This album is ideally conceived as a tribute to the poet, writer, and music critic Everett LeRoi Jones aka Amiri Baraka. An artist who converted to Islam after Malcolm X's death and later approached Marxism, he was a prominent figure in the African-American counterculture from the sixties until his death in 2014, known for his strong positions and radical views against the history of colonialism and his never-renounced anti-Zionism. He was a very influential figure in African-American culture from the middle of the last century, and the day of his funeral was an important and deeply moving moment for many artists who knew him and had the opportunity to collaborate with him over the years. Among them, Saul Williams (born in 1972), rapper, poet and actor ("Slam", 1998), also of Islamic faith and devoted to the myth of James Brown (a subject of cult and veneration for Amiri Baraka himself), almost sought to evoke him, literally inviting him to come out of the coffin. Clearly, the miracle did not occur, but the power of his words did not go unheard.
Saul's call was indeed heard by a giant of African-American music, saxophonist David Murray, born in 1955, a longtime collaborator and friend of Baraka who was also present at his funerals. An eclectic jazz musician, unconventional both in terms of sound experimentation and for his ideological positions, Murray has been active since the seventies and boasts a practically gigantic output. Thus, the two decided to make an album together, and by 2015, Williams had already sent some of his texts to Murray (many were published that same year), clearly focused on themes with strong social and political imprints, particularly regarding the contemporary reality of the United States. Then it intertwines with other events since "Blues For Memo," recorded in Istanbul with a plethora of top-notch collaborators, also becomes practically a tribute to a key figure in Turkish jazz music like Mehmet "Memo" Ulug, founder of the influential label Potzif (together with his brother Ahmet and Cem Yegul) and who passed away in 2013, as well as the experimental musician Butch Morris, who had lived and taught music in the Turkish capital for many years.
This wasn't the first time Murray had to adapt himself to the writing of poets. He collaborated with Baraka as well as with Ishmael Reed and worked on adaptations of the poetry of the Soviet literature giant (practically made immortal by Stalinist propaganda) Alexander Pushkin, so everything naturally came about. The character of most compositions thus adapts to Williams' slam poetry style, carving out the necessary spaces for him ("Kush", "A Mirror Of Youth", "Circles and Seasons"...) but there are also purely instrumental and more classic moments like the tribute to Memo ("Blues for Memo"), "Positive Messages", "Enlightenment" or where instead of slam poetry, we might speak of truly touching and heartfelt gospel recitals, see "Red Summer" and "Forever Brothers".
Ultimately, an album that will surely be appreciated by jazz enthusiasts and whose blending with slam poetry, Gil Scott-Heron's attitude, gospel, and an underlying Sly And The Family Stone soul makes it at least original and worthy of, how to say, lending an ear.
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