The poetry of Langston Hughes will come together with jazz and visual images when Ronald McCurdy and John Wright present “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Lied Center.

“Ask Your Mama” is Hughes’ homage in verse and music to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad in the early 1960s. He scored the 12-part poem with musical cues drawn from blues, Dixieland, gospel, boogie woogie, bebop and progressive jazz, Latin cha cha, Afro-Cuban mambo, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso and African drumming.

Images, projected on a screen, will include African-inspired mural designs and cubist works by Aaron Douglas; collages by Romare Bearden; cityscape and black history series by Palmer Hayden and Jacob Lawrence; and photographs by Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava.

The work was unperformed at the time of Hughes’ death in 1967. Wright and McCurdy gave the piece its first fully orchestrated national premiere in 1994.

Wright, a professor of Afro-American and African studies and English at the University of Minnesota, and McCurdy, professor of jazz studies at the University of Southern California and president of the International Association of Jazz Educators, lead the ensemble.

McCurdy, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn, is former director of the Kansas University jazz program and recently released his first CD, “Once Again for the First Time.” The CD also features Patrice Rushen, piano; Shelly Berg, piano; Jeff Clayton, alto saxophone; Kenny Davis, bass; and Roy McCurdy, drums.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available at the Lied Center Box Office, 864-ARTS; Murphy Hall Box Office, 864-3982; and Student Union Activities Box Office, 864-3477.

Children’s choir to join jazz singer on Lied stage

Jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon will perform songs from her latest release, “Soulcall,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lied Center.

The concert will include songs sung by the five-time Grammy nominated Freelon and her four-member ensemble and a piece with the Lawrence Children’s Choir titled “One Child at a Time.”

While in Lawrence, Freelon will teach a vocal master class for Kansas University jazz singers at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Lied Center. The free class is open to the public.

Tickets to the Lied Center concert range from $11 to $27 and can be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office, 864-ARTS; Murphy Hall Box Office, 864-3982; Student Union Activities Box Office, 864-3477; Ticketmaster, (816) 931-3330 or (785) 234-4545; and online at www.tickets.com.

Student mural to be displayed at library

A mural by Lawrence High School students will be displayed today at Kansas University’s Langston Hughes symposium and then displayed through February at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

The mural depicts and interprets “Let America Be America Again,” a famous poem by Langston Hughes.

The mural was created by Zeke Altenbernd, Leigh Beeson, Nicole Burton, Kristina Clement, Rose Heckler, Cynthia O’Kelly and Caity Kennedy. Lawrence artists David Loewenstein and Lora Jost coordinated and facilitated the project.

The mural, which is 13 feet by 7 feet, was painted on birch plywood. The students began working on the project in October and finished it in January. Mural images include depictions of the allure of the American dream, those who are excluded from the dream, the dark side of American life, people heeding Hughes’ call to respond and the rebuilding of America.

Historian explores Hughes’ ties to Lawrence

A Lawrence historian will talk about the life Langston Hughes experienced in Lawrence during a program at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass. Historian Steve Jansen will present “Lawrence’s Own: Langston Hughes” at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Hughes spent 12 years in Lawrence, from 1903 to 1915. He left Lawrence at age 13 and went on to be a poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and leader of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

Jansen will talk about “Not Without Laughter,” Hughes’ fictionalized account of his childhood in Lawrence. He also will discuss the tornado of 1911; differences between Old West Lawrence neighborhoods and the neighborhood in which Hughes lived; a children’s day in Woodlawn Park that excluded black children; and the black community in Lawrence in the late 19th century.

“Fifteen percent of the community was black,” Jansen said, adding that the black population of Lawrence has declined over the years. “Lawrence was a community where young black talents were from but not able to live in. (Hughes) has become an icon of Lawrence now. That’s 180 degrees from when he left to go to Cleveland.”

The free event is open to the public.

Professor gives theatrical portrayal of Hughes

A chautauqua actor from Kentucky is coming to Lawrence to give a performance as Langston Hughes.

Charles Everett Pace will present “A Writer’s Life: On the Road with Langston Hughes” at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ninth Street Baptist Church, 847 Ohio. Hughes attended the church several times during his years in Lawrence.

Pace, who teaches courses related to anthropology and performance at Centre College in Danville, Ky., is also known for his portrayals of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Malcolm X.

After Pace’s performance, the U.S. Postal Service will dedicate a second-day issue of the new Langston Hughes stamp. Cachets, which include an envelope with a Langston Hughes centennial logo printed on it and a Hughes stamp affixed and hand-canceled with Hughes’ signature, will be available.

Both free events are open to the public.