leslie Morgan Collins
Night Song
H. Leslie Adams
Clarissa Scott Delany
Song Collection: Nightsongs
Prayer
H. Leslie Adams
Langston Hughes
Song Collection: Nightsongs
Sence You Went Away
H. Leslie Adams
James Weldon Johnson
Song Collection: Nightsongs
The Heart of a Woman
H. Leslie Adams
Georgia Douglas Johnson
Song Collection: Nightsongs
The Return from Town
H. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: Five Millay Songs
The Wider View
Song CollectionH. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Langston Hughes
Georgia Douglas Johnson
R. H. Grenville
James Dillet Freeman
The Wider View
H. Leslie Adams
R. H. Grenville
Song Collection: The Wider View
To the Road!
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Wider View
Wild Swans
H. Leslie Adams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Song Collection: Five Millay Songs
Videos
Recordings
Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Henry T. Burleigh, Thomas H. Kerr, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Robert Owens and Damien Sneed)
2021
Been in de Storm so Long (Songs My Fathers Taught Me)
(H. Leslie Adams, Robert Owens, Alfred Hayes and R. Nathaniel Dett)
2013
I, Too
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price and Hall Johnson)
2012
With a Song in My Heart
(H. Leslie Adams, Henry T. Burleigh, Margaret Bonds, Robert Owens and Cecil Cohen)
2008
American Songs
(H. Leslie Adams, Lee Hoiby, Lita Grier and Libby Larsen)
2006
Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams
(H. Leslie Adams)
2001
Sence You Went Away
(H. Leslie Adams and Adolphus C. Hailstork)
2000
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Charles Samuel Brown, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, George Walker, Howard Swanson, Florence Price, Henry Clay Work and Cecil Cohen)
1998
Sheet Music
Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, Compiled by Willis C. Patterson
Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, Cecil Cohen, Noel de Costa, Mark Fax, Adolphus C. Hailstork, Eugene Hancock, Thomas Kerr, Jr., Charles Lloyd, Jr., Wendell Logan, Maurice McCall, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Hale Smith, William Grant Still, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Olly Wilson, John Work, Jr.
Song(s): For You There is No Song (H. Leslie Adams)
Early in the Mornin' (David Baker)
A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet (David Baker)
Status Symbol (David Baker)
Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man; Dream Variations; I, Too (Margaret Bonds)
The Barrier (Charles Brown)
Song Without Words (Charles Brown)
Death of an Old Seaman (Cecil Cohen)
Two Songs for Julie Ju (Noel da Costa)
Cassandra's Lullaby (Mark Fax)
Love (Mark Fax)
A Charm at Parting (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
I Loved You (Adolphus C. Hailstork)
Absalom (Eugene Hancock)
Nunc Dimittis (Eugene Hancock)
Riding to Town (Thomas Kerr, Jr.)
Compensation (Charles Lloyd, Jr.)
If There Be Sorrow (Wendell Logan)
Marrow of My Bone (Wendell Logan)
Chanson Triste (Maurice McCall)
Sweet Sorrow (Maurice McCall)
Weary Blues (Dorothy Rudd Moore)
Love Let the Wind Cry...How I Adore Thee (Undine Moore)
Faithful One (Robert Owens)
Genius Child (Robert Owens)
A Child's Grace (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Melancholy (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
Night (Florence Price)
Song to the Dark Virgin (Florence Price)
Velvet Shoes (Hale Smith)
Grief (William Grant Still)
A Death Song (Howard Swanson)
I Will Lie Down in Autumn (Howard Swanson)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Howard Swanson)
Lament (George Walker)
A Red, Red Rose (George Walker)
Wry Fragments (Olly Wilson)
Dancing in the Sun (John Work, Jr.)
Soliloquy (John Work, Jr.)
H. Leslie Adams Piano/Vocal Sheet Music
Buy via American Composers Alliance websiteSecond Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers (Out-of-Print)
Composer(s): Leslie Adams, Adolphus Hailstork, John Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson, Betty Jackson King, Howard Swanson, John W. Work III
Song(s): "Prayer" (H. Leslie Adams)
"Flying" (H. Leslie Adams)
"Midas, Poor Midas" (H. Leslie Adams)
"Christ at a Wedding" (H. Leslie Adams)
"The Future" (T.J. Anderson)
"I Want to Be Free" (T.J. Anderson)
"People" (T.J. Anderson)
"Life" (T.J. Anderson)
"Hymn to Parnassus"(R. Nathaniel Dett)
"Music I Heard with You" (Roger Dickerson)
"I Dream a World" (Uzee Brown Jr.)
