Elite Syncopation: Music of the Harlem Renaissance

Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 3:00pm
Crowell Concert Hall

Free and open to the public.

The quintet Elite Syncopation, an ensemble specializing in performances of early blues, ragtime, and jazz, will present a concert of classic American music from 100 years ago, focusing on key musicians of the Harlem Renaissance, including Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin, and Jelly Roll Morton.

The concert will focus on authentic period arrangements of many classics, including Jelly Roll Morton’s pathbreaking blues composition the Jelly Roll Blues; James Reese Europe’s Castle House Rag; Duke Ellington’s Black and Tan Fantasy; and other music by key musical figures of the period including Armand Piron, Eubie Blake, John Rosamond Johnson, Perry Bradford, and Spencer Williams.

Elite Syncopation features Liz Smith on flute, clarinet, and saxophone; Violin Instructor Perry Elliot on violin; Cello Instructor Julie Ribchinsky on cello; Bass Instructor Roy Wiseman on double bass; and Gary Chapman on piano. The group has toured nationally on the rosters of David Rowe Artists and Columbia Artists’ Community Concerts, and has been featured on The Voice of America, Connecticut Public Radio, and Open Air New England.

Elite Syncopation's performances are based on an archive of rare performance materials going back to the early 19th century, many of them unheard since the years of their original publication. Culled from university archives, the Library of Congress, and the holdings of private collectors from throughout the U.S., these long out-of-print arrangements offer a rare opportunity to hear America’s music from the era before recorded sound.