Face of the Bass

I'm just curious; what do you mean by his "long history of anti-semitism"? Pretty much everything I've seen in that regard relates to this one poem.

That also came from the same dubious sources as the 4,000 Israelis bit did.

Well, Jews have been on the receiving end of that sort of "analysis" for many hundreds (thousands?) of years now, usually with genocidal results. Thanks, but I do prefer to be on the lookout for these sorts of sentiments, and to judge him accordingly. Maybe others have the luxury of judging him by other criteria, but I don't think we do. Sorry, but that line of reasoning is as spurious as the line in Baraka's poem. But Baraka didn't say in the poem (or did he?) that the intelligence services of the world knew about 9/11 in advance. What he did say in the poem was that the Israelis who worked at the WTC stayed home that day (because I guess, according to Baraka, they were forewarned by their government to do so). Is there any evidence out there in the real world that a lot of Israelis worked at the WTC and didn't show up for work that day? Yes, I know it's a poem, not a news report, but it's not like that portion of the poem were some sort of lyrical effusion that only a fool would take at face value. In any case, that poem and other instances of Baraka going over the top or around the bend along these lines do not make him a figure I need to or want to despise. Rather, I think of these instances as ... I don't know, "acts" (though they're not an act) in which Baraka, being who he is, was compelled to engage at those times in order to state and further -- and again, I don't know about the term -- his ongoing political/emotional "identity." It needs to be said at this point that Baraka did not invent this concept that Israelis had stayed home on 9/11. It had appeared in the international press prior to this poem. Baraka said he got it from Ha'Aretz. Obviously that doesn't excuse the fact that he kept it in there. But I don't think it should poison his entire oeuvre. What you say about his ongoing struggle with his political "identity" hits the mark pretty well, I think, and is one of the main reasons why I find him to be such a compelling writer and figure. FWIW, I'm not convinced that Baraka was an anti-Semite, to me the evidence for that is thinner than the frequent misogyny and homophobia that showed up in his writing. (And which, in the case of his homophobia, he later regretted.)

Well, Jews have been on the receiving end of that sort of "analysis" for many hundreds (thousands?) of years now, usually with genocidal results. Thanks, but I do prefer to be on the lookout for these sorts of sentiments, and to judge him accordingly. Maybe others have the luxury of judging him by other criteria, but I don't think we do. Sorry, but that line of reasoning is as spurious as the line in Baraka's poem.

If you want to understand Baraka, read "Cuba Libre," his essay from 1960. Read his autobiography. Read his poems. Read his jazz criticism. Read Blues People. Read his letters, recently published, between himself and Ed Dorn. The man was one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century. If you want to bury him for one stupid line in a poem he wrote near the end of his career, that says more about you than it does about him. For the record, what Baraka said about this line was that he believed that the intelligence services of the world knew about 9/11 in advance. I think he's wrong and I think he was stupid to put that in his poem, but I'm not going to allow it to determine how I view his entire oeuvre. Indeed, I even think the rest of that poem is pretty good.

It's more complicated than that. The same poem also references the Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz. That line wasn't good, but if you refuse to explore his works because of it, it's your loss. This is the problem I have with him, his work is forever tainted by his descent into the vile bile of anti-semitism. As a European, with our history, we need no excuse from poets or anyone else encouraging this. For that reason I am totally turned-off from exploring the works of Baraka further. Which is probably a shame, because I see a lot of positive comments on here, but he strayed too far from the spirit of jazz and the light for my comfort. His main legacy was his capacity for making liberals very uncomfortable. "Strayed too far" is exactly why he is so important.

There is something about this that has always bothered me. You hear it a lot from people; that to understand Baraka they should read these other works, rather than anything Baraka himself wrote. In particular, I never cared for Ellison's patronizing review of Baraka's work. Baraka is far more insightful in his own writing (and letters) on Ellison and James Baldwin than Ellison ever was on him. The Hettie Jones book as well. It's certainly a compelling book in many respects, but people always bring it up as soon as Baraka's name is mentioned, as if the one-sided account of an ex-spouse should be the final word on a person.

