Category Archives: Vocal

Imamu Amiri Baraka – Come Back Pharoah (1972)

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From the album It’s Nation Time – African Visionary Music by Imamu Amiri Baraka.

Amiri Baraka, born in 1934, in Newark, New Jersey, USA, is the author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism, a poet icon and revolutionary political activist who has recited poetry and lectured on cultural and political issues extensively in the USA, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. [source]

Akbar Bey - Congas / Pat Carrow - Congas / Joseph Armstrong – Congas, Cowbell / Charles Jones - Congas, Percussion (Shakari) / Gwendolyn Guthrie -  Vocals

 

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Charles Mingus – Passions Of A Man (1961)

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Passions Of A Man is from the album Oh Yeah by Charles Mingus.

Mingus had always had a bizarre sense of humor, as expressed in some of his song titles and arranging devices, but Oh Yeah often gets downright warped. That’s partly because Mingus is freed up to vocalize more often, but it’s also due to the presence of mad genius Roland Kirk. His chemistry with Mingus is fantastically explosive, which makes sense — both were encyclopedias of jazz tradition, but given over to oddball modernist experimentation. ”Passions of a Man” sounds almost like musique concrète, while “Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am” nicks some Monk angularity and “Ecclusiastics” adds some testifying shouts and a chorale-like theme to Mingus’ gospel-jazz hybrid. Og Yeah is probably the most offbeat Mingus album ever, and that’s what makes it so vital. [source]

Charles Mingus – Piano, Vocals
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Flute, Siren, Tenor Saxophone, Manzello, Strich
Booker Ervin – Tenor Saxophone
Jimmy Knepper – Trombone
Doug Watkins – Bass
Dannie Richmond – Drums

 

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Sonny Murray – Black Art (read by Amiri Baraka) (1965)

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Black Art read by Amiri Baraka is the last track on the album Sonny’s Time Now  by Sonny Murray. Recorded in NY, November 1965. Murray’s first album as a leader, originally released on Amiri Baraka’s Jihad label in 1965.

Particularly of note is the Amiri Baraka (then-Leroi Jones) recitation, “Black Art.” While not altogether different than “Sweet-Black Dada Nihilismus,” a similar reading from the self-titled New York Art Quartet record, “Black Art” is a much more bleak and (at least potentially) upsetting piece. [source]

Henry Grimes – Bass
Louis Worrel – Bass
Sunny Murray – Percussion
Albert Ayler – Tenor Saxophone
Don Cherry – Trumpet
LeRoy Jones - Voice

 

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Jayne Cortez – Maintain Control/Economic Love Song I (1986)

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First two tracks from the album Maintain Control by Jayne Cortez And The Firespitters.

Jayne Cortez (May 10, 1936 – December 28, 2012) was an American poet, and performance artist. Cortez was born May 10, 1936 in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and grew up in California. She was the author of ten books of poems and performed her poetry with music on nine recordings. Cortez presented her work and ideas at universities, museums, and festivals in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and the United States. [source]

Al MacDowel – Bass
Bern Nix – Guitar
Denardo Coleman – Percussion
Charles Moffett Jr. – Tenor Saxophone
Jayne Cortez – Voice

 

jaynecortez-1024x1024    [in remembrance of Jayne Cortez]