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Ralph Ellison was still determined to become a composer of symphonies when he met Morteza Sprague, a professor of English at Tuskegee Institute. Sprague, who helped modernize Tuskegee’s literature curriculum, was a major influence on Ellison’s reading and future trajectory. Little has been published about the nature, depth, and longevity of their relationship. This chapter will narrate their relationship with the goal of providing context for why Ellison would dedicate Shadow and Act (1964) to Sprague, whom he called “A Dedicated Dreamer in a Land Most Strange.”
Ellison’s first collection of essays, Shadow and Act, contains several of the most important pieces in the canon of jazz writing, and first and foremost among them are those based on his childhood and adolescence in Oklahoma City. It was there that Ellison was encouraged by many of the men who were to become iconic national figures and have a profound influence on the music: Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Hot Lips Page, and Jimmy Rushing. This chapter will explore not only the way that Ellison captured the particularities of their Southwestern swing, but also how it may have influenced his writing style.
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