Composer, pianist and arranger Hale Smith studied music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. During World War II he worked as arranger for army shows, then as editor for music publishers and as a free-lance composer for radio, TV and theater.
The origin of the melody of "This Little Light of Mine" is obscure, although there are claims that was written around 1920 as a children's song by Harry Dixon Loes; but Loes never claimed it. It became an important protest song in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn