This is a support document for the composition entitled River of Memory, a 22- minute work for jazz band and symphony orchestra. In the introductory section, my approach to the form, orchestration and content of this piece is described, as are the challenges inherent to the process. Each step of bringing this piece to fruition is addressed, from its conception to the logistics of its performance. Detailed musical analysis forms the core of this document. This analysis provides an examination of the concepts and techniques manifest in this work, and a thorough exploration of the melodic, harmonic, and thematic material it contains. / text

This research investigates the culturally programmatic symbolism of jazz music in film. I explore this concept through critical analysis of composer Terence Blanchard's original score for Malcolm X directed by Spike Lee (1992). I view Blanchard's music as representing a non-diegetic tone parallel that musically narrates several authentic characteristics of African-American life, culture, and the human condition as depicted in Lee's film. Blanchard's score embodies a broad spectrum of musical influences that reshape Hollywood's historically limited, and often misappropiated perceptions of jazz music within African-American culture. By combining stylistic traits of jazz and classical idioms, Blanchard reinvents the sonic soundscape in which musical expression and the black experience are represented on the big screen. My new work––Black Magic––is a musical response to the research found within this study. The through-composed piece is written in three movements for a studio orchestra. It is an homage to the musical, cultural, and entertainment contributions of African-Americans in the magical realm of Hollywood cinema.