Akashi Classics: Renegade Reprint

Amiri Baraka, also known as LeRoi Jones, was known not only as a poet, playwright, and founder of the Black Arts movement, but also as one of the most provocative voices of the civil rights era and beyond. These pieces, which span the years from 1960 to 1965, cover subjects ranging from Cuba to Malcolm X to street protests and soul food, and are accompanied by the author's new introduction from 2009.

The essential collection of jazz writing by the celebrated poet and author of Blues People-reissued with a new introduction by the author. In the 1960s, LeRoi Jones-who would later be known as Amiri Baraka-was a pioneering jazz critic, articulating in real time the incredible transformations of the form taking place in the clubs and coffee houses of New York City. In Black Music, he sheds light on the brilliant young jazz musicians of the day: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, and others. Combining firsthand immediacy with wide-ranging erudition, Black Music articulates the complexities of modern jazz while also sharing insights on the nature of jazz criticism, the creative process, and the development of a new way forward for black artists. This rich and vital collection is comprised of essays, reviews, interviews, liner notes, musical analyses, and personal impressions from 1959—1967.