Tate collaborates with major symphony

Jerod Tate, composer with a visionJerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate is blazing new musical paths while remaining true to his own heritage and time honored traditions. Tate is a Chickasaw composer of classical music who infuses American Indian culture and heritage into his works.

He compares what he is doing musically to what American Indian painters have done for 150 years--using European tools--brushes, canvas, acrylics and oils to create American Indian art.

“That’s what I love about contemporary Indian art, is that for the most part, you can just tell it is Indian. It just screams Indian,” he said with mounting emotion. “A lot of it has those icons. You will see feathers. You will see Indian people. You will see braids. You will see horses, a lot of the icons that are associated with Indian country.”

“That’s what I like to do with music,” he added. “Instead of visual icons, we have icons of sound.” Those icons of sound--flute music, melodies, rhythms and a style that is identifiably Indian--conveyed through European instruments have enabled Tate to achieve great success.

A recording of the San Francisco Symphony performing Tate’s compositions, released March 11, 2008, marked the first time a major American Symphony Orchestra and an American Indian composer have collaborated to record and release orchestral works.