Will Marion Cook was a bold and uncompromising composer and violinist; he was instrumental in nearly every aspect of the black music of his time. In the 1890s, he studied with violinist Joseph Joachim and composer Antonin Dvorak. He composed the score for the first musical ever composed and performed entirely by African-Americans that was put up by a major Broadway theater. Will Marion Cook also taught renowned composer and bandleader, Duke Ellington.
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