The son of a Chickasaw father and an Irish mother, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate grew up in a family professionally involved in music, dance and theatre. He received his training as a pianist and composer at Northwestern University and the Cleveland Conservatory of Music, but his mother commissioned his first composition, Winter Moons, a ballet that explores traditions of the tribes from the Northern Plains and Rockies.

Tate, who has been inspired in ways of combining ethnic and Classical traditions through the music of Bela Bartók, writes:

"I didn't mix my identities of being a classically trained musician and being an American Indian. I never saw that there was even a possible relationship between those two until I started composing. And that's when they came together in a way that made me feel just wonderful.”

According to the composer, “Chokfi’ is the Chikasaw word for rabbit, who is an important trickster legend within Southeast American Indian cultures….Different string and percussion techniques and colors represent the complicated and diabolical personality of this rabbit person. In honor of my Muskogee Creek friends, I have incorporated a popular tribal church hymn as the melodic and musical base.”