Tracing Mississippi
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
- Taloowa’ (Song)
- Missipi’ Aabi (Tracing Mississippi)
- Shilombish Anompoli’ (Talking Spirits)
- Hashi’ Hiloha (Sun Thunder),
Christine Bailey Davis, flute
Iholba'
For Solo Flute, Orchestra, and Chorus
- Halbina’ (The Gift)
- Iholba’ (The Vision),
Thomas Robertello, Flute
Edwin Outwater, Conductor
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate was born in 1968 in Norman, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Mr. Tate is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition, and a recent review by The Washington Post states that “Tate’s connection to nature and the human experience was quite apparent in this piece…rarer still is his ability to infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.” This review was a response to a performance of Iholba’ (The Vision), for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Chorus, which was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2006, Mr. Tate was the recipient of the Joyce Award which supported the commission of Nitoshi’ Imali, Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which premiered in 2007 with soloist Jason Vieaux and the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, conducted by Cary John Franklin. His new work for orchestra and children’s chorus, commissioned by the American Composers Forum Continental Harmony Project, celebrates the opening of the new Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma. Mr. Tate received his BM in Piano Performance from Northwestern University where he studied with Dr. Donald J. Isaak. He then completed his MM in Piano Performance and Composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Elizabeth Pastor and Dr. Donald Erb. Shortly after beginning his piano studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Jerod’s first composition, Winter Moons ballet score, was commissioned by Dr. Patricia Tate and premiered at the University of Wyoming in 1992. Colorado Ballet subsequently performed it in 1994 and 1996.
Since then, Tate has received numerous commissions and his works have been performed
by the National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet, The New Mexico Symphony, the Contemporary Music
Forum, Dale Warland Singers, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and the
Oklahoma City University Wind Philharmonic, to name a few.
Mr. Tate is Artistic Director for the Chickasaw Chamber Music Festival. He is
Composer-in-Residence for the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy and was Composerin-
Residence for the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s 
Native American Composer
Apprentice Project in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, he was Composer-in-Residence for The
Joyce Foundation/American Composers Forum, teaching composition to American
Indian high school students in Minneapolis.
Mr. Tate received the 2006 Alumni Achievement Award
from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has also
received awards from Meet the Composer and the
Percussive Arts Society. He is happily married to Ursula
Running Bear, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux
Tribe (Sicangu Lakota).
Mr. Tate’s middle name, Impichchaachaaha’, means “high
corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw
house name. A corncrib is a small hut used for the storage
of corn and other vegetables. In traditional Chickasaw
culture, the corncrib was built high off of the ground on
stilts to keep its contents safe from foraging animals.
Terrence McCarthy
Edwin Outwater, conductor
Edwin Outwater is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Outwater recently concluded his tenure as Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. While there, he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanied the orchestra on tour and conducted numerous concerts each season. He made his subscription debut in 2002 with Kurt Masur conducting Britten’s War Requiem, and has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, and many others. His programs were consistently innovative and featured the works of composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank, HK Gruber, Lou Harrison, Robin Holloway, Nathaniel Stookey, and Tan Dun. In July 2006 Mr. Outwater conducted the world premiere performance and recording of The Composer is Dead, by Nathaniel Stookey and Lemony Snicket for an eventual HarperCollins release. From 2001-2005 Mr. Outwater was Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Mr. Outwater has conducted the Chicago Symphony, as well as symphony orchestras of Utah, Louisville, New World, and Portland (ME). He has also conducted the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, and Indianapolis, among many others.
Mr. Outwater’s work in music education and community outreach has been widely acclaimed. In 2004 his education programs were given the Leonard Bernstein award for excellence in educational programming, and his Chinese New Year Program was given the MET LIFE award for community outreach. Demonstrating his commitment to education, he has appeared with the National Youth Orcehstra of New Zealand, the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Mannes Conservatory Orchestra. Mr. Outwater has served as music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and has been on the faculties of the University of Tulsa, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
A native of Santa Monica, California, Edwin Outwater attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1993 with a degree in English literature. While at Harvard, he was music director of the Bach Society Orchestra, the Harvard Din and Tonics (an acclaimed a cappella group), and wrote the music for the 145th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his master’s degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama, and Paul Polivinick. He also studied music theory and composition with John Stewart, Joel Feigin, and Leonard Stein.