"If He Only Walked in Gardens" (Mark Fax)
"Entreat Me Not" (Mark Fax)
"Slave Song" (Adolphus Hailstork)
"Songs of Love and Justice": "Justice," "Difficulties," "Decisions," "Love" (Adolphus Hailstork)
"Four Love Songs: "My Heart to Thy Heart," "Invitation to Love," "Longing," "Goodnight," "If we must die"(Adolphus Hailstork)
"Three Simple Songs": "In Vain," "The Daffodils," "Christmas Everywhere" (Adolphus Hailstork)
"Lil' gal" (J. Rosamond Johnson)
"Crossing the Bar" (Hall Johnson)
"The Foundling" (Hall Johnson)
"Thou Art My Lute" (Thomas Kerr Jr.)
"In Memoriam" (Thomas Kerr Jr.)
"Soliloquy (Haunted)" (Thomas Kerr Jr.)
"When You Feel a Little Blue" (James Lee III)
"Three Dunbar Poems": "Compensation," "Theology," "Dawn" (Betty Jackson King)
"Hatred" (Robert L. Morris)
"Ubique" (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
"The Faithless Shepherdess" (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
From "Thirteen Jazz Settings": "In Case You Put Me Down," "They All Say You're Lovely," "No, Babe, We Never Swing," "You are Not Quite the Air," "In Your Arms Baby" (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
"One Day" (Howard Swanson)
"Snow Dunes" (Howard Swanson)
"Breathe on Me, Breath of God" (John W. Work, III)
An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs - 60 Songs
Composer(s): H. Leslie Adams, David N. Baker, Margaret Bonds, Charles Brown, H. T. Burleigh, Valerie Capers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arthur Cunningham, Harriette Davison Watkins, William Dawson, Mark Fax, Bruce Forsythe, Antônio Carlos Gomes, Adolphus Hailstork, Jacqueline Hairston, Maud Cuney Hare, Jeraldine Herbison, Jonathan Holland, Sylvia Hollifield, Langston Hughes, J. Rosamond Johnson, Thomas Kerr, Lena McLin, Undine Smith Moore, Andre Myers, Camille Nickerson, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Eurydice Osterman, Robert Owens, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Zenobia Powell Perry, Rosephanye Powell, Florence Price, Dave Ragland, Nadine Shanti, Carlos Simon, Hale Smith, Irene Britton Smith, Brandon Spencer, Hilbert Stewart, Howard Swanson, George Walker, Aurelia Young
Song(s): Amazing Grace (H. Leslie Adams)
Christmas Lullaby (H. Leslie Adams)
Sence You Went Away (H. Leslie Adams)
The Heart of a Woman (H. Leslie Adams)
The Alarm Clock (David N. Baker)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Margaret Bonds)
Caring (Charles Brown)
Desire (Charles Brown)
Your Eyes So Deep (H. T. Burleigh)
Your Lips Are Wine (H. T. Burleigh)
Autumn (Valerie Capers)
Elëanore (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
The Willow Song (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
Minakesh (Arthur Cunningham)
Stars (Harriette Davison Watkins)
Out in the Fields (William Dawson)
The Refused (Mark Fax)
With Rue My Heart Is Laden (Bruce Forsythe)
Suspiro d’alma (Antônio Carlos Gomes)
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking (Adolphus Hailstork)
Longing (Adolphus Hailstork)
Loveliest of Trees (Adolphus Hailstork)
Dormi, Jesu (Jacqueline Hairston)
Gardé Piti Mulet Là (Maud Cuney Hare)
I’ll Not Forget (Jeraldine Herbison)
Little Elegy (Jonathan Holland)
In Time of Silver Rain (Sylvia Hollifield)
The Founding Fathers (Langston Hughes)
This is My Land (Langston Hughes)
L’il Gal (J. Rosamond Johnson)
Soliloquy (Thomas Kerr)
Amazing Grace (Lena McLin)
The Year’s at the Spring (Lena McLin)
I Am in Doubt (Undine Smith Moore)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Undine Smith Moore)
For a Poet (Andre Myers)
Chere, Mo Lemmé Toi (Camille Nickerson)
Gué, Gué, Solingaie (Camille Nickerson)
Mshila (Fred Onovwerosuoke)
Entreaty (I Am the Rose of Sharon) (Eurydice Osterman)
Could I but Ride Indefinite (Robert Owens)
Die Nacht (Robert Owens)
From the Dark Tower (Robert Owens)
The Lynching (Robert Owens)
The Secret (Robert Owens)
Madrigal (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
O Children of Men (Zenobia Powell Perry)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Rosephanye Powell)
Spring (Florence Price)
The Sum (Florence Price)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Dave Ragland)
Mangez, Boulez (Eat, Drink, Be Merry) (Nadine Shanti)
Prayer (Carlos Simon)
Troubled Woman (Hale Smith)
Why Fades a Dream? (Irene Britton Smith)
Dream Variations (Brandon Spencer)
Spring Song (Hilbert Stewart)
One Day (Howard Swanson)
I Went to Heaven (George Walker)
Norris Swamp (Aurelia Young)
Voice Type: 36 Songs are for High Voice - Medium to High Voice
24 Songs are for Medium - Medium to Low Voice