Composers of African descent, including African American composers, include:

• Michael Abels, USA (born 1962)
• Muhal Richard Abrams, USA (born 1930)
• Leslie Adams , USA (born 1932)
• Eleanor Alberga , Jamaica (born 1949)
• Thomas Jefferson Anderson (TJ), USA (born 1928)
• William Banfield , USA (born 1961)
• David Baker, USA (born 1931)
• Eubie Blake, USA (1883 - 1983)
• Anthony Braxton, USA (born 1945)
• Harry Burleigh, USA (1866-1949)
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, England (1875 - 1912)
• Roque Cordero , Panama (born 1917)
• Arthur Cunningham , USA (born 1928)
• William L. Dawson, USA (1899 - 1990)
• Anthony Davis, USA (born 1951)
• Robert Nathaniel Dett, Canada (1882 - 1943)
• Julius Eastman , USA (1940 - 1991)
• Edward Kennedy Ellington (Duke Ellington), USA (1899 - 1974), jazz big band leader
• James Reese Europe, USA (1881 - 1919)
• Donal Fox , USA (born 1952)
• Adolphus Hailstork , USA (born 1941)
• William Christopher Handy (W.C. Handy), (1873 - 1958), USA blues
• Talib Rasul Hakim , (1940 - 1988)
• Fletcher Henderson, USA (1897 - 1952), jazz big band leader
• Jonathan Holland
• Tony Jackson, (1876 - 1921), pianist
• Leroy Jenkins, USA (born 1932)
• Hall Johnson, USA (1888 - 1970)
• Scott Joplin, USA (1868 - 1917)
• Ulysses Kay , USA (1917 - 1995)
• Wynton Marsalis (born 1961)
• Roscoe Mitchell, USA (born 1940)
• Thelonious Monk, USA (1917 - 1982)
• Undine Smith Moore , USA (1905 - 1989)
• Jose Nunes-Garcia , Brazil (1767 - 1830)
• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson , USA (born 1932)
• Walter Robinson , (b.1952)
• Joseph Chevalier de Saint-Georges (c.1739 - 1799)
• Alvin Singleton, (born 1940)
• Hale Smith , USA (born 1925)
• William Grant Still, USA (1895 - 1978)
• Howard Swanson, USA (1907 - 1978)
• George Walker, USA (born 1922)
• Fats Waller, USA (1904 - 1943), singer, jazz musician
• Joseph White , Cuba (1835 - 1918)
• Thomas Wiggins (Bethune) or Blind Tom, (1849 - 1908)
• Clarence Williams, USA (1893 - 1965), publisher, jazz musician
• Olly Wilson , USA (born 1937)
• John Wesley Work III, USA (1901 - 1967)
• Stevie Wonder, (born 1950)

see also: List of African-Americans

External links

• Orchestral Music of African-American Composers
• Discography of Center for Black Music Research: Music by Black Composers
• Classical Music Recordings of Black Composers: a reference guide
• Black History and Classical Music