Jim Bush
Christine Bailey Davis, flutist
Christine Bailey Davis is the principal flutist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she has held since June 1995. She has also performed as guest principal flute with the Erie Philharmonic and guest assistant principal flute with the St. Louis Symphony.
Ms. Bailey Davis has performed around the Buffalo area as a soloist and ensemble player since she was eleven years old. After soloing with the BPO on two daytime youth concerts in 1990, she made her professional debut in 1992, at age 18, soloing with the New York City chamber orchestra Philharmonia Virtuosi at Artpark, in Lewiston, NY. She has also soloed with Ars Nova Musicians, as part of their Viva Vivaldi Festival and Red Jacket concert series. After two performances of Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1997, the Buffalo News called her playing “immaculately accurate, but with a winning, casual, often jaunty approach to phrasing, while extremely complex runs and ornamentations seemed artlessly simple, beguiling sculptures of sound.”
Christine Bailey Davis is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of Philadelphia Orchestra flutist Jeffrey Khaner and Cleveland Orchestra members Joshua Smith, Martha Aarons, and Mary Kay Fink. She has also studied with James Galway, Carol Wincenc, Keith Underwood, and Marina Piccinini.
Ms. Bailey Davis had the honor of performing Katherine Hoover’s Medieval Suite with the Cleveland Institute of Music Chamber Orchestra after being named winner of the school’s 1994 Spring Concerto Competition.
Christine resides in Buffalo with her husband Michael Davis and their two daughters. She would like to thank Chris and Angela Baranello and Montessori Friends, Will and Bonnie Botsford, Daniel Cassidy, Ida Christie, Dorothy Christner, Paul and Karen Ferington, L. Marcia Honsberger, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Swing, and Trinity Episcopal Church of Hamburg, NY.
Tom Stio
Thomas Robertello, flutist
Thomas Robertello has been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and National Symphony. He has also been a guest flutist with the San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Houston Grand Opera. He is currently on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and has also served on the faculties of Carnegie Mellon University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has performed as soloist at Pacific Music Festival, Nara Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Kirishima Festival, Summer Music Academy Halkidiki Greece, and Londrina Festival Brazil. His art gallery in Chicago's West Loop has garnered critical acclaim.
Program Notes
Tracing Mississippi, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
Mississippi was the original homeland of the Chickasaw Nation until our removal to Indian Territory (now called Oklahoma) in the 1830's. This removal is commonly known as the Trail of Tears, and involved numerous tribes from the Southeastern United States.
Tracing Mississippi is a remembrance of the old country my family lived in and incorporates traditional songs and dance rhythms, along with American Indian percussion instruments. In particular, the opening solo flute quotes a Chickasaw Garfish Dance song. The Choctaw hymn, entitled Worth of the Soul, is quoted by the horn quartet during the final build of the first section (Taloowa'). Specific rhythms throughout the work are derived from Southeast Indian and other American Indian sources.
Also included is an original melody by my Comanche colleague and friend, composer and pianist, Dr. David Bad Eagle Yeagley. This melody appears in the third section (Shilombish Anompoli’), played by the solo flute in trio with the piccolo trumpet playing the Choctaw hymn, and the vibraphone and crotales playing a segment of the Garfish Dance song. The Comanche melody is an expression of the beautiful, mournful and distant voice of the Moon.
Tracing Mississippi was commissioned by Christine Bailey Davis and premiered on March 8, 2002 by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ron Spigelman. Ms. Bailey Davis was flute soloist. Tracing Mississippi is dedicated to my wife, Ursula Running Bear. -J. Tate
Iholba’, for Solo Flute, Orchestra, and Chorus
Iholba’ (The Vision) is a work inspired by the composer’s native Chickasaw culture. The musical material of Iholba’ is based on a Chickasaw Garfish Dance song and is performed in the Chickasaw language. The text is original poetry by the composer, and the translation was provided by Onita Carnes, Catherine Wilmond and Pamela Munro. The work is in two movements, entitled Halbina’ (The Gift) and Iholba’ (The Vision). The Chickasaw language belongs to the Western Muskogean family of American Indian Languages. Today, it is spoken primarily in the Chickasaw Nation of south-central Oklahoma. In order to preserve the language, the Chickasaw Nation has instituted language revitalization programs including master-apprentice immersion.