I don't see it as "tainted." I see it as part and parcel of his legacy, along with the misogyny and homophobia of his black Nationalist period. What I admire about Baraka is that he never allowed himself to become politically correct, and wasn't afraid to be wrong. I think he was a very courageous writer.

I have started a thread in the Artists forum.

This needs its own page. Amiri Baraka has passed away at the age of 79. http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/01/hold_hold_hold_amiri_baraka_former_nj_poet_laureate_and_prolific_author_dead_at_79.html I am filled with sadness at the moment. He has been a major inspiration to me.

Yeah, I would wait to get the full box. I have had it for a long time and while I don't think it's essential, much of the material is really good, and I wouldn't want to be without the sideman sessions.

Yeah, the Mosaic set, either LP or CD. If one can't track that down, what are the best alternatives to get these recordings?

Hello all, I'm looking for a copy of this set, either for sale or trade. If you have one and might be interested in working out a deal, please send me a PM. Thanks!

Update...for the Little Walter I will consider other offers (either cash or trade). So if you have an interest in this item but $180 is too much, send me a PM and we'll see if we can work something out.

Up with one addition. I have the Little Walter set for sale on Hip-o-select. The lowest used price I could find on the internet was about $35 higher than what I'm offering it for. There is some moderate shelf wear to the outer box but the discs and booklet are in excellent condition.

The only thing this world needs is for somebody to come along and do legit reissues of the Fontana New Jazz Series and the Horo label. Everything else fades into insignificance.

If that sentence really presented the whole history of jazz, then I'd have zero interest in listening to the music.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on the Muhal Richard Abrams set. Worth the price of admission? I'm looking to get into something new in this catalog. I'm already familiar with the material on the Braxton, Lacy, Haden, Dixon, Taylor, Hemphill, and Threadgill sets, and I think somebody is getting me the Lake and Cyrille sets for Christmas.

Be very interested to hear your thoughts when you get around to reading it. I assigned it in my US History course this past semester.

Again, I'd really encourage people to read Family Properties, which deals directly with this stuff. You know, actual research, as opposed to people just pulling stuff out of their asses. http://www.amazon.com/Family-Properties-Struggle-Transformed-Chicago/dp/0805091424

There is a good book on the real estate markets in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century that deals with the relationships between Jews and African-Americans in a way that is nuanced and more helpful than that implied by most broader classifications. It is called Family Properties, and is written by Beryl Satter. One thing to understand about the relationships between Jews and blacks in the U.S. is that many urban neighborhoods that became black in the mid twentieth century were, prior to that, often Jewish and/or containing other white immigrant communities. So there is a kind of hierarchy at work, or rather perhaps a continuum, that occasionally put Jews and blacks into close contact with one another, and in relationships that were often antagonistic and economically exploitative (as happened in the buying and selling of real estate). I think one of the things Satter suggests is that the only partial integration of Jews into the mainstream of American life during the twentieth century often meant that upwardly mobile Jewish people played unsavory economic roles that encouraged anti-Semitism among blacks.

Berry set is gone.

I have for sale both the Chuck Berry Johnny B. Goode box set on Hip-o-select, and the Atlantic R&B Box Set. Both sets are in like new condition, prices include shipping to the US. Paypal only, please inquire for international deliveries. Chuck Berry: His Complete 50's Chess Recoridngs -- $70 Atlantic R&B, 1947-1974 -- $50 Thanks for looking!

I think his music was a bit more political than that, not in an overly-reductive way, but it's there. I think free jazz is the most vibrant sub-genre of jazz that ever existed. The free jazz movement is now 50 years old, basically half the life of all of recorded jazz. While much of it fizzled in the 1970s, I think Leeway is right that it reemerged in other contexts, and can still be heard in the American context in the music of, for instance, William Parker. Without the post-Ornette musical legacy, jazz would be pretty boring, IMO. Economically perhaps it hurt the music, but in terms of extending the vitality of the genre, I think it played a very important role in keeping jazz culturally relevant after the emergence of rock and roll.

Oh, he does give plenty of love to Coltrane. He says at one point that Coltrane was basically finishing off the song form in jazz, and that Coleman and others like him were picking up where Trane was ending.