OTHER WRITING

Selected Articles and Essays

“’Pick Up Them Cliffords’: Amiri Baraka, Clifford Brown, and the Coinage of Currency,” in Some Other Blues: New Perspectives on Amiri Baraka, Edited by Jean-Philippe Marcoux (The Ohio State University Press, 2021)

This collection of original essays brings together some of the most important critics and scholars of Amiri Baraka’s oeuvre. Some Other Blues consists of career-spanning conversations on the many trajectories, bifurcations, and intersections in and of Baraka’s black art. Every chapter is grounded in the desire to illuminate Baraka’s multilayered creative output—whether through critical analyses, literary historiographies, or musicological and biographical reassessments of his work. Every contributor attempts, in their own unique ways, to delineate how the contours of poems, short stories, essays, and editorials reveal the poetics and politics of Amiri Baraka. At the same time, every chapter looks outward at what Baraka saw as the fractures and fissures of our society—moments in the history of African America that have needed repair and relief. For the first time in one book, two generations of scholars and friends of the Baraka family converge to assess the legacy and the imprint of the writer, activist, and cultural worker who has reshaped and redefined what is means to be a black public intellectual and poet.

Contributors: Tony Bolden, Jeremy Glick, William J. Harris, Benjamin Lee, Aidan Levy, John Lowney, Jean-Philippe Marcoux, Kim McMillon, Fred Moten, Michael New, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Amy Abugo Ongiri, Gregory Pierrot, Howard Rambsy II, Emily Ruth Rutter, Anthony Reed, Lauri Scheyer, Kathy Lou Schultz, Michael Simanga, James Smethurst, Laura Vrana, Tyrone Williams, Kalamu ya Salaam.

Some Other Blues Cover

“This is a most timely and long-overdue collection that not only enriches our understanding of Baraka’s work but also points to new avenues of scholarly inquiry.” —Jürgen E. Grandt, author of Gettin’ Around: Jazz, Script, Transnationalism

Some Other Blues will situate Baraka rightly as a model of intellectual and artistic innovation, adventure, and integrity, and it will locate him at the intersection of the some of the most important ideas of black cultural radicalism, the avant-garde, and artistic activism. It is a collection worthy of the man himself.” —Keith D. Leonard, author of Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights

Sonny Rollins, Rollins in Holland

Rollins in Holland: The 1967 Studio & Live Recordings is Resonance Records’ first archival release from the Saxophone Colossus himself, Sonny Rollins. Released in partnership with the Nederlands Jazz Archief, this deluxe limited-edition 180g 3LP set is officially sanctioned by Rollins and is comprised of three different previously unissued performances with bassist Ruud Jacobs and drummer Han Bennink in May of 1967 at Vara Studio in Hilversum, the Arnhem Academy of Visual Arts, and a televised performance at the Go-Go Club in Loosdrecht. Rollins in Holland will include an extensive booklet with never-before-published photos from each venue; essays by Aidan Levy and Dutch jazz journalist/producer Frank Jochemsen; plus interviews with Sonny Rollins, Han Bennink, a remembrance of Ruud Jacobs, and more. Mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed at 33 1/3 RPM by RTI.

 

“The Quilt of Romare Bearden’s Life,” The Nation

For 30 years, the artist worked for the New York City Department of Welfare, a day job that was much more than a necessary evil.

The Velvet Underground and Nico

National Recording Registry essay, Library of Congress

“Sonny Rollins: Bright Moments, JazzTimes

The legendary saxophonist takes us through highlights of his discography from the past 50-plus years.