Amiri Baraka

LeRoi Jones

A collection of poems written by a young Negro poet between 1957 and 1961, reflect the contemporary black experience in America

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

Imamu Amiri Baraka

Discusses modern jazz movements and musicians, including Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, and Sun-Ra

Black Music

Social Essays

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Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note...

Published under the author's earlier name: LeRoi Jones.

Poems

The Dead Lecturer

Negro Music in White America

Blues People

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. “In Black Music, Baraka wrote with ecstasy—highly informed and intricate—about ecstatically complex music.”—Richard Brody, The New Yorker

This book contains essays on race relations in America since 1965.

LeRoi Jones

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