In 'Black Music', a collection of essays, liner notes and interviews from 1959 to 1967, Amiri Baraka captures the ferment, energy and excitement of the avant-garde jazz scene. Published while he still went by LeRoi Jones, it provides a composite picture of Baraka’s evolving thought, aesthetic values and literary experimentation. In this episode, Brent and Adam discuss the ways in which Baraka tackled the challenge of writing about music and his intimate connections to the major players in jazz. Whether you’re familiar with the music or totally new to the New Thing, 'Black Music' is an essential guide to a period of political and artistic upheaval.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

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In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings

Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University.

Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

Further reading in the LRB:

Adam Shatz: The Freedom Principle

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/may/the-freedom-principle

Adam Shatz: On Ornette Coleman

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n14/adam-shatz/diary

Philip Clark: On Cecil Taylor

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2018/april/cecil-taylor-1929-2018

Ian Penman: Birditis

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n02/ian-penman/birditis

Ian Penman: Birditis

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n02/ian-penman/birditis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brent Hayes Edwards talks to Adam about Aimé Césaire's 1950 essay Discourse on Colonialism, a groundbreaking work of 20th-century anti-colonial thought and a precursor to the writings of Césaire's protégé, Frantz Fanon. Césaire was Martinique’s most influential poet and one of its most prominent politicians as a deputy in the French National Assembly, and his Discourse is addressed directly at his country’s colonisers. Adam and Brent consider Césaire’s poetry alongside his political arguments and the particular characteristics of his version of négritude, the far-reaching movement of black consciousness he founded with Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon Damas.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Subscribe to Close Readings:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq

In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings

Further reading and listening:

Musab Yunis: Against Independence

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n13/musab-younis/against-independence

Brent Hayes Edwards: Inside the Barrel

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n17/brent-hayes-edwards/inside-the-barrel

John Berger & David Constantine: Aimé Césaire’s Return to My Native Land

https://lrb.me/bergercesaire

Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University.

Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam discuss the ‘ur-text of Black political philosophy’, W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk. Spanning autobiography, history, biography, fiction, music criticism and political science, its fourteen essays set the tone for Black literature, political debate and scholarly production for the course of the 20th century. Souls was an immediate bestseller, the subject of furious debate and a foundational work in the new field of sociology.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Subscribe to Close Readings:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq

In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings

Further reading in the LRB:

Adam Lively: Fisticuffs

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v16/n05/adam-lively/fisticuffs

Kevin Okoth: Resistance from Elsewhere

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n07/kevin-okoth/resistance-from-elsewhere

Lewis Nkosi: An UnAmerican in New York

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n16/lewis-nkosi/an-unamerican-in-new-york

Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University.

Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.