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
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 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
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
(H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, 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 (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
Composer(s): Leslie Adams, Adolphus Hailstork, John Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson, Betty Jackson King, Howard Swanson, John W. Work III
Buy via Videmus