I recently purchased this terrific, eclectic, and inspiring collection of settings of poetry by Langston Hughes. Hughes, the "most musical poet of the twentieth century" according to Elie Siegmeister, has inspired countless musicians from all walks of life (CCM regulars might recall Zemlinsky's bold, expressive setting). Regulars will also not be surprised to find Margaret Bonds represented here, as well as eleven other composers, including Florence Price, Kurt Weill, and William Grant Still. Movingly interspersed among the compositions are narrations of Hughes's poetry by William Warfield.

The vast majority of the disc has Darryl Taylor sensitively accompanied by pianist Maria Corley. The final musical selection on the disc is, therefore, a bit of an outlier. On Erik Santos's Dreamer, Taylor is joined by harpist Patricia Terry-Ross and Sandy Nordahl on hi-hat, with the composer himself at the piano. A beautiful cycle, I have sampled the second song, "Bound No'th Blues" here. The straightforward ABA setting has a slow middle section, in which the harp offers harmonic support against a walking bass blues pattern in the piano. The A sections are built upon driving ostinato piano figures, punctuated by the harp's commentary, especially in the A′ section. All of this unfolds with a heartbreaking, plaintive narrative from the singer. The result is a moving work that is simultaneously both original and highly familiar.