As I sit here drinking a strong cup of brew and listening to The Lost Quintet, a Miles Davis album from 1969, two things strike me: one, I was born in 69 and two, this was Miles Davis’ transitioning period when he was searching for identity within music. Two months after traveling with this group called the Lost Quintet(called lost because they didn’t do a proper recording together) they eventually emerged from the studio with an album that completely changed the face of jazz music forever. The album was called “Bitches Brew” and was full departure from the acoustic music Miles was playing. It was full-on electric baby, it was funk, intense and dense at times, it was a “brew” of sorts. Miles reached a new audience while selling out stadiums, while abandoning the traditional listeners “Do not fear mistakes,there are none.” Go out and buy this album and be blessed.
This coincides with Black History Month, a term I dread dearly. Black history month is twelve months a year, there is no history within the time line of the world that doesn’t include blacks doing miraculous things, under their circumstances. I wanted to do something a bit different here at The ConfirmationFiles and focus on music and how it changed the landscape of how we look at topics. Miles wanted to reach a larger audience which included blacks. He was the first black musician to stop putting white women on his album covers and to start putting black faces on them. This was a bold move which his record label thought might alienate his white base; it didn’t.
I also wanted to focus on current blacks that are changing the game yet are seldom mentioned, followed by daily quotes to get “yo” day started. This year why not buy an album that changed the landscape of music and took it back to its Afro roots. Don’t worry I’ll give you a small list to get you jump started. Secondly, take this time to read an intriguing book. My read this year is ” Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party” by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin Jr. A few books that I believe should be required reading are “Black Labor, White Wealth : The Search for Power and Economic Justice” by Claud Anderson. From my college days, “From Slavery” to Freedom by John Hope Franklin, and lastly, no household should by without “Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African American Experience” by Kwame Anthon Appiah.
This is not a time of alienation but celebration, we should never be ashamed of who we are; continue to be proud and positive; AMANI(peace)
BOOKS
1. Harlem Renaissance by Nathan Irvin Huggins
2. Revolution: Faces of Change by Miller/Kennedi
3. Destruction of Black Civilization : Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C to 2000 A.D. by Chancellor Williams(recommended by Kennan Walker)
4. The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings by James Baldwin
MUSIC
1. Best of Black Jazz Records 1971-1976 by Various Artists
2. CTI Records – The Cool Revolution by Various Artists
3. Black Power: Music of a Revolution by Various Artists
4. The Revolution Begins: The Flying Dutchman Masters by Gil Scott-Heron
5. Power to the People by Joe Henderson
6. Tribute to the Martyrs by Steel Pulse
7. Anthology by Curtis Mayfield & Impressions
8. A Donny Hathaway Collection by Donny Hathaway
9. Rage Against the Machine by Rage Against The Machine
10. Band Of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix
11. Kawaida: Kuumba-Toudie Heath by Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Buster Williams, Mtume and Herbie Hancock(Mwandishi)
12. Tribute to Jack Johnson by Miles Davis
13. Power of Soul by Idris Muhammad
14. Best of the Black President by Fela Kuti
15. Songs of Freedom by Bob Marley Box Set
16. Black Talk by Charles Earland
17. Country Preacher by Cannonball Adderley Quintet
18. Best of by Leadbelly
19. Vietnam Blues: Complete L & R by J.B. Lenoir
20. Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan
Two films I highly recommend: The Black Power Mixtape by Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale and Goran Olsson and Brooklyn Boheme(a Nelson George documentar) starring Spike Lee, Branford Marsalis, Chris Rock,Rosie Perez and Carl Rux
This should be enough to keep you busy for a year and represents only 1 percent of my stellar collection… cheers.
Written by The NON-Conformist
TheConfirmationFiles 