"In Your Waking Eyes: Poems by Langston Hughes" by the Chicago-based Stu Mindeman Group delivers inspiring compositions using a wide palette of rhythmic and emotional color in Jazz, Soul and West-African musical styles to bring the writing of a legendary African-American poet to new life. In a powerful marriage between music and poetry, delve into the mind of a Harlem Renaissance man and Jazz poetry-driven band as this project demonstrates the marriage between jazz and the written word for which Hughes himself strove.

Stu Mindeman brings with him a stellar ensemble of renowned Chicago-based musicians including: Chás Kimbrough, Vocals Bryan Doherty, Bass Xavier Breaker, Drums Juan Pastor, Percussion Quentin Coaxum, Trumpet Dustin Laurenzi, Saxophone.


After stumbling across a used copy of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, guitarist Ken Hatfield assembled a sextet and recorded an album dedicated to the writer-social activist and soul of the Harlem Renaissance. On For Langston Hatfield avoided the trap of trying to out-heavy Hughes. Instead, he has produced an uplifting, spiritual jazz tribute that treats its subject seriously but with joyous lyricism. The music is completely unexpected, given the album’s title. Each of the 14 tracks corresponds to a Hughes poem, and Hilary Gardner handles the vocals with aplomb. The star here, though, is Hatfield, who composed and arranged the songs and plays with a glorious feel. Easily one of the finest tribute albums so far this year.”
–Marc Myers, JazzWax.com