Mississippi River Suite

This work, commissioned by the City of Chicago’s Dept of Cultural Affairs (DCASE), is a 22-minute performance poem.  Michael has taken the river that  ‘divides the nation' as the foundation for a musical portrait of a ‘divided nation.’   Michael is both the poet who wrote the text here and the composer who created the music that carries it forward. Renowned storyteller Zahra Glenda Baker delivers the five-movement text accompanied by banjo, flute, bass, and percussion.   Other musicians are Lloyd Brodnax King on flute; Chris Clemente on bass; and Brent Roman, percussion.