Cecil Taylor, ‘Silent Tongues’ (1974)
Sly and the Family Stone, ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’ (1971)
To hear just this first track, “Luv n’ Haight,” off Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 album There’s a Riot Goin’ On is to remember that funk music is feel-good music. But to recognize such affect is to go against the (white) critical consensus of the album as a tragic masterpiece, both because of the putatively …
Miles Davis, ‘Bitches Brew’ (1970)
Miles Davis, ‘In a Silent Way’ (1969)
“1968 was full of all kinds of changes, but for me, the changes that were happening in my music were very exciting and the music that was happening everywhere was incredible. These things were leading me into the future and into In a Silent Way.” —Miles Davis [Press the play sign above before reading the …
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ‘Electric Ladyland’ (1968)
Albert Ayler, ‘New Grass’ (1968)
After two minutes and 40 seconds of Ayler’s famous screeching, the saxophonist speaks the following verbal message to a somber soundscape of flute and horns: The music I bring to you is of a different dimension in my life. I hope you will like this record. Through meditation, dreams, and visions, I have been made a universal …
John Coltrane, ‘A Love Supreme’ (1965)
Ornette Coleman, ‘Free Jazz’ (1961)
Max Roach, ‘We Insist!’ (1960)
Intro
[Image: “Glenn Ligon @ the Bronx Museum of Arts” by Steffi Njoh Monny, via CC BY-ND 2.0.] I’m listening to Cecil Taylor’s Silent Tongues as I write this (which you can listen to too as you read this), a live album I found my way to by way of Fred Moten and Kandice Chuh, whose fall 2014 …
