Between June 21 and June 28, 2010, the Mary Jane Apartments, next door to Pebble Hill, were taken down, making room for a planned conference space to serve the College of Liberal Arts.
On June 17, contributors to Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation gathered at Jazz at Lincoln Center to celebrate its publication.
Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation is published by Pebble Hill Books, a cooperative publishing venture of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities and the University of Alabama Press.
The collection includes essays on various aspects of Murray's work written by prominent scholars of African American literature, jazz and Albert Murray. It also includes reminiscences from Murray's friends and associates, and interviews with Murray himself. The collection testifies to Murray's place as a central figure in African American arts and letters and as an American cultural pioneer.
Jazz at Lincoln Center will host a panel discussion celebration on the publication of Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation on June 17, 7 to 9 p.m. The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts will host a book talk celebration at the University Chapel on June 30, 4 p.m.
Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation, the first book of scholarly and personal essays on the work of a writer who was instrumental in founding Jazz at Lincoln Center, is edited by Dr. Barbara Baker, director of the College of Liberal Arts Women’s Leadership Institute, and features contributions by Dr. Anne-Katrin Gramberg, Dr. Caroline Gebhard, Dr. Bert Hitchcock, Henry Louis Gates, Wynton Marsalis and others.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be held in The Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Studio at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The panel includes Baker; Paul Devlin, SUNY Stony Brook; Roberta S. Maguire, University of Wisconsin; Sidney Offit, New School for Social Research; Greg Thomas, jazz educator, print and broadcast journalist, former host of Jazz It Up!; Lauren Walsh, New York University; and more.
The Auburn program will feature Baker, Hitchcock, Gebhard and other contributors and will be followed by a reception. The public is invited. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at both events.
Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation is published jointly by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, and The University of Alabama Press.
