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The Chickasaw Nation is underwriting classical musician Jerod Tate's first recorded works.

Tate, 39, an American Indian and classical music composer of about 16 years, just released a compact disc on Thunderbird Records. It blends classical orchestration and American Indian folklore melodies.

Tate, accompanied by the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra, performed the recorded works on his CD to an invitation-only audience at the Oklahoma History Center this month.

The full-length CD, about 60 minutes, includes a work from the "Chickasaw Garfish Dance Song,” which appears to be the only true surviving Chickasaw dance. It is traditionally associated with the green corn ceremony, in which the teeth of a garfish are used in the purification ritual connected with the summer ceremonies.

Tate, a native of Norman, collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Chorus for the groundbreaking recording. The works represent the first collaboration of this kind. They also represent the first widescale distribution of an American Indian classical musician.

"I'm doing the same thing most of the famous composers did, which is to incorporate their culture into music,” Tate said. "Classical music is always an expression of culture and different cultures have very different approaches to melodies.”

In that vein, Tate hopes his works will reflect the intensity of the American Indian experience.

For the American Indian, "the operative word is intense. That's our stereotype and it's true. Indians have very intense personalities,” he said.

"All art, including music, is coming from an expression of emotion. The experience of the American Indian, only they are able to convey that emotion. They bring a very unique perspective to music,” said Alan Bise, owner of Thunderbird Records, the label producing and distributing Tate's works. "Is there a difference between? That's like asking if there is a difference between Mozart and Beethoven, there definitely is a difference. But is it a difference the average person can hear?”

The decision by the Chickasaw Nation to underwrite the recording, according to administrator Lona Barrick, involved a commitment to its citizens as well as a commitment to the music and arts.

"This has to do with our ability to tell our story, in a different way,” Barrick said.

It marks the first time any American Indian tribe has underwritten a project of this magnitude, according to Thunderbird Records and the San Francisco Symphony.

The recording also represents the first time a major symphony has collaborated with an American Indian composer, orchestra representatives said.

Maestro Edwin Outwater served as conductor for "Garfish Dance Song” and "Tracing Mississippi,” a concerto for flute and orchestra. The flute soloist was Christine Bailey Davis, who originally commissioned the work.

"‘Tracing Mississippi' is a remembrance of the old country my family lived in and incorporates traditional songs and dance rhythms, along with American Indian percussion instruments,” Tate said.