View source for Yamekraw

{{Short description|Jazz musical composition}}
'''''Yamekraw, a Negro Rhapsody''''' is a jazz musical composition written by [[James P. Johnson]] in 1927 about a neighborhood of Savannah, Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James P. Johnson's 'Yamekraw, A Negro Rhapsody' | website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5192879}}</ref> It was a response to George Gershwin's ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]''. It was initially composed for the piano, but was first performed at [[Carnegie Hall]] as a jazz-like orchestral arrangement.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Howland, John |year=2006 |title=Jazz Rhapsodies in Black and White: James P. Johnson's "Yamekraw" |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25046051 |journal=American Music |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=445–509 |doi=10.2307/25046051 |jstor=25046051 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> A recording was made of Johnson performing the music on piano. A film inspired by the song was also made.
==Song name==
[[File:Yamacraw Market, Fahn Street, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia.jpg|thumb|The Yamacraw Market on Fahm Street in Savannah circa 1940]]
Yamacraw was a black neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia. The song was inspired by the culture of the neighborhood, and billed as a more "authentic" rhapsody.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/robert-sengstacke-abbott-1868-1940/|title=Robert Sengstacke Abbott}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLDqDwAAQBAJ&dq=yamacraw+&pg=PT26|title=The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America|first=Ethan|last=Michaeli|date=January 12, 2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=9780547560878|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=September 2024}}
==Film==
[[Murray Roth]] directed a short 1930 musical film inspired by the song.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/jots.200020700/|title=YAMEKRAW|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> The film has been referred to by the title Yamekraw and Yamacraw.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/17772503|title=Yamekraw|date=October 29, 1930|oclc=17772503|via=Open WorldCat}}</ref> It is a [[Vitaphone Varieties]] film produced by [[Warner Brothers]]. The film depicts a poor man from a rural area travelling to a large city where he encounters a dancer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/884888/yamekraw/|title=Yamekraw|website=www.tcm.com}}</ref> [[Jimmy Mordecai]] portrayed the lead character.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTGSCgAAQBAJ&dq=yamekraw+murray+roth&pg=PA188|title=African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography|first=Larry|last=Richards|date=September 17, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476610528|via=Google Books}}</ref> In the film, Yamekraw is described as a settlement outside [[Savannah, Georgia]]. The film was shown in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06wmovies.html|title=Film Series and Movie Listings|first=The New York|last=Times|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 5, 2009}}</ref> The song is included on the album The Symphonic Jazz of James P. Johnson.
==See also==
* [[Yamacraw Bluff]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0261436}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=884888}}
[[Category:1927 songs]]
[[Category:Jazz songs]]
[[Category:Songs with music by James P. Johnson]]