Presenting the life and professional career of The Dean of Afro-American Composers, this is the first comprehensive book on the writings by and about Still, the compositions with manuscript sources, the performances of Still's works, and the reviews of those performances. It includes a touching personal reminiscence by his daughter Judith Anne. The full resources of the extensive collection known as The William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, give this book the distinction of being the first one about Still that utilizes diaries, letters, scrapbooks, and family papers to provide information on his works and performances.
Still performed, composed, and arranged in the commercial music field before he began to write orchestral works and opera. He is called the Dean of Afro-American Composers because of his pioneering efforts on behalf of American music and his achievements as an African American. Still was the first African American to write a symphony that was performed by a major symphony orchestra in the United States, the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to conduct a major symphony in the Deep South, the first to direct a white radio orchestra, the first to have an opera produced by a major company, and the first to have an opera televised over a national network. His career tells an important story about the development of an American style of music.