Wisdom - Tom Teasley Remembers Charles Williams

Copyright 2024 Tom Teasley Music, LLC
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Jim Robeson
Produced by Tom Teasley

This encounter between world music percussionist Tom Teasley and longtime collaborator Charles Williams is a profoundly moving tribute to the gregarious griot who joined the ancestors shortly after these intimate recordings in 2022. These dozen tunes filled with timeless truths and ancient wisdom, along with some hipster insights (courtesy of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes), blend beautifully with sparse, healing tones provided by world music maven Teasley on djembe drum, tuned Rav Vast drum, bodhran, tambourine, Native American flute and melodica. And with Williams singing in his deep, Robeson-esque baritone on spirituals like “Wade in the Water” and “Oh Freedom,” or the buoyant West African song “Funga Alafia,” then reciting “African Proverbs,” the traditional Cherokee “Tale of the Two Wolves” and Hughes’ jivey “Motto.” The result is a set of music that communicates with uncanny gravity while going straight to the heart. 
— Bill Milkowski, July 15, 2024

12 Haikus For The Seasons

11 Oh Freedom

10 I Dream A World

09 Mother To Son

08 Wade In The Water

07 I Still Believe

06 Motto, Acceptance, Evil

05 Cherokee Tale

04 The Blues

03 Tambourines To Glory

02 African Proverbs

01 Funga Alafia

April Rain Song, by Langston Hughes, read by Jinny

Adapted from Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
All that ambition, never heard?
The feeling you’ve got no chance
Yet you hope and you hope and you hope and you hope and you hope

When does deferred become lost
You used to care now you do t give a toss
The belief that things may never change
Yet you vote and you vote and you vote and you vote


Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore then run
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Raisin in the Sun (Harlem)


Tom Teasley, described in the Washington Post as “a percussionist in the widest and most exuberant sense of the word,” maintains a unique career as a solo percussionist, composer and collaborator. A 2010 and 2011 Helen Hayes Theater Award recipient for outstanding sound design, Tom tours frequently throughout the world performing and presenting clinics for the instrument companies he endorses including Yamaha, Vic Firth, Sabian, Remo, Latin Percussion and others. A three-time recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes grant for performances in the Middle East, Tom collaborated with indigenous musicians and gave historic performances in Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Jerusalem. He has been an artist-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has collaborated with the National Symphony as both a soloist and composer. As an international collaborator he has performed by invitation in Europe and South America. Tom earned the 2006 Artist-of-the-year award from Young Audiences of Virginia for his creative and educational presentations. His seven CDs have been greeted with international airplay and acclaim. He has been the subject of feature articles in both “Modern Drummer” and “Drum!” magazines.

New tracks tagged #langstonhughes