Iholba’ was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC, Leonard Slatkin, Music Director, in honor of the 1996 American Residency Program in Wyoming. It was premiered September 21, 2005 with members of the National Symphony Orchestra, Master Chorale of Washington, Thomas Robertello, Assistant Principal Flutist of the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Emil de Cou, Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Iholba’ is dedicated to my grandmother, Juanita Foshi’ Keel Tate. -J. Tate
Produced in cooperation with the Chickasaw Nation
Among those leading America into the 21st century are the proud people of the Chickasaw Nation. We believe that the arts are necessary to the success of the Chickasaw Nation because of their ability to move the culture along by expressing the beauty, strength, intelligence and spirit of its people, and to enhance the rich legacy of who we were, who we are, and who we will be. We wish to improve overall quality of life by creating a greater awareness of our unique culture through the encouragement and promotion of artistic expression and achievement.
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director
The San Francisco Symphony has been known since its first concerts in 1911 for championing new music and music by American composers. Under the leadership of Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director since 1995, the Symphony has not only performed much music created on native soil but has staged festivals devoted entirely to American music. The San Francisco Symphony therefore continues a tradition as it participates in this groundbreaking project, recording works by American Indian composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate.
Over the years, the San Francisco Symphony has grown in acclaim under a succession of music directors: Henry Hadley, Alfred Hertz, Basil Cameron, Issay Dobrowen, Pierre Monteux, Enrique Jordá, Josef Krips, Seiji Ozawa, Edo de Waart, Herbert Blomstedt, and, today, Michael Tilson Thomas. The SFS has won such recording awards as France’s Grand Prix du Disque, Britain’s Gramophone Award, and the United States’s Grammy. For RCA Red Seal, Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS have recorded music from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, two Copland collections, a Gershwin collection, Stravinsky ballets (Le Sacre du printemps, The Firebird, and Perséphone), and Charles Ives: An American Journey. Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 inaugurated a Mahler cycle on the Symphony’s own label and in 2003 captured a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance. In 2004, the MTT/SFS recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony captured the Grammy for Best Classical Album, and last year their recording of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony captured Grammys for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Classical Album. Some of the most important conductors of the past and recent years have been guests on the SFS podium, among them Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, and Sir Georg Solti, and the list of composers who have led the Orchestra includes Stravinsky, Ravel, Copland, and John Adams. The SFS Youth Orchestra, founded in 1980, has become known around the world, as has the SFS Chorus, heard on recordings and on the soundtracks of such films as Amadeus and Godfather III. Adventures in Music, celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2008, brings music to every child in grades 1 through 5 in San Francisco’s public schools. SFS radio broadcasts, the first in America to feature symphonic music when they began in 1926, today carry the Orchestra’s concerts across the country. In a multimedia program designed to make classical music accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, the SFS has launched Keeping Score on PBS-TV, DVD, the World Wide Web (keepingscore.org), and radio (The MTT Files). San Francisco Symphony recordings are available at shopsfsymphony.org.
The San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Chorus are honored to collaborate with composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate in recording his music, bringing to a worldwide audience the works of a composer descended from the original occupants of the North American continent.
Image Courtesy of Moundville Archaeological Park, University of Alabama Museums
The cover art is taken from a carved stone disk, recovered from the traditional homelands of the old Chickasaw Nation, in Moundville, Alabama. This style of stone carved disk was typical during the height of our Mississippian cultural era (c.1300-1600 A.D.) In general, serpents are representations of the challenging earthbound aspects of life, while the hand and eye symbols express transcendence and the divine. This particular disk combines those images into a symbol of significant power.
- J. Tate
Thunderbird Records is dedicated to capturing and preserving the music of contemporary American Indians for distribution across the world. All Thunderbird releases include music by Indian composers or performances by Indian musicians. We strive for the highest artistic integrity as well as exceptional sonic quality in order to provide an outstanding listening experience.
Credits
Produced in cooperation with the Chickasaw Nation
Recorded June 26 and 27, 2007
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA
Producer: Alan Bise
Recording Engineer: Bruce Egre
Digital Editing, Mixing, and Mastering: Alan Bise
Technical Assistance: Mark Lemaire
Cover Design: Chickasaw Nation
Graphic Design: Azica Graphics
Photos of Jerod Tate: Alana Rothstein
Executive Producer: Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate
