Critical Studies in Improvisation / =C3=89tudes = critiques en=20 improvisation, Vol 1, No 3 (2006)

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Fred Ho=E2=80=99s Tribute to the Black Arts Movement: = Personal and=20 Political Impact and Analysis

Fred Ho

Mao and Cabral
Mingus and Coltrane
Variations on the same = tune.

Poem inspired by Felix Torres¹

I came of=20 age in the early 1970s, at the tail end of what Amiri Baraka calls = =E2=80=9Cthe Roaring=20 Sixties.=E2=80=9D By 1970, I had entered my teens and the awakening of = my =E2=80=9Cidentity=E2=80=9D=20 began. As I have discussed in many previous articles, the black = experience=20 catalyzed my own self-awareness as a Chinese/Asian American. I came to = identify=20 with the black struggle in drawing parallels with my personal struggle = for=20 self-awareness and identity and for the struggle of Asian/yellow peoples = as a=20 whole in U.S. society to end racism, injustice, inequality and to = achieve=20 self-respect, dignity, and liberation.

Even as a=20 teenager, I intuitively recognized that black American culture and the = arts are=20 inseparable from the dynamic of the black liberation struggle. In my = youth, I=20 sought to find a comparable connection between the culture and arts of = Asian=20 Pacific Americans (APAs) with our liberation struggle for full equality = and=20 justice. In a myriad of forms, including political organization, = cultural=20 activism, artistic expression and cultural production, I have sought to = promote=20 the unity of African Americans and Asian Americans, including forming my = core=20 band, the Afro Asian Music Ensemble in 1982 when I first moved to New = York City=20 to become a professional artist. In this essay, I want to reflect upon = how the=20 Black Arts Movement impacted on my personal development as well as on = what I=20 believe to be its impact on the APA Movement and arts. I also want to = focus on=20 the importance of the =E2=80=9Cfree jazz=E2=80=9D black music on Asian = American creative music=20 and improvisation, as well as its organizational influence upon = self-production=20 efforts as an assertion of cultural and political = self-determination.

Many=20 conscious APAs=E2=80=94meaning those of us who are proud to be APA, = politically=20 conscious of our collective history of oppression and struggle in the = U.S., and=20 who recognize the on-going, systematic white racism we continue to = endure and=20 resist=E2=80=94have admired the black American struggle and especially = what we perceive=20 to be the strength, rootedness and communality of the black American = cultural=20 experience. Much of the Asian Movement that emerged in the late-60s and=20 early-70s took inspiration politically from the Civil Rights Movement = and the=20 Black Liberation Movement.² I continually hear APAs express envy = and=20 admiration that I would paraphrase as =E2=80=9CI wish we Asians were = more [fill in the=20 blank] like the blacks.=E2=80=9D The =E2=80=9Cfill in the blank=E2=80=9D = are generally characteristics=20 or attributes the more conscious APAs feel we as a = =E2=80=9Cpeople=E2=80=9D lack: militancy,=20 radicalism, unity, outspokenness, assertiveness, etc. Sometimes this is=20 expressed as =E2=80=9CWhere is our Asian Malcolm X? Or Langston = Hughes? Or John=20 Coltrane? Or [fill in the name of a leading great black=20 figure]?=E2=80=9D

Certainly=20 the black struggle has had a longer and considerably more developed = history, and=20 has consequently had a broader and more recognized impact than that of = APAs upon=20 American history and society. Much of mainstream America has yet to = recognize=20 our presence in American history and society, with the exception of the = =E2=80=9Cmodel=20 minority=E2=80=9D stereotype which has the effect of negating our = struggle and=20 portraying us collectively as ethnic successes. However, in a serious = study of=20 APA history and political/cultural struggle, there is much to be proud = of, to=20 recognize, uphold and celebrate. While we may not have produced = historical=20 =E2=80=9Cgiants,=E2=80=9D we have our inspirational, leading militants = and radicals including=20 Carlos Bulosan, Philip Vera Cruz, Yuri Kochiyama, Richard Aoki, Karl = Yoneda, Yun=20 Gee, Mitusye Yamada, Merle Woo, Nellie Wong, Janice Mirikitani, and = numerous=20 others. Many of these figures, both deceased and living, don=E2=80=99t = have published=20 biographies or autobiographies. While more biographical profiles and = even some=20 books have recently been published, they have little circulation and = receive=20 limited attention beyond a small group of conscious APAs. None of our = APA giants=20 are =E2=80=9Chousehold names.=E2=80=9D

Until Spike=20 Lee=E2=80=99s film X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X had = withered into=20 relative obscurity during the 1980s, Lee=E2=80=99s film was severely = criticized and=20 condemned by many conscious black activists and radical intellectuals. = They=20 accused Lee and his film of blatant historical distortion and of = diluting=20 Malcolm=E2=80=99s revolutionary politics, arguments with which I am in = agreement. Even=20 among the greater black American population, familiarity with, or = recognition=20 and celebration of, radical and militant leaders and movements is a lot = less=20 common today. These leaders and movements were well known in the period = of the=20 =E2=80=9960s and =E2=80=9970s due to the heightened level of the Black = Liberation Movement.=20 Today, black =E2=80=9Cfirsts=E2=80=9D and celebrities that are often = accommodationist,=20 integrationist, and politically less-than-militant are given much more = attention=20 by the U.S. mainstream media and educational system. Today=E2=80=99s = black youth may=20 have only a very superficial and cursory awareness of Harriet Tubman = (who=20 organized and led the first black underground militia against the system = of=20 white supremacy in the U.S.), the revolutionary views of Malcolm X (such = as=20 =E2=80=9Ccapitalism is a bloodsucker,=E2=80=9D etc.), the Black Panther = Party, Assata Shakur,=20 Mumia Abu-Jamal, etc. Indeed, Oprah, Magic Johnson and P Diddy are far = better=20 known. Even worse, the only mass media image of yellow-black unity today = for=20 both APAs and African Americans is probably the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker = collaboration in the Rush Hour movie series.

But back =E2=80=9Cin=20 the day=E2=80=9D (i.e. Baraka=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CRoaring = Sixties=E2=80=9D and early 1970s) when I was a teenager=20 growing up during this period of accelerated political, intellectual and = cultural growth, black-yellow connections and unity were much more real, = substantial, meaningful and politically anti-imperialist.

One of the=20 most significant aspects of this period of the late-60s and early-70s = was the=20 broad popularization of =E2=80=9CThird World=E2=80=9D unity and = anti-imperialist consciousness=20 and politics. There was much more =E2=80=9Cmass=E2=80=9D popular = identification between yellow=20 and black peoples in the U.S. than that which exists today. A lot of = this is=20 documented in the anthology which Bill Mullen and I are co-editing,=20 Afro/Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between = Africans=20 and Asians in the Americas. In 1964, Malcolm X, in arguing for black = American identification with, support for, and even repatriation back to = Africa,=20 cited the example of China=E2=80=99s growing strength in world politics = upon U.S. racist=20 attitudes:

The Chinese used to be disrespected. They used to use that = expression in=20 this country: =E2=80=9CYou don=E2=80=99t have a Chinaman=E2=80=99s = chance.=E2=80=9D You remember that? You=20 don=E2=80=99t hear it lately. Because a Chinaman=E2=80=99s got more = chance than they have now.=20 Why? Because China is strong. Since China became strong and = independent, she=E2=80=99s=20 respected, she=E2=80=99s recognized. So that wherever a Chinese person = goes, he is=20 respected and he is recognized. He=E2=80=99s not respected and = recognized because of=20 what he as an individual has done; he is respected and recognized = because he=20 has a country behind him. They don=E2=80=99t respect him, they respect = what=E2=80=99s behind=20 him.

By the same token, when the African continent in its independence = is able=20 to create the unity that=E2=80=99s necessary to increase its strength = and its position=20 on this earth, so that Africa too becomes respected as other huge = continents=20 are respected, then, wherever people of African origin, African = heritage or=20 African blood go, they will be respected=E2=80=94but only when and = because they have=20 something much larger that looks like them behind them. (211) =

During this=20 same era, world heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali, in stating his=20 opposition to the Vietnam War and his draft induction, echoed the mass = anti-war=20 slogan of the Black Liberation Movement: =E2=80=9CNo Vietcong ever = called me nigger.=E2=80=9D=20 Musician Archie Shepp would compare his tenor saxophone to a = Vietcong=E2=80=99s AK47 as=20 a weapon against U.S. imperialism. In a 1966 issue of = Downbeat,=20 Shepp audaciously proclaimed =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D to be an = artistic expression that was=20 pro-Vietcong (i.e. national liberation) and anti-U.S. imperialism (qtd = in Kofsky=20 64). Many less politically conscious music critics and writers disagreed = and=20 objected to such politicization of the music.

What these=20 critics and objectors to Shepp=E2=80=99s characterization have failed to = understand is=20 the fundamental and quintessential nature of black American culture as a = culture=20 of an oppressed people, with its strongest and most vital manifestations = as=20 forms of resistance to that oppression by affirming humanity (against=20 inhumanity), beauty (against degradation) and truth (against the lies of = racist=20 propaganda and white supremacist ideology).

The Era of Malcolm X and John Coltrane and Third World = Political=20 and Cultural Revolution

It was no=20 coincidence or novelty that the radical and revolutionary intellectuals, = artists=20 and activists in black America identified with, looked to, took = inspiration=20 from, promoted and participated in the linking of nationalist and = radical=20 politics with =E2=80=9Cjazz,=E2=80=9D especially the so-called = =E2=80=9Cnew music=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D=20 represented by the musical avatar, John Coltrane.

Socialist-Trotskyite = cultural=20 commentator Frank Kofsky makes a self-serving and somewhat contrived = connection=20 between Malcolm X and John Coltrane. However, as symbolic statement, and = as=20 cultural metaphor, there is much credibility and cogency to the = comparison.=20 Malcolm X represented the vanguard =E2=80=9Ccutting-edge=E2=80=9D of = revolutionary black=20 nationalist politics. John Coltrane represented the musical and cultural = =E2=80=9Ccutting-edge=E2=80=9D vanguard. While no overt connections = existed between the two=20 giants, it is clear that they both enormously affected, and were = affected by,=20 the Weltanschauung of the era and considerably contributed to, = and were=20 shaped by, the zeitgeist of the 1960s. Malcolm X fired the political = vision and=20 upsurge in the black liberation struggle in the North American = =E2=80=9Cbelly of the=20 beast=E2=80=9D to join the world-wide anti-imperialist national = liberation struggles=20 waged in Africa, Asia, central and south Americas, and the Pacific = Islands.=20 Coltrane fired the music and culture with volcanic energy and = irrepressible=20 innovation. Both personified and embodied the apex of black American = political=20 and artistic creativity and commitment that was gloriously un-co-optable = and=20 unquenchable. In many ways, a dynamic dialectical interplay existed = between both=20 political and artistic energies. Political manifestos and position = papers by=20 black radical activists often looked to, sought inspiration from, and = united=20 with the dynamic energy of the music: =E2=80=9CThe task of the = Revolutionary Action=20 Movement is to express via political action the dynamism embodied in=20 Afro-American music=E2=80=9D (Revolutionary Action Movement).

I remember=20 meeting the militant activist Robert F. Williams after his return from = exile in=20 the People=E2=80=99s Republic of China where he had spent many years = with his family.=20 Williams used the term =E2=80=9CNew African Music=E2=80=9D instead of = =E2=80=9Cjazz.=E2=80=9D³

During this time, I wore dashikis along with other black-inspired = and=20 influenced urban accoutrements such as platform shoes, bell bottom = pants,=20 carried big leather book bags, and emulated my immediate =E2=80=9Crole = models/mentors=E2=80=9D=20 such as musician/composer Archie Shepp who had a particularly = loping-like gait=20 to his walk, who wore second-hand sheepskin coats during the winter, = and who=20 held a cigarette in his right hand as he was playing the keys to his=20 saxophone. Even though I never really was a smoker, my brief attempt = to try=20 smoking was motivated to posture like Shepp.

There were other Asians who also closely identified with black = culture,=20 though of varying degrees of political sincerity and commitment. I = remember=20 one was Robbie Ong, from New York City, who then attended Amherst = College as=20 an undergrad, who dressed and danced urban black, lived in a black = dorm, who=20 had connections to New York Chinatown through kung-fu and lion dance = clubs,=20 who took black studies courses, who played basketball with the black = brothers,=20 who spouted the rhetoric of anti-white black cultural nationalism. = Robbie was=20 very good looking, closer in facial appearance to icon Bruce Lee than = I (as he=20 was of southern Chinese extraction, and I=E2=80=99m much more northern = Chinese in=20 appearance). I remember he had a gorgeous West Indian girlfriend. = Years later,=20 I would run into him again on the streets of New York Chinatown, now a = corporate lawyer in expensive suits, whose only interest in Chinatown = was=20 going out to lunch with his white corporate lawyer buddies.

Higher education was the boom industry for the predominantly white=20 community of Amherst, Massachusetts where I grew up. Amherst was known = as both=20 the Pioneer Valley for its colonial era roots and as the Five College = Area for=20 the growing presence of area campuses such as the University of = Massachusetts=20 (the largest) and four smaller private institutions: Amherst College = and=20 Hampshire College, Smith College in neighboring Northampton, and Mount = Holyoke=20 College in South Hadley. During the Cold War 1960s, public education = was a=20 high growth area as the U.S. sought to contend with then-rival = superpower, the=20 Soviet Union, by investing into the scientific, technical and = professional=20 expertise of its population. The expansion of these five colleges = attracted a=20 steadily increasing faculty, staff and student population, which = dwarfed the=20 town=E2=80=99s population, then of about ten thousand, by seven-fold = during the=20 academic season. A growing =E2=80=9Cminority=E2=80=9D (i.e., oppressed = nationality) community,=20 the vast majority of whom migrated to Amherst, was also impacting the = area.=20

The children of grad students, staff and faculty of the colleges = were=20 diversifying the public school district as well. My two younger = sisters and I=20 were among these =E2=80=9Cminority=E2=80=9D students from about 200 = APA families in the area,=20 virtually all of whom were affiliated with the colleges. Growing up in = this=20 predominantly white community, we faced a combination of white liberal = academia =E2=80=9Cbenign=E2=80=9D racism along with the racism of the = parochial local white=20 rural =E2=80=9Cred-neck=E2=80=9D farming community. Along with the = general politicization and=20 heightened social consciousness of the times, the Third World junior = and=20 senior high school students (which included me) identified with the = Third=20 World college students and attended the activities of these area = campuses. As=20 high school students, we would go to parties, social events, cultural=20 performances, lectures, and mobilizations at the various = =E2=80=9CThird World=E2=80=9D spaces,=20 especially the New Africa House (a former dorm building at the = University of=20 Massachusetts that had been converted to include the offices of the=20 Afro-American Studies Department and Third World student activist = offices, a=20 Nation of Islam-run cafeteria, and a hub of cultural and political=20 activities).

While I lived in Amherst, the Five Colleges drew a number of = illustrious=20 radical Third World faculty, including artists such as the poet Sonia = Sanchez=20 (Amherst College=E2=80=99s first chair of Africana Studies); = musician/composers Max=20 Roach, Archie Shepp, Reggie Workman, Roland Wiggins, Vishnu Wood, and = many=20 others; writers Michael Thelwell, Chinua Achebe, visual artist Nelson = Stevens.=20 I especially took advantage of their presence by regularly attending = speaking=20 events, performances, workshops and auditing classes. The two classes = which=20 impacted me the most were Professor Sonia Sanchez=E2=80=99s = =E2=80=9CCreative Writing and=20 Poetry=E2=80=9D and Professor Archie Shepp=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CAfrican = American Music=E2=80=9D ensemble=20 performance class. Since I still was in high school, evening classes = were=20 easier for me. I was very interested in Shepp=E2=80=99s other lecture = class with its=20 bold title =E2=80=9CRevolutionary Concepts in African American = Music=E2=80=9D but it was given=20 only during the day.

I came to=20 New York City in early fall of 1981 to begin a professional life in = =E2=80=9Cjazz.=E2=80=9D In=20 the summer of 1982, at the invitation of Norman Riley, then directing a = Ron=20 Milner play, =E2=80=9CJazz Set,=E2=80=9D at the Henry Street Settlement = Playhouse in the Lower=20 Eastside, with music by Max Roach, I was asked to provide after-play = music. This=20 was my first professional opportunity as a band leader. Previously, in = Boston, I=20 had organized and led small bands to fundraise for community causes, the = main=20 one being to pay the rent for the Asian American Resource Workshop, a = cultural=20 and curriculum-development center I had organized and led while living = in that=20 city. I formed a sextet featuring three saxophones (because I played sax = and=20 knew most readily other sax players) and a standard rhythm section of = piano,=20 drums and bass, and called the band the Afro-Asian Music Ensemble. In = the early=20 1990s, at the suggestion of my then-manager, I dropped the hyphen as,=20 politically, I always found hyphenated identities to be problematic. I = took the=20 name from the historic Afro-Asian Unity conference held in Bandung, = Indonesia in=20 April of 1955 which created the =E2=80=9Cnon-aligned movement=E2=80=9D = of newly independent=20 countries and national liberation movements, and which came to be = symbolically=20 known as the =E2=80=9CThird World=E2=80=9D of Africa, Asia and central = and south America and the=20 Caribbean (=E2=80=9CLatin America=E2=80=9D)=E2=80=94independent and = self-reliant, and neither part of=20 the First World USA-Western European capitalist bloc, nor the = =E2=80=9CIron Curtain=E2=80=9D=20 Soviet Union-Eastern European socialist bloc. As my core band for over = 20 years,=20 it has been my main vehicle as a composer, baritone saxophonist, = performer and=20 leader. My large-scale operas, martial arts ballets and music/theater = epics have=20 as an instrumental nucleus the AAME.

Black and Yellow Cultural Nationalism

While it is=20 still highly debated both in general leftist circles and among black = radicals=20 whether a =E2=80=9Cblack nation=E2=80=9D exists and/or the political = implications of=20 =E2=80=9Cnationhood=E2=80=9D (from cultural autonomy to independence), = except for a small,=20 self-identified =E2=80=9Cyellow=E2=80=9D nationalist current in the = Asian Movement, few dispute=20 that Asian Pacific Island peoples in the U.S. are not an = =E2=80=9Coppressed=E2=80=9D nation=20 (with the clear-cut exception of Hawaii). Black Studies scholar Bill = McAdoo has=20 documented the development of the ideology of black nationalism since = its=20 inception during the pre-Civil War 1800s. Black cultural nationalism, = especially=20 in the late-60s and early-70s, probably most projected and practiced in = the=20 Black Arts Movement, with leading practitioners and ideologues such as = Imamu=20 Amiri Baraka and Maulana Ron Karenga, adopted an eclectic array of = African=20 signifiers and symbolism from assuming new names, taking up new rituals = (such as=20 Karenga=E2=80=99s Kwanza), donning African styles of apparel, and = incorporating African=20 interpretations in artistic forms. Black cultural nationalism has been = perhaps=20 unduly criticized for being =E2=80=9Cnarrow nationalism=E2=80=9D for its = concentration on=20 lifestyle and cultural practice and tendency to deprioritize political = struggle=20 (what today would be termed its preoccupation with =E2=80=9Cidentity = politics=E2=80=9D). The=20 Black Panther Party, in particular, waged vigorous struggle with = cultural=20 nationalism, equating it with counter-revolutionary =E2=80=9Cpork chop = nationalism.=E2=80=9D=20 However, mass organizations such as the Congress of Afrikan Peoples, one = of the=20 largest black cultural nationalist groups, were actively and = consistently=20 anti-imperialist and involved in struggles to fight police brutality, to = run=20 political and economic empowerment campaigns, and to build support for = national=20 liberation struggles especially in Africa. What critics of black = cultural=20 nationalism have tended not to credit is the role cultural nationalism = has=20 played as a counter to white Eurocentric cultural aggression with the = promotion=20 of African pride and historical awareness.⁴

Today,=20 academic Asian American literary critics have applied the term = =E2=80=9Ccultural=20 nationalism=E2=80=9D to Chinese American writer Frank Chin and others = who vigorously=20 espouse views that promote an =E2=80=9CAsian American = aesthetic.=E2=80=9D⁵ The implication is that this view is = =E2=80=9Cnarrow=E2=80=9D and=20 =E2=80=9Cessentialist.=E2=80=9D While Chin et al were part of the = broad and eclectic rise=20 of the Asian Movement during the late-60s and early-70s, they were not = as=20 affiliated, politically, to the Asian Movement as the Black Arts = Movement was=20 consciously the =E2=80=9Ccultural wing=E2=80=9D of the Black Liberation = Movement. An APA=20 political counterpart to the black cultural nationalist movement was a = very=20 small bi-coastal activist circle that espoused the view of an Asian = (cultural)=20 Nation. According to veteran activist Mo Nishida, it was primarily based = in Los=20 Angeles around people close to the East Wind Collective and New York = Asian=20 Americans who had close ties to these people. Poet Lawson Inada wrote an = ode-like manifesto entitled =E2=80=9CYou Know How It Was: An Historical = Treatise on the=20 Founding of the New Asian Nation.=E2=80=9D⁶

During the early-1970s, my initial political identity was as a=20 =E2=80=9Crevolutionary yellow nationalist.=E2=80=9D My primary = ideological framework,=20 while anti-imperialist, viewed the source of Third World = peoples=E2=80=99 oppression=20 and exploitation as a white hegemonic system called capitalism. I=20 energetically sought to divest myself of European/white influences and = acculturation, with primary emphasis directed towards extirpating = myself from=20 white social life. I especially oriented myself to African American = social=20 life and culture as there was only a very small Asian American = community in=20 Amherst, Massachusetts. I maintained a balance of my activism and = energies=20 towards both a group of Asian American activists and the bigger = African=20 American political and cultural activity in the area. Since my youth, = I have=20 fairly evenly shared my focus and involvement between both the Asian = Movement=20 and the Black Liberation Movement.

For a brief time, I was attracted to the Nation of Islam and joined = as part=20 of my intent to completely divest myself from white society. Two women = members=20 of the NOI were especially influential. One was an English teacher in = my=20 public school, Marilyn Lewis, who was the first black teacher hired by = the=20 Amherst public school system. She was very conscious and introduced = the first=20 Black Experience classes, which catalyzed my awakening. She became a = very=20 close mentor from whom I sought guidance and direction. She was very = warm,=20 accessible and generously gave her time to the Third World students. = She=20 particularly took a close interest in me and my Chinese American buddy = Todd=20 Lee. We constantly sought her out for political discussions as our = identity=20 had been awakened and energized.

Another influential figure upon me, and a towering figure in her = own right=20 in the Black Arts Movement, was Sonia Sanchez. I remember Sonia = Sanchez for=20 her warmth and accessibility to students. A very short woman, less = than five=20 feet tall, thin, and at that time, dressed in Islamic clothing (she = had=20 briefly joined the Nation of Islam during the mid-70s), she commanded = respect=20 and attention from a crowded room of students. Her own poetry = reflected both=20 the vernacular language of urban black America and the poetical. = Written words=20 would be spelled differently, almost phonetically, and have a musical = quality=20 when she read them. She=E2=80=99d rarely ever use her own works as = examples and=20 preferred to have students read their own writings in class. Her = creative=20 writing class assignments were all about constantly writing poems and = short=20 stories. While she upheld what she termed =E2=80=9Cdidactic poetry or = writing=E2=80=9D (i.e.,=20 =E2=80=9Cpolitical=E2=80=9D poetry and writing), Sonia was never = didactic in class, and she=20 set a tone that encouraged student discussion and ease to read in = front of the=20 class. She=E2=80=99d encourage feedback and commentary from students, = and gave her own=20 criticisms, which never seemed harsh. This contrasted immensely with = another=20 writer, who I remember came to one of Sonia=E2=80=99s classes as a = guest. He sat on a=20 table in the middle of the room and lectured the whole time with his = eyes=20 closed as in a =E2=80=9Cstream of consciousness.=E2=80=9D There = was barely time at the=20 end for discussion. He was an example of a didactic lecturer, = unconcerned with=20 the students around him, self-absorbed. Sonia was the opposite, what I = now=20 appreciate and recognize as a =E2=80=9Cdialectical=E2=80=9D method of = teaching. My friends and=20 I would call on Sonia at home, since her house was near Amherst = College. She=20 didn=E2=80=99t seem to mind this, and even received us when she was = sick. I remember=20 she drove a Mercedes-Benz, parked in the front of her house. At the = time, it=20 seemed like a contradiction for a radical to own such luxurious = things. While=20 even today I am anti-consumerist and live modestly, I realize that = certain=20 =E2=80=9Ccelebrity=E2=80=9D artists, and people in general, will have = their peccadilloes.=20 However, her revolutionary poetry, respectful and open personality, = and=20 genuine humanism far outweighed her owning a Benz.

Archie Shepp, as I came to experience him, was an even more = intensely=20 contradictory character. More than any artist, his work and persona = has had=20 the biggest impact on me. Even before meeting him, he was larger than = life to=20 me. I voraciously read everything about him and interviews with him. I = bought=20 all of his recordings and sought imports when I traveled to New York = City=20 (which had better record stores), and regularly scouted the bins for = new=20 releases. What fascinated me about Archie were his outspoken, militant = political views; Marxist influences (I later learned he participated = in=20 Marxist study circles when he lived in New York City); and his soulful = and=20 incendiary tenor saxophone playing. Shepp had moved his family to = Amherst when=20 he joined the University of Massachusetts faculty in the early 1970s. = His=20 eldest son Pavel (a Russian name possibly from Shepp=E2=80=99s wife, = now divorced, who=20 is of Russian descent), attended junior high and I came to know him. = Pavel=20 played drums in some of my ensembles.

Shepp=E2=80=99s charisma comes from his reserved personality and = the reputation the=20 press has given him for being such an enfant terrible in = =E2=80=9Cjazz.=E2=80=9D Shepp=20 irked these music critics by rejecting the term =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D = which he regarded as=20 =E2=80=9Cpejorative.=E2=80=9D At a forum at Sweet = Basil=E2=80=99s during the Greenwich Jazz=20 Festival in the 1980s, he explained that the word = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D came from the French=20 verb =E2=80=9Cjasser=E2=80=9D which means to =E2=80=9Cchatter = nonsensically,=E2=80=9D or gibberish. Then and=20 today, =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D pundits and commentators, most of whom = are white males, denounce=20 Shepp=E2=80=99s views, especially the ones given most publicity during = the 1960s.

When I was around Archie Shepp in the early 1970s at the University = of=20 Massachusetts-Amherst, he was notorious for his tardiness, often = coming to=20 class at least an hour late, but staying at least an hour longer. His = classes=20 often seemed unprepared and improvised. He=E2=80=99d bring in = hand-written=20 arrangements of his own and other composers=E2=80=99 works and = we=E2=80=99d rehearse them over=20 and over again. Fellow UMass attendee, drummer Royal Hartigan, has = often=20 pointed out how Shepp allowed anyone to play in his classes, from the = most=20 proficient players to the least experienced. Shepp would give everyone = a=20 chance to solo, never say anything about how people played. Mistakes = would=20 simply be dealt with by repeating difficult passages. While one could = complain=20 about the lack of formal rigor in Shepp=E2=80=99s classes, his method = of teaching was=20 democratic, =E2=80=9Cproletarian,=E2=80=9D inclusive and = anti-hierarchal; he welcomed=20 everyone=E2=80=99s contributions regardless of formal training and = expertise.=20

One of the=20 many strange aspects of Shepp was that he performed pieces at a = different tempo=20 than he counted off, but we=E2=80=99d catch on and adjust. Shepp had = many harsh critics.=20 A former saxophone teacher of mine, a music department colleague of = Shepp=E2=80=99s,=20 would vent that Shepp was anti-music, since it seemed he didn=E2=80=99t = care if things=20 were done correctly or were well-prepared. Many years later I=E2=80=99d = come to realize=20 that Shepp=E2=80=99s approach was akin to communal ritual; excellence = didn=E2=80=99t matter so=20 long as everyone was included and shared in the experience of = music-making.=20 Shepp=E2=80=99s professional bands were for the most part of a high = standard. These same=20 critics of Shepp explain this as the result of Shepp being able to hire = the top=20 players, a mixture of veterans well-versed in =E2=80=9Cstraight ahead = jazz=E2=80=9D with the=20 more free music players, ranging from drummers Beaver Harris and Charlie = Persip=20 (formerly of the Dizzy Gillespie big band), trombonists Roswell Rudd and = Charles=20 Majeed Greenlee (another Gillespie alumnus), bassists Jimmy Garrison, = Cameron=20 Brown and Santi diBriano, among so many. This might be a reflection of = Shepp=E2=80=99s=20 commitment to the continuum of African American music and his refusal to = abide=20 by stylistic and generational boundaries. The many sidemen to = Shepp=E2=80=99s recordings=20 have included top-shelf studio musicians such as bassist Ron Carter and = free=20 players such as trombonist Grachan Moncur, III.

While I knew Shepp, he wasn=E2=80=99t much of a conversationalist. = He=E2=80=99d generally=20 talk in short phrases but, if he wanted to =E2=80=9Ctalk,=E2=80=9D he = was a master of=20 conversational charm and the schmooze. I remember when he called me, = needing a=20 baritone sax player to perform (for free) in the musical Lady Day when = it was=20 being staged at UMass in 1974. My mother answered the phone and = recounted to=20 me how Shepp asked =E2=80=9CIs Mr. Fred Houn available?=E2=80=9D⁷ My mother was amused that anyone = would ask for=20 me as =E2=80=9CMr.=E2=80=9D Fred Houn. I spoke to Shepp at length on = the phone. He was very=20 loquacious. He even brought up how people had griped about his = lateness (and I=20 thought to myself, =E2=80=9Cdid he know I was one of these = people?=E2=80=9D). He was very=20 pleasant, well spoken and convincing. Shepp is also a writer and = is very=20 well-read. Sometimes Shepp=E2=80=99s classes became open rehearsals = for his own=20 projects or to try out his new works with surprise, heavyweight = musicians from=20 New York sitting in. Occasionally, utter chaos would reign when Shepp = wouldn=E2=80=99t=20 have parts copied or arrangements fully completed. I remember at one = evening=20 rehearsal how one of the singers from the male vocal group = Reconstruction=20 opened a bottle of wine, which was quickly passed around the room. = Since I was=20 then entering the Nation of Islam, I passed on the alcohol, but I = remember=20 Shepp was very happy to partake. However, as the class got more = disorganized,=20 Shepp raised his voice and said, =E2=80=9CLet=E2=80=99s not get = carried away by the=20 convivialities.=E2=80=9D Of course, the whole room quieted, both from = Shepp=E2=80=99s=20 commanding figure but also from his use of such an erudite vocabulary. =

Amiri Baraka, years later as I was driving with him, would remark = about how=20 =E2=80=9Cschizo=E2=80=9D Archie was. There=E2=80=99s the Shepp who = identifies with the urban streets=20 and =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D sub-culture and there=E2=80=99s the = erudite-projecting, petty-bourgeois=20 Shepp who sends his children to private schools, enjoys the finer = European=20 luxuries, and who speaks in big words. The raw brilliance and emotive = power of=20 Shepp=E2=80=99s art flows from who he is. The late baritone = saxophonist Kenny Rogers,=20 who I had a chance to meet and briefly talk to when I saw him with the = late=20 Rahsaan Roland Kirk in Boston, remarked that =E2=80=9CArchie=E2=80=99s = a genius.=E2=80=9D

In what today we would call =E2=80=9Cplaying the race = card,=E2=80=9D Shepp was a master. My=20 first experience with him doing this was one of my first classes with = him. The=20 class was supposed to take place at a trailer classroom, but it was = locked (or=20 perhaps Shepp had forgotten the key). Shepp called Fred Tillis, a = black music=20 faculty colleague, and asked Tillis if he could come by and unlock the = room. I=20 believe Tillis asked Shepp to call campus security to do this since = Tillis=20 probably had finished the day and was at home. Shepp then replied in a = tone of=20 well-acted sarcasm, =E2=80=9CNow Fred, why would they do that for a = nigger?=E2=80=9D In=20 a short while Dr. Tillis came by, not too happy, but he did unlock the = door.

Years later in New York, I worked with the League of Revolutionary = Struggle=20 to sponsor a benefit concert for the LRS=E2=80=99s Black Nation = magazine, edited by=20 Amiri Baraka. Shepp and Baraka, while once very close cohorts in the = early=20 1960s, even living in the same building in Cooper Square in the Lower=20 Eastside, weren=E2=80=99t really friends anymore, but occasionally = teamed up for gigs.=20 A year before, drummer Max Roach, a senior to both Baraka and Shepp, = brought=20 the two together to join him for a trio performance in Philadelphia = that had a=20 huge draw and was apparently a great show. Baraka wanted to do the = same show=20 at Columbia University=E2=80=99s MacMillan Theater to raise funds for = the magazine.=20 Roach bowed out at the last minute (claiming he had to go to Los = Angeles to=20 receive an award from Mayor Tom Bradley) and was hastily replaced by = drummer=20 Philly Jo Jones. I made the arrangements to contract Shepp. My Afro = Asian=20 Music Ensemble opened the show and, during intermission, as the stage = was=20 being reset for the headlining trio, Shepp complimented my band and my = music,=20 took a swig from a bottle of whiskey and took the stage. Since I knew = the=20 three of them hadn=E2=80=99t rehearsed and had just spent some = pre-show time=20 discussing the plan, I could tell that while Baraka was reading, Shepp = was=20 guiding the music, performing on saxophone and piano, various = standards and=20 free form excerpts to support Baraka=E2=80=99s poetry. While not a = great artistic=20 event, the audience was very warm to the three. (However, the event = drew about=20 200 people and lost a lot of money as expectations, largely raised by = Baraka,=20 of a full house weren=E2=80=99t met. Few =E2=80=9Cnew music = jazz=E2=80=9D concerts in New York City=20 can draw over 200 people, as I have come to realize, without = tremendous=20 marketing, which is costly and usually subsidized.)

Shepp personified the contradictions of a brilliant and talented = black man,=20 imbued with a level of political consciousness about oppression, fired = with a=20 spirit of struggle and resistance, but mitigated and distracted by his = own=20 petty-bourgeois aspirations. While anti-capitalist, Shepp was never = clear or=20 explicit about what he stood for in terms of replacing this system. In = many=20 ways, he desired to reap the rewards and recognition of the great = white=20 counterparts.

Max Roach was another towering musical giant to whom I was exposed = during=20 my teenage years. Unlike the younger Shepp, Roach had already entered = the=20 pantheon of =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D greats since his youthful days = playing drums with the great=20 Charlie =E2=80=9CBird=E2=80=9D Parker. Roach=E2=80=99s credentials and = stature were uncontested as one=20 of the premiere architects of modern American music. He was also = considered to=20 be The Best Drummer in the World, or one of the best. The only close=20 competitor was the white drummer, Buddy Rich, whom Roach, when I = interviewed=20 him in the mid-1970s, called =E2=80=9Ca friend.=E2=80=9D I had = read interviews of Buddy=20 Rich who, with great respect, recognized Max Roach=E2=80=99s = considerable artistry.=20 However, unlike Roach, Buddy Rich would get interviews on network = television=20 such as Johnny Carson=E2=80=99s Tonight Show, or so I believe.

My impression of Max was that he was a very quiet and humble man, = but the=20 second he stepped into a room you felt that godhood had entered. He = composed a=20 short exercise tune called =E2=80=9CDorian=E2=80=9D (based on the = Dorian mode) for his=20 students to practice improvisation in three-quarter (waltz) time, with = a=20 bridge in three-quarter (walk) feel. The tune became the rage of every = student, including non-jazz ones, practiced constantly in campus piano = practice rooms. Even Shepp brought an arrangement of it to class.

In performance there was no ostentation about Roach. He would = simply sit at=20 the drum set like a true master, and just start to play incredible,=20 unbelievable music. There was no swagger to his walk, no cool = cigarette in his=20 fingers while he played, and little spoken. Once I did see him come = out of a=20 luxury Cadillac filled with his family members on a Sunday morning, = apparently=20 leaving Sunday church service, and he was dressed in a killer = all-white=20 leisure suit with bell-bottom pants. His son Raoul and I were the same = age and=20 knew each other in high school. While I never took a class with Max, = we=E2=80=99d=20 encounter each other in rehearsals and at events, and he knew I was = his son=E2=80=99s=20 peer. Years later, as we=E2=80=99d meet professionally in New York = City, he=E2=80=99d fondly=20 compliment me, noting how proud he and Shepp were of how much = I=E2=80=99d accomplished=20 and achieved. To this day, I=E2=80=99ve never personally had a = disappointing=20 experience with him, though I have known him to lobby for money for = his=20 benefit in funding situations. Max introduced me to the concept of = black=20 American culture and music as a =E2=80=9Ccontinuum,=E2=80=9D which I = adapted to Asian American=20 culture as a diasporic =E2=80=9Ccontinuum=E2=80=9D that spanned the = traditional Asian cultural=20 heritage to the American-created =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D.

Bassist Reggie Workman was also an adjunct faculty at the = University of=20 Massachusetts. Workman was less overtly = =E2=80=9Cnationalistic=E2=80=9D and more openly=20 related to the white music students. He also paid more attention to = musical=20 pedagogical detail than Shepp. Reggie was always prompt and accessible = when=20 imparting musical instruction.

The Amherst area has never had another = =E2=80=9Crenaissance=E2=80=9D of Third World culture=20 and intellectual activity as it did during this period of the 1970s, = brought=20 about by the student and progressive faculty activism that injected = radicalism=20 to the =E2=80=9Cliberal=E2=80=9D academic area. The papers of the late = great radical and=20 revolutionary scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois were housed at UMass. = Through=20 the efforts of these activists, the campus performing arts series = brought Max=20 Roach=E2=80=99s innovative M=E2=80=99Boom percussion ensemble, the = Collective Black Artists=20 big band, the play =E2=80=9COrnette,=E2=80=9D and so many other = artists, guest speakers and=20 events.

I met Amiri Baraka for the first time at Hampshire College on the = eve of=20 the African Liberation Day demonstration in 1974. There was some=20 disgruntlement expressed over Baraka=E2=80=99s honorarium of $1,000 = (an amount he=20 continued to request well into the 1980s as I can attest when I was = working=20 with him) and that he had required to be flown out immediately after = his talk=20 to go to Washington, D.C. for the demonstration. Since I was young and = relatively inexperienced, such peccadilloes left an impression, but = one far=20 outweighed by the content of Baraka=E2=80=99s talk, which was a speech = he had written=20 repudiating black nationalism for Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. = Baraka=E2=80=99s ideological and political move to the left was = sending shock waves=20 throughout the black movement and was being closely followed and = discussed by=20 many, many others, including those of us in the Asian = Movement.

The Black Arts Movement and Its Impact: Multimedia = Collaboration=20 as a Third World Thing

The Black=20 Arts Movement was the attendant cultural wing of the Black Liberation = Movement=20 that ignited in the mid-1960s after the assassination of Malcolm X. The = BLM (aka=20 the Black Power Movement) included an assortment of revolutionary = organizations=20 across the U.S. including the Black Panther Party, the Revolutionary = Action=20 Movement, the Republic of New Africa, the Dodge Revolutionary Union = Movement=20 (and the other RUMs), the Congress of African Peoples, and many other = more=20 regional or local collectives and organizations. The Black Arts Movement = included a number of arts and culture-focused groups which were = nonetheless as=20 politically-oriented as the political activist organizations, including=20 alternative presses such as Broadside Press, Third World Press, Black = World magazine, and Drum magazine. In an excellent=20 yet-to-be-published manuscript by Kalamu ya Salaam on the Black Arts = Movement,=20 The Magic of Ju-Ju⁸, Salaam summarizes the main = characteristics=20 and contributions of BAM:

BAM was a national movement, not just centered in northeastern = cities, and=20 while Amiri Baraka was the most prominent spokesperson (credited as = =E2=80=9Cthe=20 father of the BAM=E2=80=9D), the movement had a diversity of = organizations around the=20 U.S., including the South;=20
BAM was a popular grassroots movement, not just involving artists = and=20 intellectuals, but energized at the mass community level;=20
BAM was radical and revolutionary;=20
BAM was multi-disciplinary and innovative, and promoted a = =E2=80=9Cpopular=20 avant-garde=E2=80=9D;=20
BAM built independent, alternative, self-reliant institutions not = beholden=20 to white funders or support;

As a=20 movement, many of the artists were actively engaged in = cross-disciplinary=20 expressions. =E2=80=9CJazz=E2=80=9D was the central, fundamental = creative gospel that was=20 quintessentially African American, an innovative and sophisticated art = form with=20 far-reaching international impact and influence. In African American = music in=20 general, but especially in the tradition and practices of = =E2=80=9Cjazz,=E2=80=9D the primary=20 importance placed upon improvisation (especially in the =E2=80=9Cfree = jazz=E2=80=9D of the=20 1960s) signified the unquenchable impulse, desire and aspiration for a = musical=20 and creative freedom concomitant with a greater cultural and social = freedom from=20 oppression. Unlike improvisation in a =E2=80=9Cwhite=E2=80=9D new music = context, with its=20 emphasis on the arbitrary and aleatoric, African American improvisation=20 emphasized collective interaction and dialogue both among improvisers as = well as=20 with the entire culture and tradition of African American musical (and=20 extra-musical) expression. For Asian Pacific American =E2=80=9Ccreative = music=20 improvisers,=E2=80=9D the African American impulse and principles of = improvisation=20 greatly appeal to a similar quest and desire to explore our Asian = musical=20 heritage and the on-going struggle to assert an Asian American identity = and=20 imagination in connection to our confrontation with racism, stereotyping = and=20 oppression. We were exploring how the arts in general and music-making=20 specifically would contribute to define Asian Pacific American identity, = to=20 build unity, and to empower our people=E2=80=99s struggle for dignity, = self-respect, and=20 liberation.

Much of=20 African American music is revolutionary (both musically and through its = social=20 relevance). Just as the Black Liberation Movement has inspired many = other social=20 movements for justice and equality, so too has much of African American = culture,=20 especially its music, inspired other oppressed peoples to sing and = express their=20 stories, to assert their unique and distinctive cultural identities, to=20 challenge the aesthetic dominance and practices of white = settler-colonialist=20 America. I have elsewhere argued that =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D is the = revolutionary music of the=20 twentieth century.⁹ Many =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D artists = explicitly rejected the term=20 =E2=80=9Cjazz,=E2=80=9D deeming it a racial slur or pejorative = appellation which the makers of=20 the music=E2=80=94the =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D musician=E2=80=94never = really invented. Rather, =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D is a label=20 that was created by white outsiders. Many of the most conscious = musicians=20 preferred to call it =E2=80=9Cthe music.=E2=80=9D¹⁰

The Black=20 Arts Movement asserted and promoted the concept of a =E2=80=9CBlack = aesthetic.=E2=80=9D Contrary=20 to the criticism of such a notion as =E2=80=9Cessentialist=E2=80=9D = (narrow, proscriptive,=20 exclusionary, and dogmatic) the =E2=80=9CBlack aesthetic=E2=80=9D = embraced a pan-African scope,=20 asserted and affirmed the presence of African American traditions, forms = and=20 idioms, and, by its very assertion, exposed and countered a = =E2=80=9Cwhite aesthetic=E2=80=9D=20 based upon racist Eurocentrism. If anything, =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D = embodied and=20 exemplified the =E2=80=9CBlack aesthetic=E2=80=9D by celebrating African = antecedents and=20 interpreted cultural practices, forms and traditions; by valorizing=20 improvisation, exalting =E2=80=9Csoul=E2=80=9D (or the =E2=80=9Cblues = aesthetic=E2=80=9D); and by prioritizing=20 innovation and experimentation (signified by a fascination with and = appreciation=20 of =E2=80=9Chip-ness=E2=80=9D). The =E2=80=9CBlack aesthetic=E2=80=9D = and =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D possess formal=20 characteristics such as antiphony (call and response), multiple rhythmic = layering, syncopation, soloist-ensemble interplay, etc. The = =E2=80=9CBlack=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D=20 aesthetic imbued and embodied much of the dance, film, visual arts, = theater and=20 literature of this period. Probably the closest interaction was between=20 literature (especially poetry as an oral performing art) and = =E2=80=9Cthe music.=E2=80=9D =20

Inspired by the=20 notion of a =E2=80=9CBlack aesthetic,=E2=80=9D Asian Pacific American = artists and musicians=20 began exploring an =E2=80=9CAsian American aesthetic=E2=80=9D that would = include connection and=20 interaction with ancestral Asian/Pacific forms and traditions, with = western and=20 popular American influences, and pan-Asian/Pacific hybrid = experimentation.=20 Traditional =E2=80=9CAsian=E2=80=9D aesthetics included both = =E2=80=9Cclassical=E2=80=9D and court forms as well=20 as =E2=80=9Cfolk=E2=80=9D ones. In musical improvisation, Asian Pacific = American improvisers not=20 only performed on traditional Asian instruments, but also did so in a = =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D=20 improvisatory way (in contradistinction from traditional musical = performance).=20 They also began to explore and incorporate Asian = =E2=80=9Cstyles=E2=80=9D of playing on western=20 instruments such as the saxophone, experimenting with non- and variable=20 temperament, extended non-rhythmic/non-metrical melodic construction, = and other=20 stylistic and technical approaches to evoke aspects of an = =E2=80=9CAsian=E2=80=9D sound as part=20 of an Asian American musical identity, by combining and crossing = cultural and=20 musical forms and traditions. For example, in the early 1970s, Japanese = American=20 improvising saxophonist Russell Baba went to Japan to study = shakuhachi=20 (vertical flute). Upon returning to the U.S. he combined a = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D rhythm section=20 with his saxophone and shakuhachi along with Jeanne Aiko Mercer=20 performing on taiko drums.

The BAM=20 generation of black poets could virtually be called =E2=80=9Cjazz = poets=E2=80=9D both from their=20 deep and profound appreciation of and usage of =E2=80=9Cthe = music=E2=80=9D as well as from their=20 close collaborations and social connections with the musicians. Many = poets=20 performed with musicians or formed poetry bands. Fewer musicians invited = poets=20 or sought to utilize poetry in their performances, with the notable = exception of=20 Archie Shepp.

Shepp had=20 studied theater and playwriting while he was an undergraduate student at = Goddard=20 College in Vermont during the 1950s, and his plays were produced in = small=20 alternative theaters in Manhattan=E2=80=99s Lower Eastside during the = early 1960s. Known=20 for his articulate outspokenness, Shepp was exceptionally literate, a = true=20 =E2=80=9CTimbuktu=E2=80=9D man equally at home in the literary arts, = music, and radical=20 political theory. Poetry has been featured throughout his recorded=20 oeuvre. =E2=80=9CPoem for Mama Rose=E2=80=9D is a tour de = force poem by Shepp, a=20 searing indictment of colonialism from the early 1960s, written upon the = death=20 of his grandmother. Performed and recorded frequently,¹¹ Shepp=E2=80=99s recitation at once = evokes the Baptist=20 preacher, the work hollers of the sharecropper, the blues man, and the = militant=20 orator.

They say that Malcolm is dead
and every flower is still
but I = want to=20 tell you Mama Rose
that we are the victims=E2=80=A6

I want to take this ex-cannibal=E2=80=99s kiss
and turn it into = a revolution=E2=80=A6=20

your corpse turned up to the sky like a
putrefying Congolese = after the=20 Americans
have come to help=E2=80=A6

your vagina split asymmetrically between
the east and the = west=E2=80=A6=20

All of=20 Shepp=E2=80=99s poetry is performed with evocative theatrical energy. I = have yet to find=20 a poet who can perform/read better than Shepp, who is able to draw from = a deep=20 reservoir of musical knowledge and great performative talent. =

Another of=20 my personal favorites is Shepp=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CBlas=C3=A9,=E2=80=9D = recorded on the French BYG label while=20 a number of expatriate black American avant-garde artists were in France = after=20 attending the 1969 Pan African Festival in Algiers. Performed by the = late=20 vocalist Jeanne Lee, the song has been described by one music = commentator as one=20 of the most brilliant poetical works on sexual and racial politics.¹²

Blas=C3=A9
Ain=E2=80=99t you daddy
You who shot your sperm = into me
But never=20 set me free.
This ain=E2=80=99t a hate thing
It=E2=80=99s a love = thing
If love is=20 ever really loved that way
The way they say.

I give you a loaf of sugar
You took my womb =E2=80=98til it = runs.
All of=20 Ethiopia awaits you
My prodigal son.

Blas=C3=A9
Ain=E2=80=99t you big daddy
But mama loves = you
She always has.=20

As a teenager, I did my own =E2=80=9Ccover=E2=80=9D of = Shepp=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CBlas=C3=A9.=E2=80=9D In the mid-1980s, I=20 did my own version of =E2=80=9CPoem for Mama Rose=E2=80=9D which = became part of the libretto=20 to my first opera, A Chinaman=E2=80=99s Chance, in a soliloquy = called =E2=80=9CA=20 Success Story Fable: Poem for Vincent Chin=E2=80=9D dedicated to the = murdered Chinese=20 American and an homage to all victims of racist violence and murder as = well as=20 a poetical diatribe against national oppression (=E2=80=9CWe will = always be foreigners=20 in a land where imported music is called = =E2=80=98classical.=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D).

Shepp=E2=80=99s stunning and powerful combination of poetry and = music would heavily=20 influence my involvement in multimedia performance. Many of my = recordings,=20 since my debut Tomorrow is Now!, have featured poetry, text and = even=20 graphics as part of my multimedia creative expression. I have = collaborated=20 with many poets, particularly African Americans, including Amiri = Baraka (we=20 had a new music/new poetry trio in the early 1980s with the late = drummer Steve=20 McCall), Kalamu ya Salaam (we were =E2=80=9CThe Afro-Asian Arts = Dialogue=E2=80=9D), Sapphire,=20 Louis Reyes Rivera, Esther Iverem, Puerto Rican writer Alma Villegas, = Chinese=20 American writer Genny Lim, Tony Medina. I have featured the poetry and = writing=20 of many others on my recordings and in my performances, including = Sonia=20 Sanchez, Andrea Lockett, Ann T. Greene, Janice Mirikitani, Brian = Auerbach,=20 Ruth Margraff, and others.

Former Celebrate Brooklyn festival producer Burl Hash said, = =E2=80=9CArchie wrote=20 some great and beautiful theater music,=E2=80=9D referring to the = Lady Day=20 musical theater score that Shepp worked on in the early 1970s. Ntozake = Shange=E2=80=99s choreopoem-play For Colored Girls Who Have = Considered Suicide Once=20 the Rainbow is Enuf uses Shepp=E2=80=99s music from The Magic = of Ju-Ju=20 recording. Shepp prefers to call himself a =E2=80=9Cfolk=E2=80=9D = musician since he eschews=20 the elitism of the high brow (both concert hall and avant-garde). = Indeed,=20 Shepp is both pre-modern and post-modern simultaneously, drawing upon = and=20 juxtaposing elements from the continuum of black culture, interlaced = with his=20 familiarity with the modernist European avant-garde, inviting = performers who=20 played varying African instruments and blues artists such as Julio = Finn,=20 straight ahead players such as Hank Mobley, Roland Hanna, Philly Jo = Jones, and=20 others, and electronic musicians such as Jasper Van=E2=80=99t Hof, to = collaborate with=20 him, with often mixed results. On =E2=80=9CBlas=C3=A9,=E2=80=9D Julio = Finn takes a harmonica solo a=20 half step up in key from the rest of the music, jarring but effective = for the=20 tone and content of this dark, disturbing and ominous work.

The 1970s were a transitional period for Shepp, I believe both = musically=20 and for the man. As a professor in African American music, Shepp would = study,=20 practice and incorporate the broadness of African American musical = culture,=20 learning to play chord changes, composing more lyrical and = conventional=20 harmony-based songs. The late Romulus Franceschini described this time = in=20 Shepp=E2=80=99s career as the tenor saxophonist seeking to become more = of a pop=20 artist. He was writing and recording vocal songs based on the blues, = R&B,=20 =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D ballads, and gospel, including hiring gospel = singers. Shepp was himself=20 becoming the bridge in the continuum of black music in America. By the = late-1970s, after I had left the Amherst area and had much less = contact with=20 him except for attending an occasional performance, Shepp had taken up = bebop=20 and playing =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D standards as his main repertoire. = Yet, his =E2=80=9Ctrickster=E2=80=9D=20 spirit would continue to stymie the =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D critics. = Shepp released two duet=20 albums with pianist Horace Parlan, one of spirituals, and the second = of blues=20 songs, that are brilliant in their conception and glorious in the = beauty of=20 the simplicity of the material performed with Shepp=E2=80=99s = idiosyncratic=20 stylization. These two recordings forced once skeptics in the = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D=20 establishment to recognize his stature as he won Down Beat = Magazine=E2=80=99s=20 1982 Tenor Saxophone of the Year award from the critics. Coinciding = with this=20 recognition and certification, a Down Beat Magazine, = =E2=80=9CRadical with=20 Tenure,=E2=80=9D stated in a politically self-congratulatory way that = the once young=20 =E2=80=9960=E2=80=99s militant had =E2=80=9Cmatured=E2=80=9D and = discarded the avant-garde for the traditional=20 mainstream. How much of Shepp had ideologically = =E2=80=9Cmellowed=E2=80=9D isn=E2=80=99t clear, and=20 perhaps may never be, as Shepp himself is mercurial.

The Genius and Ego-Mania of Amiri Baraka

As a young=20 teenager voraciously learning about the Black Arts Movement and the BLM, = I found=20 Amiri Baraka's writings to be highly influential. His genius for poetry = is=20 widely acknowledged. A target of his poetic and polemical onslaughts has = been=20 the black =E2=80=9Cpetty-bourgeoisie=E2=80=9D or middleclass, its = assimilationist-integrationist=20 orientation and its willingness often to sell-out and compromise the = black=20 liberation struggle for token individual gains. Given Baraka=E2=80=99s = status as a=20 leading black revolutionary artist-activist, it was inevitable that I = would=20 study and come to know and to work with him.

By the=20 late-1970s, many of the former leading Third World nationalists in the = U.S. had=20 come to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as their ideology. The group = I had=20 joined, I Wor Kuen (IWK), merged with a Chicano-based organization, the = August=20 Twenty-Ninth Movement (ATM) by mid-1978, becoming the League of = Revolutionary=20 Struggle Marxist-Leninist (LRS). A year later, the LRS would merge with = Baraka=E2=80=99s=20 former-Congress of African People (CAP), to become the Revolutionary = Communist=20 League Marxist-Leninist (RCL). I remember the merger celebration in = Harlem,=20 January 1979. The crowd of at least two hundred, crammed into a small=20 auditorium, was the largest gathering of blacks and Asians that I had = ever seen=20 together. My fledgling Afro-Asian music-poetry band, then called = Frontline,=20 performed along with the St. Louis-based Infra-Red Funk band, which had = formed=20 within the St. Louis chapter of CAP. Two comrades from the former-RCL, = Kamau and=20 his then-wife Imarisha, would later tell me that the event was truly = historic,=20 not just for the political merger and unity, but also because, for the = first=20 time, former extreme nationalist comrades of theirs danced with Asians, = and that=20 blew their minds! Amiri Baraka was supposed to be the keynote speaker, = but after=20 a long delay, he did not show due to an air traffic weather delay that = kept him=20 in Chicago. He had phoned in the notes to his speech to Pili Michael = Humphrey, a=20 young leader in RCL from Atlanta. Pili=E2=80=99s speech was fiery and = strong, and I=20 remember to this day one critically important, emphatic point he made in = that=20 speech: The national movements were independently = revolutionary.=20 The crowd roared its approval as many misconceptions about multinational = unity=20 and the national question in the M-L movement tended to be = integrationist: that=20 nationality-in-form organizing was =E2=80=9Cnarrow=E2=80=9D and = inherently =E2=80=9Clesser=E2=80=9D than=20 multinational formations of organizing. Such a white integrationist = position=20 implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, suggested that uniting with = majority-white=20 leftists was =E2=80=9Cmore=E2=80=9D revolutionary than all-black or = all-Third World peoples=E2=80=99=20 formations. Pili=E2=80=99s statement, which was the position of the LRS, = made it clear=20 in no uncertain terms how we as a Marxist-Leninist group stood on the = national=20 question.

It was at the event after-party, while dancing to the Infra-Red = Funk band,=20 that I developed a crush for one of the former-CAP-RCL comrades, = Jamala=20 Rogers. She was short, broad shouldered, voluptuous, dark-skinned with = a=20 beautifully rounded face. It wasn=E2=80=99t until the early 1990s, = after the split and=20 dissolution of the LRS that we=E2=80=99d begin dating. I was the first = non-black man=20 she ever dated. I=E2=80=99d take her to see Chinese films, have meals = in Chinatown,=20 take her to Baja and La Jolla to enjoy the ocean beaches. When I = visited her=20 in St. Louis, we visited the black rodeo, a black independent free = school. She=20 jokingly referred to us as =E2=80=9Crenegade lovers=E2=80=9D since we = were both outcasts from=20 the anti-socialist majority that had seized control of the LRS by = 1989. After=20 several months of a long distance relationship, I broke us up = realizing that=20 we would never live together as neither she nor I were willing to = relocate=20 from our beloved home bases of St. Louis and New York = City.

Part of the=20 work of the merger with RCL involved quickly clearing out its former = office in=20 Newark because it was condemned to demolition. I was still living in = Boston at=20 the time, but traveled down to New York City frequently for meetings and = for my=20 own enjoyment. The Big Apple was much more exciting than Bean Town. Here = were=20 the cultural and political =E2=80=9Cnames=E2=80=9D and the amount of = activity was staggering. On=20 one of my trips, I stayed with an LRS comrade in Chinatown who shared a = passion=20 for =E2=80=9Cthe music.=E2=80=9D One night we attended the debut concert = of the World Saxophone=20 Quartet at the Public Theater. A who=E2=80=99s who of black artists were = there,=20 including Amiri and Amina Baraka, sitting a table away from us. Steve = introduced=20 us to them and they politely returned the greeting. The next day, a = group of us=20 from New York went to Newark to the CAP office and combed through the = boxes of=20 files, record albums and videos. It was amazing the amount of black = liberation=20 movement history that we had to throw out as we could only take what we = could=20 carry. I remember reading some files that had copies of = =E2=80=9CChairman=E2=80=9D Baraka=E2=80=99s=20 articles sent to various periodicals, and the rejection letters. One I = remember=20 in particular explained its rejection of Baraka=E2=80=99s submission by = stating =E2=80=9CWe=20 don=E2=80=99t publish advocacy.=E2=80=9D

Kalamu ya=20 Salaam assesses Baraka=E2=80=99s contribution as the BLM=E2=80=99s = greatest =E2=80=9Cpropagandist,=E2=80=9D=20 while Modibo, a CAP-RCL veteran, believes Baraka was =E2=80=9Cone of the = great=20 organizers in the BLM.=E2=80=9D Certainly during the peak period of the = CAP, more than a=20 dozen chapters nationwide were organized. Baraka played a leading role = at the=20 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana; in organizing many = cultural benefits, festivals, alternative theater, presses (e.g., Jihad=20 Publications) and cultural campaigns; and in the struggles and = organizing work=20 of the African Liberation Support Committee. His history of work and=20 accomplishments is prodigious. As with any great leader, a strong and = capable=20 circle of supporters greatly contributed to the successes and = accomplishments.=20 But what is noteworthy compared to today was that these organizing = efforts were=20 done by activist volunteers, with virtually no paid staff. This is = distinct from=20 the non-profit organizations today that have hired staff and rely upon = state-=20 and corporate-funded budgets. However, when the movement waned, Baraka = seemed to=20 lose touch with the new realities and conditions. When I began to work = with him=20 in the early 1980s, CAP-RCL had faded to only a handful of chapters = nationwide.=20 The organizational base and infrastructure was far weaker than a decade = before,=20 yet Baraka seemed to operate on the notion that simply by the sheer = force of his=20 will could the same level of activity continue. People have marveled and = wondered about his immense productivity. When I asked his wife Amina = about it=20 she explained that =E2=80=9CAmiri has such a strong focus of = concentration; he can write=20 even if a party is going on around him.=E2=80=9D Indeed, Baraka, unlike = the sybaritic=20 behavior of other artists, is very Spartan and is constantly in motion,=20 intellectually by his constant writing and polemicizing, and physically = by his=20 ability to go from event to event. He does relax, as I=E2=80=99ve run = into him at =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D=20 clubs and shows from time to time. He likes to =E2=80=9Chang = out=E2=80=9D and converse over a=20 beer or burger.

One of the=20 criticisms of the RCL was its dogmatism and over-reliance upon quoting = the=20 classic M-L-M texts. I believe much of our movement of that period was = infected=20 by Stalin=E2=80=99s interpretation of dialectical materialism. Indeed, = Stalin=E2=80=99s short=20 book, Dialectical and Historical Materialism, was a movement = primer and=20 classic text used in study groups. Stalin tended to view most = contradictions at=20 a level of being antagonistic=E2=80=94a battle with the enemy. = Politically, he tended to=20 characterize most contradictions as =E2=80=9Ceither/or=E2=80=9D in which = one true, proletarian=20 position fought with the enemy, bourgeois line. There was very little = synthesis=20 or view of reality as a complex interpenetration of opposites, but = rather, as=20 two stark and diametrical opposites for which the one correct line had = to=20 vanquish the incorrect one. Baraka possesses much of this influence. On = the=20 positive side, Baraka is one of the few Marxist intellectuals and = theorists to=20 give sharp, analytic political assessments of artists and cultural = trends.=20 However, his views about the =E2=80=9Cclass struggle=E2=80=9D in African = American literature and=20 in =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D reflect draconian hard-line positions = that place artists either=20 in the camp of the people=E2=80=99s tradition of struggle or in the camp = of =E2=80=9Ctail=20 Europe=E2=80=9D (white assimilation and capitulation to western = imperialism). If one has=20 been categorized by Baraka as =E2=80=9Ctail Europe,=E2=80=9D it = won=E2=80=99t persuade anyone to rethink=20 his or her musical and political direction.¹³

Baraka can=20 be a scathing critic, but he also is able to offer programmatic = proposals. I=E2=80=99ve=20 often looked to his =E2=80=9Cmanifestos=E2=80=9D for ideas about HOW to = create alternatives. For=20 example, his call for a cabinet position on the arts for the U.S. = government has=20 merit. His call for certain American films and important cultural icons = to be=20 certified as national treasures of art so that they won=E2=80=99t be = sold to Sony or=20 foreign multinational corporations is also a valid reform. I=E2=80=99ve = learned that=20 every critique should come with a proposal for an alternative. Yet = today,=20 Baraka, possibly suffering from delusions about his own role as=20 agitator-propagandist, is either incapable of, or won=E2=80=99t do much, = ground-up=20 organizing. Exhortations can=E2=80=99t substitute or replace the = crucially necessary=20 day-to-day, grassroots work that is so lacking in today=E2=80=99s U.S. = left. The cadre=20 of people who will do this work in a disciplined, professional (but = inevitably=20 unpaid) collective mode is what we lack.

For all of=20 Amiri=E2=80=99s great accomplishments and impact, his greatest weakness = is his inability=20 for true, honest, soul-baring self-reflection. While much ado has been = made=20 about his changes in identity and politics from LeRoi Jones (Bohemian = beat poet)=20 to Imamu Amiri Baraka (cultural nationalist) to Amiri Baraka (Marxist = leftist),=20 in all of his poetry and writings, there is very little personal feeling = and=20 self-criticism beyond the coldly ideological and political. = Unfortunately, he is=20 caught up in his own cult of personality. Often his ideological and = political=20 battles become personality wars and are dismissed by many as such, which = harms=20 the political message and position. His ad hominem attacks, = through his=20 frequent use of =E2=80=9Cthe dozens=E2=80=9D as a form of = =E2=80=9Cdissing=E2=80=9D his ideological opponents=20 often leave a bad taste as simply ridicule. A recent example was his = ferocious=20 condemnation of Ralph Nader supporters in the 2000 presidential = elections,=20 accusing those who voted for and backed Nader against Gore of having = delivered=20 the presidency to rightwing fascism represented by Bush. In some ways, = his=20 continual fascination with electoral politics since the days of = =E2=80=9Cblack electoral=20 empowerment=E2=80=9D strike me as social-democratic: socialism in words = but supporting=20 the Democratic Party in deeds. In recent years, his temper has become = testier.=20 In my opinion, except for his poetry, his writing has become sloppy and=20 sometimes even incoherent.¹⁴ His role continues to be primarily as = a=20 propagandist-agitator though his effectiveness as an organizer and as a = =E2=80=9Cleader=E2=80=9D=20 has significantly diminished with his incapability to unite and train = new cadres=20 and organizers. He continues to be a scrappy warrior-artist who is bold, = brazen=20 and brilliant in his rapier-like attacks and critiques of the U.S. white = racist=20 ruling class. Without showing any signs of =E2=80=9Cmellowing=E2=80=9D = (i.e., increasing=20 ideological and political conservatism), Amiri Baraka as poet-warrior = continues=20 to fight when many others have capitulated to career = self-aggrandizement.=20

Unity and Struggle with Kalamu Ya Salaam

I met=20 writer, poet, producer and cultural activist Kalamu ya Salaam¹⁵ in spring of 1989 while my Afro Asian = Music=20 Ensemble was at the Houston International Festival, invited by = then-curator Ms.=20 Baraka Sele. Baraka had told both Kalamu and me that we had to meet each = other,=20 so a dinner between us, along with others who were traveling with each = of us,=20 took place in an upscale restaurant. ya Salaam and I had known of each = other for=20 a while but had never met personally. I knew him from the Black = Scholar=20 debates between black nationalists and Marxists in the early to = mid-1970s, a=20 historic transition period in the black liberation struggle, with much=20 discussion within the African Liberation Support Committee.¹⁶ The ALSC was a broad black activist = united=20 front to build support for the African liberation struggles in = then-still=20 decolonizing countries such as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Guinea-Bissau,=20 Mozambique, South West Africa (now Namibia), Angola, and South Africa = and it had=20 the leading exponents of black nationalism and the emerging Marxist = current in=20 the black liberation movement. ya Salaam at that time was anti-Marxist = and=20 pro-pan-African cultural nationalism, joining with Haki Madhubuti=20 (poet-activist, formerly Don L. Lee), and others, against Amiri Baraka = (who had=20 been a leading cultural nationalist and had just turned to Marxism), = Mark Smith=20 and a group of North Carolina-based black leftists including = then-Revolutionary=20 Workers League leader Owusu Sadaukai (then Howard Fuller), Abdul = Akalimat (then=20 Gerald McWorter), and others. By late spring 1976, in my second semester = at=20 Harvard, I too had moved from my revolutionary yellow nationalism to = Marxism=20 through the influence of the young Marxist organizers on campus = (particularly=20 from a small Boston-New York collective called the Proletarian Unity = League).=20 But during the winter of my sophomore year (late 1976-early 1977) I = joined I Wor=20 Kuen, having more unity with them on the =E2=80=9Cnational = question.=E2=80=9D

Kalamu ya=20 Salaam and I were cautious with each other in our first meeting, but = each of us=20 asked the other about our views on a number of topics. He attended our=20 performance at the festival the next day. I left our initial encounter = with a=20 positive impression. Soon after, I took the initiative to telephone him = at his=20 home base of New Orleans. We talked further about politics and the arts. = I was=20 very positive about his accessibility and openness to me, which differed = from=20 the narrow nationalist impression he=E2=80=99d given me through the = published debates. I=20 directly asked him if he was a socialist and he replied that he = supported=20 socialism as a system to replace capitalism but didn=E2=80=99t identify = as a=20 socialist/Marxist because he believed the ethics of socialism were far = more=20 important to him than the theory or ideology. He continues to = self-identify as a=20 pan-Africanist, but has formally renounced black nationalism.¹⁷ I proposed that we work together in a = poetry/music duo and he agreed.

I had just=20 joined a progressive speakers/performers agency called Speak Out: = Artists and=20 Writers, which had received its initial start-up from Z Magazine, = a=20 progressive political periodical headed by leftist Michael Alpert, but, = as I=20 would soon learn, decidedly anti-Marxist, especially Marxist-Leninist.¹⁸ Speak Out had found me a gig to = perform at the=20 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and I suggested that it become a duo = with=20 Kalamu, to promote African-Asian American unity. The sponsors liked the = idea and=20 I immediately called Kalamu, and he agreed to join me. Kalamu also took = the=20 initiative to call his contacts in the Michigan area, professor and = writer Melba=20 Joyce Boyd and white militant poet-activist John Sinclair, and he found = an extra=20 gig for us at the campus at which Melba was then teaching. = Kalamu=E2=80=99s initiative=20 impressed me. Our performances together went off very well.

Kalamu ya=20 Salaam is truly a =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D poet who is adaptable, = flexible, unfixed to a set way=20 of reading/performing his poetry=E2=80=94the creative interaction of a = true =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D=20 musician. A number of other =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D poets with whom = I=E2=80=99ve performed were fixed and=20 stiff; I was supposed to simply follow their set way of reading. There = was no=20 interplay between their poetry and my baritone saxophone performance. = Kalamu can=20 actually interact and interplay with my improvisations. While he, too, = like many=20 of the other =E2=80=9Cjazz poets,=E2=80=9D called for = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D standard tunes to be the framework=20 of many of his poems, he wasn=E2=80=99t stuck on just following these = melodies and could=20 hear my transitions and departures and new directions and join with me.=20

As good=20 friends, comrades and artistic collaborators, Kalamu and I have enjoyed = much=20 in-depth discussion, debate and ideological struggle on a wide range of = issues.=20 He has shared much of his thought processes, experiences and opinions, = including=20 his book manuscript analyzing the Black Arts Movement, The Magic of=20 Ju-Ju, which is with Haki Madhubuti=E2=80=99s Third World Press for = publication. For=20 the most part, I believe Kalamu =E2=80=9Cwalks his talk.=E2=80=9D Upon = reading his manuscript, I=20 thought it was a major work of great importance for understanding BAM = from a=20 participant=E2=80=99s point of view and with valuable insights, = information and=20 analysis. I offered to help him find a publisher but, true to his = pan-African=20 nationalist convictions, he wanted the manuscript only to be considered = by a=20 black publisher, and for it to be targeted to black bookstores and to a = black=20 audience, though perhaps a white left small press may have published it = more=20 quickly and offered better distribution. Kalamu has often said that his = audience=20 is a black one first and foremost. He hasn=E2=80=99t sought to = =E2=80=9Ccross over=E2=80=9D to a white=20 poetry or arts audience or institutions. He is a cultural producer, = having=20 produced radio programs, festivals, and publications of black poetry and = music=20 through black organizations, even though some have been less-than = professional=20 in their business dealings. He explains his interest in the music and = poetry, as=20 well as his interest in China, as having been sparked by the work of = Langston=20 Hughes. Hughes had made recordings of his poetry with = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D and had written=20 poems, especially during the 1920s and =E2=80=9930s, that expressed = internationalist=20 solidarity with the peoples=E2=80=99 struggles around the world, = including the poem,=20 =E2=80=9CRoar, China, Roar!=E2=80=9D for the Chinese revolution. Kalamu = ya Salaam shared with me=20 the costs and work of organizing our =E2=80=9CAfro-Asian Arts = Dialogue.=E2=80=9D¹⁹

Kalamu ya=20 Salaam is an ardent cultural activist who is firmly committed to black=20 independent cultural production and has self-published many anthologies = as well=20 as his own poetry chapbooks. He had criticized an edition of the = African=20 American Review devoted to the topic of =E2=80=9Cthe = music=E2=80=9D when it didn=E2=80=99t=20 even include one black writer. The Review offered him the = opportunity to=20 edit another volume on the same topic in 1995, for which he included=20 predominantly black writers, but others as well, including myself and = Irish=20 American drummer Royal Hartigan. ya Salaam also introduced me to = Christopher=20 Small=E2=80=99s book on =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D=E2=80=94Music of = a Common Tongue=E2=80=94which, at the time=20 of the early-1990s he considered the best analysis and understanding of = =E2=80=9Cjazz.=E2=80=9D=20 His own insights into =E2=80=9Cthe music,=E2=80=9D his analytic writings = about music and African=20 American culture in general, have been for the most part very = insightful. I=20 remember during the time of our first Afro-Asian Arts Dialogue = performing at the=20 University of Wisconsin-Madison with Peggy Choy, we had lunch with a = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D=20 professor who seemed to believe the black =E2=80=9Cfree music=E2=80=9D = avant-garde was halted=20 and replaced by the rise of commercial =E2=80=9Cfusion jazz=E2=80=9D in = the 1970s. Kalamu took=20 exception and cited another current, the rise of the CTI record label = and other=20 black fusion-funk music with such artists as Donald Byrd (a hard bop=20 trumpeter-composer-band leader) and the Blackbyrds (a band of his Howard = University students who played much more commercial black urban dance = music).=20 Kalamu ya Salaam also asserts that =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D is a = =E2=80=9Cworld music,=E2=80=9D as the black jazz=20 musicians were among the black community=E2=80=99s first = =E2=80=9Cinternationalists,=E2=80=9D touring=20 overseas and returning to their communities with an internationalist=20 understanding. Kalamu has always asserted the social importance of = =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D=20 and black culture. His was the only voice of criticism about Clint = Eastwood=E2=80=99s=20 film about saxophonist-composer-titan Charlie Parker, Bird.²⁰ More than anyone, Kalamu has, I = believe, best=20 understood the impact and importance of John Coltrane upon black music = and=20 culture, an idea that has shaped my views in this article. In an = interview with=20 Kalamu ya Salaam, Bill Mullen asked what he felt about my opinion about = the=20 =E2=80=9Cenormous=E2=80=9D impact of Coltrane. ya Salaam replied that = Coltrane=E2=80=99s impact was=20 =E2=80=9Cbeyond enormous,=E2=80=9D which I concede is indeed the truth. =

Kalamu ya=20 Salaam and I have worked well together as artists, and have shared many = hours of=20 debate and struggle over ideological and political questions. He is a = close=20 friend. Our unity has its limitations, consistent with Kalamu=E2=80=99s = nationalism. As=20 a nationalist, Kalamu obviously hasn=E2=80=99t taken as strong an = interest in learning=20 about the APA history, struggle and experience as I have taken towards = African=20 Americans and Africa. But my greatest disappointment with Kalamu comes = from his=20 deliberate silence in criticizing the leading reactionary in = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D today,=20 Wynton Marsalis, and Marsalis=E2=80=99 right-wing ideological advisor, = Stanley Crouch.=20 Kalamu knows that Marsalis=E2=80=99 opinions about avant-garde musicians = (that they=20 can=E2=80=99t read music and lack technical rigor for the traditional = aspects of =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D)=20 are misdirected, just as they were thirty years ago when the very same = charges=20 were leveled at the 1960s avant-garde. The avant-garde chooses to make = music=20 differently, and its merits or faults should be judged not by the = criteria of=20 =E2=80=9Cstraight-ahead mainstream jazz,=E2=80=9D but by its own. =

To my=20 knowledge, the two most critically explicit opinions voiced about = Marsalis by=20 leading black artists were from now-deceased musicians Lester Bowie and = Julius=20 Hemphill (the latter charged Marsalis to be an =E2=80=9CUncle = Tom=E2=80=9D in the pages of=20 The Nation and other national publications). I have discussed my = own=20 criticisms of Marsalis elsewhere.²¹ Suffice it to say, I=E2=80=99m of the = position that=20 Wynton Marsalis is to Lincoln Center what Clarence Thomas is to the U.S. = Supreme=20 Court: a black neo-conservative, right-wing, second-rater.

My=20 admiration and friendship for Kalamu continues despite our disagreements = and=20 differences. His commitment to cultural organizing, to independent black = cultural production, to education and training within the black = community based=20 in the south is exemplary and an affirmation of Cabral=E2=80=99s = fundamental principle=20 of national liberation movement building for artists and activists to = =E2=80=9Creturn to=20 the source.=E2=80=9D

Creating a Popular Avant-Garde: How the Black = =E2=80=98New Music=E2=80=99 Inspired=20 Asian American Creative =E2=80=98New Music=E2=80=99

The=20 =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D of a colonialist western Europe or white = North America isn=E2=80=99t=20 necessarily politically progressive or transgressive, and may indeed = reinforce=20 privilege, promote solipsism and self-indulgence, oppose social = responsibility=20 and consciousness, and elevate =E2=80=9Cart for art=E2=80=99s = sake.=E2=80=9D In contrast, the=20 =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D of oppressed peoples=E2=80=99 cultures = generally tends to fuel liberation,=20 challenge cultural dominance and hegemony (usually of the oppressor, = colonial=20 traditions, and forms), and to promote rebellion, struggle, dissidence,=20 disturbance, militancy, and opposition to the status quo. The African = American=20 =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D of the 1960s and early 1970s was such a = force. The =E2=80=9Cnew music,=E2=80=9D=20 =E2=80=9Cnew poetry,=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cnew theater=E2=80=9D etc., = were part of a cultural and social=20 movement for a =E2=80=9Cnew society.=E2=80=9D In a broad sense, = the artists sought to=20 =E2=80=9Cdeconstruct=E2=80=9D the =E2=80=9Cold=E2=80=9D society of white = supremacist, Eurocentric patriarchal=20 capitalism for a =E2=80=9Cnew=E2=80=9D society based on full equality, = social justice, and=20 =E2=80=9Cpower to the people.=E2=80=9D The terrain of struggle for these = =E2=80=9Cavant-garde=E2=80=9D=20 transgressors was as cultural activists, though many also contributed = through=20 their social activism as well. Of course, the =E2=80=9Cnew=E2=80=9D jazz = with Coltrane as avatar=20 was the most potent and compelling wave of artistic experimentation and=20 expressive force. As the late trumpeter Lester Bowie explained, in = retort to=20 neo-conservative =E2=80=9Cback to the tradition=E2=80=9D exponents = =C3=A0 la Wynton Marsalis, =E2=80=9CThe=20 tradition of jazz IS innovation.=E2=80=9D

Asian=20 Pacific American artists took inspiration and example from the African = American=20 avant-garde. APA creative improvisers were neither interested in being=20 traditionalists by replicating classical or folk Asian forms, nor could = we=20 identify much with the white avant-garde, especially since their own = privilege=20 and racism often excluded us while they, as cultural imperialists, = unabashedly=20 appropriated Asian forms and influences. The black avant-garde was = politically=20 radical as it emanated from the Black Arts Movement and we Asian = American=20 radical artists wanted to raise the consciousness of our communities, to = create=20 a radical Asian American cultural wing and expression and to experiment = with=20 mixing and combining different forms and disciplines. Improvisation = allowed us=20 the =E2=80=9Cspace=E2=80=9D to boldly go beyond where our ancestors had = been, beyond the=20 European concert and American popular cultural modes, to explore a new = cultural=20 identity called =E2=80=9CAsian American.=E2=80=9D We didn=E2=80=99t want = to be measured by how well we=20 played traditional Asian forms, how well we played conventional western = popular=20 song forms, how well we played notated music. We wanted to discover what = it=20 meant to be Asian American through music. =E2=80=9CFree jazz=E2=80=9D = was a huge inspiration=20 because we could hear the revolution. We could express the truth of our = emotions=20 about oppression (what some have described simplistically as the = =E2=80=9Crage=E2=80=9D of=20 =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D music); dare to be Asian American in defiance of = stereotypes, of=20 proscriptive roles and idioms; and not kow-tow to any musical order or=20 establishment. Improvisation was about expressing the =E2=80=9Cyellow = soul=E2=80=9D during the=20 hey-day of =E2=80=9Cyellow power.=E2=80=9D No truer, more = elemental expression could be=20 evoked, as we explored, deconstructed, re-visioned all of the musical = materials=20 of our heritage. The tradition of improvisation, of an unremitting quest = for=20 freedom, paralleled the overall tradition of oppressed people to reject=20 complacency, accommodation, the seduction of assimilation and = integration in=20 favor of a constant struggle to challenge the status quo, and = ultimately, to=20 make revolution and thereby construct a truly multicultural American = identity=20 predicated upon the right of self-determination for oppressed peoples. = In that=20 fundamental sense, we shared the radical character with the black=20 avant-garde.

I would=20 assert that the early black avant-garde beginning with Sun Ra in the = 1950s and=20 extending to the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the 1960s and =E2=80=9970s, = were precursors=20 and leading examples of a =E2=80=9Cblack post-modernism.=E2=80=9D The = Art Ensemble of Chicago=E2=80=99s=20 mantra, =E2=80=9CGreat Black Music: Ancient to the Future,=E2=80=9D best = signifies the=20 self-conscious reworking, borrowing, re-interpreting, and musical = juxtaposing=20 and collaging in their collective performance rites. Sun Ra=E2=80=99s = cosmic theory,=20 Julius Hemphill=E2=80=99s fascination with the Dogon, are just two = examples of this=20 Afrocentric =E2=80=9Cpost-modernism=E2=80=9D that seeks to understand = the past with an=20 avant-garde sensibility. Sun Ra was the preeminent forerunner to = today=E2=80=99s=20 fascination with extraterrestrial contact/visitation and inter-species=20 communication joined with hopes for world peace and unity through = man=E2=80=99s=20 connection to the extraterrestrial. I disagree with people who try to = explain=20 Sun Ra as a manifestation of Space Age modernity. Rather, Sun = Ra=E2=80=99s fascination=20 with the extraterrestrial is much more about spirituality than a = fixation upon=20 technology, though certainly Sun Ra was interested in the latest = electronic=20 musical instruments. For Sun Ra, music and space exploration would point = the way=20 for humanity to develop a higher consciousness of the need for a changed = orientation beyond the limitations of earthly material acquisitiveness.=20

The=20 late-1970=E2=80=99s and early-1980=E2=80=99s avant-garde in New = York=E2=80=99s loft scene, however, was,=20 in my opinion, weaker as an example of vulgar post-modernism that = promotes=20 obfuscation, obscurantism and empiricism. These black avant-garde = musicians and=20 artists of the 1980=E2=80=99s New York Soho loft scene had retreated = into=20 self-indulgence (hiding or jettisoning their former socially conscious = work) and=20 jumping on to the white performance art band wagon of Meredith Monk, = Philip=20 Glass, Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman and others. The fire of the = =E2=80=9960s and early=20 =E2=80=9970s had dissipated into esotericism, ambiguity and shallow = post-modern pastiche=20 by African American artists who even questioned = =E2=80=9Cblackness=E2=80=9D as essentialist,=20 including Bill T. Jones, choreographer Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, Carl = Hancock=20 Rux, among others.

Just as=20 African American popular culture has a leading influence upon American = popular=20 culture in general, so too does African American avant-garde music have = a=20 similar impact upon the overall avant-garde. A small but important group = of APA=20 musicians embraced =E2=80=9Cthe music=E2=80=9D and its philosophical, = political and cultural=20 radicalism. My other essays discuss the who, what, where, when, and why = of the=20 so-called Asian American Jazz =E2=80=9Cscene=E2=80=9D on both coasts, so = I won=E2=80=99t repeat any of=20 that discussion. Multi-woodwindist Gerald Oshita, bassist Mark Izu, = woodwindist=20 Russell Baba, clarinetist Paul Yamasaki, and east coast violinist Jason = Hwang=20 were =E2=80=9Cfree jazz=E2=80=9D players exploring Asian musical and = performance concepts. I met=20 Gerald Oshita before he died in his Japantown studio in the early 1980s. = He had=20 a large collection of woodwinds, including a number of unconventional = and=20 uncommon ones, which reminded me of Rahsaan Roland Kirk who performed on = the=20 manzello and the stritch. In the opinion of Asian American jazz = impresario Paul=20 Yamasaki (who helped to found and organize the first annual Asian = American Jazz=20 Festival in the Bay Area), Gerald warranted props as the first Asian = American to=20 be on a Soul Note/Black Saint recording (as a sideman/colleague of = Roscoe=20 Mitchell). The Italian-based label was considered by many to be the = =E2=80=9Ccreative=20 new music=E2=80=9D label of the 1980s. In 1984 I would become the first = Asian American=20 to record as a leader for that label, eventually releasing three = recordings and=20 having one of my pieces recorded on a fourth, a recording by the Rova = Saxophone=20 Quartet. My first Soul Note album earned much notice both from the = circle of=20 Asian American jazz artists as well as from the larger =E2=80=9Ccreative = new music=E2=80=9D=20 circle, both for the significance of my outing as an Asian American band = leader=20 but also for my explicitly radical politics and = =E2=80=9CAfro-Asian=E2=80=9D concept.

One=20 overlooked Asian American composer/musician/band leader of the = late-1970s and=20 early-1980s was the Los Angeles-based Chinese American Benny Yee who, = with=20 singer Noboku Miyamoto, had a band called Warriors of the Rainbow. Yee = had the=20 musical skills to play chord changes and to go between =E2=80=9Cfree = jazz=E2=80=9D=20 improvisations and notated arrangements, whereas most of the others = mentioned=20 above were primarily =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D improvisers. Warriors of the = Rainbow enlisted highly=20 skilled African American sidemen, including trombonist Julian Priester = and=20 saxophonist Bennie Maupin, who had played with such greats as Herbie = Hancock,=20 among many others. As the name of their band might denote, it was a=20 multicultural assemblage (Asian and African) and politically militant = (=E2=80=9Cwarrior=E2=80=9D=20 or =E2=80=9Cwarriors=E2=80=9D was commonly an African American = conception of someone engaged in=20 the struggle for liberation).

As a young=20 Asian American musician, I sought other Asians playing in primarily = black bands,=20 though many were not very politically conscious. Many were Japanese = nationals=20 who embraced and identified with =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D and black music = for its cultural=20 iconoclasm, hipness and alternative lifestyle and cultural norms. I = haven=E2=80=99t met=20 a Japanese national who played excellent =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D that is = motivated and inspired=20 by and identifies with black nationalist or explicitly anti-imperialist=20 politics.

Indeed,=20 =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D is a cultural commodity of exotic fascination in = Japan where lucrative=20 touring possibilities have existed for black American artists, as they = do in=20 Europe. However, in accounts told to me by Japanese American drummer = Akira Tana,=20 and other Asians (even Japanese nationals), the tour promoters have at = times=20 explicitly told American band leaders not to bring Asian musicians on = their=20 tours. White or black artists are viewed as more = =E2=80=9Cauthentic=E2=80=9D or exotic, while=20 Asians are viewed to be =E2=80=9Cinauthentic=E2=80=9D and, thus, less = interesting for marketing=20 purposes.

The Asian=20 American =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D scene was much more active on the west = coast, with the most=20 radical and =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D music centered in the Bay Area. The = =E2=80=9Cscene=E2=80=9D could be grouped=20 into three loosely connected styles: a =E2=80=9Cjazz = fusion=E2=80=9D scene with its most=20 prominent group the Los Angeles-based band, Hiroshima, along with Deems=20 Tatsukawa in Seattle, and others; a mainstream straight-ahead = =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D group,=20 mostly older generation players such as Filipino pianist Bobby Enriquez, = pianist=20 Toshiko Akiyoshi, alto saxophonist Gabe Balthazar (of Stan Kenton big = band=20 fame), the younger drummer Akira Tana (whose professional career started = from=20 touring with the Heath Brothers); and the =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D = creative music players. To=20 George Leong and Paul Yamasaki=E2=80=99s credit, when they first = organized the Asian=20 American Jazz Festival in the Bay Area, all three styles were featured, = even if=20 some of the artists didn=E2=80=99t particularly identify with Asian = America. Another=20 scene which claimed the term =E2=80=9CAsian American music=E2=80=9D was = a pop folk-music style=20 of Asian American performers including the east coast trio A Grain of = Sand and=20 west coast groups such as Yokohama, California, the subsequent projects = by=20 Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, a loose gathering of musicians based around San=20 Francisco=E2=80=99s Japantown Art and Media Workshop, among others. The = Japanese=20 American taiko groups were another subset of self-consciously organized = Asian=20 American musical activity. Except for the =E2=80=9Cstraight-ahead = jazz=E2=80=9D players, most of=20 the artists and organizers of all these =E2=80=9Cscenes=E2=80=9D = identified with the Asian=20 Movement and community.

The bands=20 Commitment on the east coast (three black musicians and Jason Hwang) and = United=20 Front in the Bay Area (Mark Izu with the half Japanese-half black = drummer=20 Anthony Brown, and two black horn players), were primarily =E2=80=9Cnew = music=E2=80=9D=20 jazz-focused, though they did perform occasionally at Asian community = events.=20

Rarely have=20 musicians developed any sustained and coherent collaborations across = these=20 scenes, possibly due to stylistic differences and the lack of artistic=20 leadership and skills to bridge such differences. However, pioneering = efforts=20 between the creative new music =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D artists such as = Izu, Baba, myself and=20 later artists such as Jon Jang, Miya Masaoka, Glenn Horiuchi, and = Francis Wong=20 would incorporate traditional instruments and players in cross-stylistic = collaborations.

One other=20 major scene that has never really embraced, much less identified with, = the Asian=20 American Movement or community is the world of individual =E2=80=9Cnew = music classical=E2=80=9D=20 composers who have incorporated traditional Asian instruments and = elements into=20 high brow concert music, such as: Chou Wen-Chung, Chinary Ung, Chen Yee, = Chou=20 Long, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Ushio Torikai, Toru Takemitsu, etc. These = composers=20 more typically subscribe to the =E2=80=9Cart for art=E2=80=99s = sake=E2=80=9D position and seek=20 legitimation from the musical academy and Eurocentric establishment. =

Alternative Cultural Production: The Rise and Fall of = Black Artist=20 Collectives

The Black=20 Arts Movement spawned numerous alternative, community-based collectives = and=20 guerilla-style organizations in all disciplines. For music, the most = well-known=20 and influential groups were the AACM (Association for the Advancement of = Creative Musicians) in Chicago and the BAG (Black Arts Group) in St. = Louis. I=20 named my first multimedia =E2=80=9Cperformance art=E2=80=9D group, the = now-defunct Asian=20 American Art Ensemble, after the famed Art Ensemble of Chicago, a = collective=20 music group that emerged from the AACM that presented ritual-style = performances=20 with the musicians in African-mythological-inspired make-up and costumes = combining indigenous =E2=80=9Cprimitive=E2=80=9D instruments with modern = saxophones, drum set,=20 and bass. The late-60s and early-70s black alternative music = organizations=20 promoted Afrocentrism, multimedia and experimental performances with a = strong=20 grassroots community orientation and collective musical sharing and=20 organizational decision-making. They were attempts to create = alternatives from=20 the band leader-as-star syndrome, to foster creative dialogue, to = promote unity=20 over stylistic differences, and to collectively build a cultural = movement=20 closely aligned with the black liberation struggle.

By the=20 late-1980s, Bay Area-based Chinese American pianist Jon Jang had started = his own=20 record label, AsianImprov Records (AIR) to release his own music. By = early 1988,=20 Francis Wong and I joined Jang to expand the concept in the effort to = become a=20 leading center of =E2=80=9CAsian American jazz=E2=80=9D or = =E2=80=9CAsian American improvised and=20 creative music=E2=80=9D as part of exerting cultural leadership to the = Asian Movement=20 since we were all part of the League of Revolutionary Struggle=20 (Marxist-Leninist) at the time.

Our record=20 label and production company was modeled on the early black creative = music=20 collectives. The first non-Jang recording was my A Song for = Manong (AIR=20 003), a collector=E2=80=99s edition LP that featured my Asian American = Art Ensemble in=20 collaboration with the Filipino American Kulintang Arts which performed=20 primarily traditional southern Philippines kulintang music but was open = to=20 creating contemporary work as well. The score I composed became the = third part=20 in a large music/theater production Bamboo that Snaps Back! which = recounts the resistance struggles of Asian Pacific Americans. A Song = for=20 Manong celebrated the epic struggles of the Filipinos beginning with = the=20 arrival of Magellan in 1522 to the fall of the International Hotel in = San=20 Francisco Manilatown in 1977.

By the=20 late-1980s, many of the black alternative cultural collectives had = either=20 collapsed or gone the route of social service arts-in-education = providers. None=20 maintained the radical, experimental, avant-garde performance thrust. A = newer=20 =E2=80=9Cmovement=E2=80=9D was Mbase, centered around alto saxophonist = Steve Coleman with=20 Brooklyn and New York City black musicians. However, it quickly faded as = many=20 became disgruntled and disillusioned with it for simply promoting = Coleman=E2=80=99s=20 career interests. Elsewhere in Brooklyn, MOBI (Musicians of Brooklyn = Initiative)=20 had been started by Lester Bowie and others, and had incorporated as a=20 non-profit arts organization. But musicians quickly left MOBI believing = that it=20 only served the bigger name artists as a conduit to get grants. =

In forming=20 my own production company, Big Red Media, Inc. in 1998, I recognized = that the=20 collective =E2=80=9Cmovement=E2=80=9D was dead since the political = sensibilities and leadership=20 that were a direct result of the Black Liberation Movement had = disappeared.=20 Former collective-functioning artists were more interested in pursuing = solo=20 careers. This was the same experience that undermined the early-60s = October=20 Revolution movement started by trumpeter Bill Dixon for the purpose of = being a=20 black creative music collective that would break from the recording = industry.=20 However, as Dixon tells it, October Revolution member Archie Shepp was = secretly=20 negotiating his own record deal with Impulse! during this time. = Shepp=E2=80=99s position=20 was that he needed the money to pay for the costs of his growing family. = Other=20 members quickly became disenchanted and the group fell apart. =

Collective=20 artistic and financial/business decision-making can only be viable if = the artist=20 members totally submit to the governing mission and principles and are = truly=20 able to function collectively, putting self-interest secondary to the = goals of=20 the movement. This is especially challenging for artists who necessarily = have=20 very big egos and strong personal visions. In the 1930s, similar types = of=20 alternative and artist-led =E2=80=9Cunions=E2=80=9D attained a certain = level of impact and=20 collective functioning because they were secretly led by communist = cadres. Such=20 collectives require a strong political core that will resist cooptation = and=20 careerism.

In the=20 1970s, black nationalist recording labels also developed, including = Strata-East=20 in New York City and Black Jazz in Chicago. While I am unknowledgeable = about the=20 history and final outcome of Black Jazz, I was around the music scene in = New=20 York to hear gossip about the demise of Strata-East, about musicians = absconding=20 with money, or that the label simply failed as a viable business. An = alternative=20 distribution company, the non-profit New Music Distribution Service, = also=20 collapsed by the early 1980s as well. Certain lessons can be made from = all of=20 these experiences about alternative cultural organizing:

Grant monies are unreliable; a strong political core leadership = must exist=20 to maintain the collective context;=20
Artists must share in the business work and expect their returns = to be=20 contingent upon their shared input;=20
The collective must be a guerilla enterprise and rely upon its own = earnings.

My=20 production company isn=E2=80=99t a collective; As a private company, I = bear all profits=20 and losses. Therefore all final decisions are mine. I believe that in = this era,=20 without strong political leadership from movement organizations or a=20 revolutionary party, we can enter into mutually beneficial alliances = that are=20 primarily or strictly for business interests. Simply sharing the same = political=20 ideas and values doesn=E2=80=99t make for a viable business alliance. = Indeed, the=20 primary consideration if we are to function with gain, and not from = altruism,=20 must be serious business principles. We must continue to work with=20 community-based and movement organizations, however, but not maintain=20 professional expectations. Indeed, I still believe in building benefit = concerts=20 and cultural events for the Movement, but no one should expect to be = paid=20 (though these events should sell artist merchandise, which can be very=20 successful).

Since the=20 1990s, a new wave of younger APA =E2=80=9Cspoken word=E2=80=9D and hip = hop-identified artists=20 have organized their own performance opportunities, self-produced = recordings and=20 self-published chapbooks, APA student tours, and even national = conferences. Like=20 the earlier Asian American music scenes, these younger artists continue = to=20 struggle with questions about Asian American aesthetics and cultural = production,=20 including: What makes for a unique and distinctive Asian American = artistic=20 expression? How do we make professional careers being APA artists doing = APA art=20 when no infrastructure exists within our communities to support these = endeavors?=20 What are our standards? How does our art-making and work relate to the = broader=20 APA communities, including campuses, immigrants and to APA activism? Who = is our=20 audience? What kind of institutions/businesses do we need to = build?

While many=20 of these APA hip hop/spoken word artists recognize the major influence = and=20 inspiration of blacks and Latinos in the development of hip hop culture, = there=20 is much variegated opinion about APA interpretations and expressions = ranging=20 from the imitative to the innovative.

By the=20 1990s, interest in =E2=80=9CAsian American music=E2=80=9D and = =E2=80=9CAsian American jazz=E2=80=9D had begun to=20 grow among a few cultural studies and Asian American Studies professors, = including a survey course taught on this topic at the University of=20 California-Berkeley by pianist Jon Jang. A few articles by Susan Asai, = Su Zheng,=20 Weihua Zhang, Yoshitaka Terada, Joseph Lam, and others have begun to = appear in=20 ethnomusicology journals.²² A few conferences have included = topics on Asian=20 Americans in music. The Asian American Jazz Festival in the Bay Area = continues=20 annually, and a short-lived east coast festival was organized in the = mid-1980s=20 by the Jazz Center of New York (led by Cobi Narita) with curatorial = support from=20 artists including myself, Jason Hwang, Akira Tana, and others. Other = small=20 community festivals of Asian American creative music have occurred in = Boston and=20 Chicago. Ethnomusicology conferences have occasionally hosted performers = as=20 well. Taiko, kulintang and more traditional =E2=80=9Cethnic=E2=80=9D = concerts occur more=20 frequently as part of folkloric celebrations and ethnic heritage = festivals.=20

Phoney Afro-Asianisms and the Way Forward

During the=20 mid-1990s, the Asia Society of New York City sponsored two consecutive = annual=20 Asian American jazz festivals, both of which occurred virtually = unnoticed and=20 had low audience attendance. The Asia Society also tried to host an = event with=20 African American and Asian American artists which was also a dismal = failure, and=20 towards which I took an adversarial position by demanding my usual = performance=20 fee which the Asia Society declined to meet, thus precluding my = involvement.=20 They had asked my collaborator Kalamu ya Salaam in the Afro-Asian Arts = Dialogue=20 to come; he agreed and then tried to convince me to appear with him at a = very=20 reduced fee. I later spoke to another invited participant, poet Sonia = Sanchez,=20 who confirmed that the event was a sham since she never received her = honorarium.=20 For almost a half century, since its founding, the Asia Society had = ignored=20 Asian Pacific Americans, as well as controversial topics on Asia and the = Pacific=20 Rim, such as the Vietnam War, socialist China and Korea, the = revolutionary and=20 national democratic struggles in the Philippines, Nepal, Burma, etc. = Rather,=20 their focus was on teaching exotic Eastern culture to, as someone = described it,=20 =E2=80=9Cthe wives of Upper East Side business men who have business = dealings and=20 clients in the East.=E2=80=9D²³ The topic of APAs would inevitably = broach such=20 controversial issues as racism, discrimination and inequality. Since its = inception in the late-60s and early-70s The New York Asian Movement has = always=20 regarded the uptown, arrogant and elitist Asia Society as a legacy of = U.S.=20 colonialism in Asia, part of the problem of exoticizing and othering the = =E2=80=9CEast.=E2=80=9D=20 For example, the Asia Society hired white executives in their = organization until=20 the 1990s when the first Asian directors were finally hired. One of the = biggest=20 insults and travesties of their Asian American Jazz Festival was failing = to=20 invite me, a leading Asian American =E2=80=9Cjazz=E2=80=9D artist who = has had an impact on both=20 coasts and who lives in New York City! Although repeatedly asked = by some=20 press writers and curious individuals familiar with my work why I = wasn=E2=80=99t=20 invited, the Asia Society has never given a public explanation. =

Another=20 emerging topic is African American and Asian American relations. A = couple of=20 conferences, one at Columbia University in 2000 and another at Boston = University=20 in 2001 were both organized by African Americans at these institutions. = Smaller=20 forums and panels have also been organized in different cities, mostly = by=20 academics. Most of these events have only minimally included the arts or = artists. All have ignored the longstanding work that I have done in this = field.=20 The fascination with the topic of =E2=80=9Cblack-Asian = conflict,=E2=80=9D sensationalized by the=20 mainstream media during confrontations between Asian (usually Korean) = merchants=20 in predominantly African American communities, wrongly presumes that = there is a=20 special =E2=80=9Cconflict=E2=80=9D of more importance than a = =E2=80=9Cblack-white conflict,=E2=80=9D or a=20 =E2=80=9Cblack-Latino conflict.=E2=80=9D With the waning of Third World = consciousness and unity=20 from the late-60s and early-70s which I have described earlier in this = essay, it=20 is not surprising that division and conflict have arisen. Certainly = examples of=20 Third World unity and collaboration have never received media attention = except=20 for the crassly commercialized neo-minstrelsy of the Jackie Chan-Chris = Tucker=20 Rush Hour movies of today. The Rush Hour movies = don=E2=80=99t even have=20 the fraction of the politics of say, the 1973 blockbuster Enter the=20 Dragon with famed Chinese martial artist the late Bruce Lee, and = black=20 American Jim Kelly playing a black militant character on the run from = the=20 police, who remarks about the poverty and oppression he sees in Asia, = =E2=80=9CGhettos=20 are the same around the world. They stink.=E2=80=9D Among the most = highly at-risk youth=20 populations, the martial arts have been a site of much=20 black-Asian-Latino-poor-white inner-city interaction between popular = culture=20 (kung-fu Saturday afternoon movies on local television stations) and = individual=20 and collective uplifting (as training for self-discipline, personal and=20 community security, building self-esteem and confidence). While = scholarly=20 investigation, analysis and study of the systemic roots of Third World = division=20 are important to an anti-imperialist consciousness, many of these = academic=20 conferences and forums are mired in self-referential language and topics = and=20 don=E2=80=99t attract or reach out to community participants. It would = be better if we=20 had Third World film and cultural festivals, activist workshops, and = community=20 forums. But the key to building Third World unity has been coalitions = and=20 alliances forged in common struggles, both for local issues and for=20 international solidarity.

The building=20 of our respective movements requires ideological development through the = course=20 of building grassroots struggles and organizations. A radical, = anti-imperialist=20 and revolutionary thrust of our organizing and propaganda must be = central. The=20 anthology, Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of = Revolutionary Asian=20 Pacific America, has attempted to summarize, analyze and share the = lessons=20 of the revolutionary and radical formations and struggles of the=20 late-60s/early-70s and to connect this legacy to today=E2=80=99s = organizing for the=20 Asian Pacific American Movement. Such projects need to be developed for = the=20 Black Liberation Movement, the Chicano Movement, the Puerto Rican = Movement, the=20 Native Movement, etc. At the same time, collaborative anthologies, be = they=20 artistic-cultural or political, across oppressed nationality movements, = need to=20 be developed as well. To get beyond the multi-kulti = =E2=80=9Cracial=E2=80=9D unity reformism=20 that proceeds from the premise that unity is mostly attitudinal, we must = reaffirm the importance of the oppressed nationality struggles in the = U.S. as=20 =E2=80=9Cnational questions=E2=80=9D based upon the struggle to control = land, resources, and=20 economic and political power with a common enemy, the system of U.S.=20 imperialism. Afro-Asian unity isn=E2=80=99t simply the appreciation of = each other=E2=80=99s=20 cultures and experiences, but is a historical outgrowth of the need for=20 alternative political paradigms that are independent from U.S. = white-settler=20 colonial integration and western European hegemony. Oppressed = nationalities can=20 share the lessons of their common struggles and build solidarity, = inspire one=20 another and construct a new paradigm that doesn=E2=80=99t subscribe to = the racialized=20 welfare line and participate in the divide-and-conquer competition over = crumbs=20 constructed by the white power structure and its token compradors. Once = we=E2=80=99ve=20 =E2=80=9Cde-Europeanized=E2=80=9D our orientation, looked to the Third = World (both domestically=20 in the U.S. and internationally) as our main allies, and have grounded = ourselves=20 in an internationalist, global, world =E2=80=9Canti-imperialist=E2=80=9D = orientation, we can=20 begin the task of truly decolonizing and disentangling ourselves from = the=20 tentacles of imperialist cultural and economic domination, and begin the = forward=20 march to liberation and world unity.

Notes

¹ This short three-line poem was inspired = from a=20 similar poem written by Felix Torres in the late 1970s when he and I = were=20 student-activists at Harvard University. Felix shared his poem with me = and I was=20 inspired to write the one used here as an epigram.

² See Ho =E2=80=9CLegacy to = Liberation=E2=80=9D for a more complete=20 discussion and analysis of the beginnings and inspirations of the Asian = Movement=20 in the U.S.

³ I met and conversed with Robert F. = Williams while he=20 was on a speaking tour sponsored by the U.S.-China People=E2=80=99s = Friendship=20 Association when he visited the then-Chinatown People=E2=80=99s = Progressive Association=20 during the winter of 1977 or 1978 in Boston.

⁴ For a comprehensive history of the = Congress of=20 Afrikan Peoples (CAP), see the very hard to find Forward #3, the = journal=20 of the then-League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist), Getting = Together Publications (now defunct), published in 1979.

⁵ A number of Asian American literary = critics have=20 used the descriptor =E2=80=9Ccultural nationalist=E2=80=9D when applied = to Asian American=20 writers such as The Four Horsemen of Asian American Literature (viz., = Frank=20 Chin, Lawson Inada, Shawn Wong, and Jeffrey Paul Chan), including=20 leftist-feminist critic-scholar Cheryl Higashida in her essay, = =E2=80=9CNot Just a=20 =E2=80=98Special Issue=E2=80=99: Gender, Sexuality, and Post-1965 = Afro-Asian Coalition Building=20 in the Yardbird Reader and This Bridge Called My = Back.=E2=80=9D In my role=20 as editor for this anthology, I gave Cheryl the following critique of = her (and=20 others=E2=80=99) usage of =E2=80=9Ccultural nationalism=E2=80=9D when = applied to Asian/Pacific American=20 writers and artists in my March 27, 2004 email to her: =E2=80=9CBe = careful with=20 characterizations as =E2=80=98cultural nationalist=E2=80=99 as Chin, et. = al., never adopted this=20 description, nor did the Asian movement of that day do that either = (whereas the=20 Panthers did characterize Baraka and Karenga as =E2=80=98cultural = nationalists=E2=80=99). The=20 similarities between the black cultural nationalists and the Asian = ascribed ones=20 needs elaboration as the Asians rejected any romanticism of their = ancestral=20 Asian heritage. Therefore, I think you need to do an analysis of what = from the=20 Black Arts Movement was taken and what was originated by the = Asians.=E2=80=9D

⁶ During the early 1970s, in my personal = files, Poet=20 Lawson Inada had inscribed =E2=80=9CWritten to commemorate the = first New Asian=20 Nation Poetry Reading.=E2=80=9D The full text of the poem is as = follows:

Course you know how it was.
But I couldn=E2=80=99t think of = anything more=20 fitting to
Commemorate this occasion.
So I thought I=E2=80=99d = just run it down=20 to you.

That was way, WAY back,
You know those famous dates,
But = those first=20 ships knew exactly what was happenin=E2=80=99
The heaviest minds in = all of Asia had=20 seen to that
But they didn=E2=80=99t quite plan on meetin=E2=80=99 = up again with
Their=20 long lost brothers,
Those who had cut out when things were = bad

Now, those brothers have their own culture going
And a beautiful = way of=20 being and seeing
Not too different from our own,
Naturally, we = got=20 together, grooved on things together
And naturally, left the land = and=20 animals as they were
We knew better,
Remembering how some of = the =E2=80=98old=20 folks=E2=80=99 tried to
Mess our homeland up
We knew = better

But also, knew about the ghosts across the oceans
So decided to = set up=20 defensive measures in small
Parts of our lands just to keep the=20 ghosts
Off our backs

Then things REALLY got nice
That was the start of this New = Nation as we=20 know it
People=E2=80=94yellow, brown, black and red=E2=80=94going = back and forth,
Or=20 settling, exchanging wisdom and gifts,
We joined our lands = together
We=20 had so much to share with each other

So when the ghosts came crawling with their crosses to our = shore
We sent=20 =E2=80=98em south
Burdened down with their monstrosities of = war
Figurin=E2=80=99 to let=20 =E2=80=98me take out their primitive aggressions in the = jungles

You know their funny books
About how some Washington drowned in = the=20 Amazon crossing there
With a cannon on a canoe
While how some = dude named=20 Boone got chewed up by piranhas
While wrestling a python.
Those = ghosts=20 were CRAZY!
SHIT!
They tried to carve their faces on a mountain = and then=20 they fell flat
On their collective ass

And about that time we got hip that some of our best brothers=20 were
Settled there anyway, really doing beautiful in the = jungle
So we=20 got together and tossed the ghosts back to their land we=20 call
OKLAHOMA
You KNOW what that means in our language

So if you still see some of those ghosts around,
TAKE = PITY
HELP =E2=80=98EM=20 OUT
It=E2=80=99s our duty
They knew they were foolish and called = us in to give=20 them color and
Culture,
So they too could flourish
TAKE=20 PITY
Couple of more generations and they=E2=80=99ll be colored, and = together,
And beautiful like the rest of us
And you KNOW = that=E2=80=99s how it=E2=80=99s=20 supposed to be!

⁷ I was known as Fred Houn until the fall of = 1988 when=20 I legally changed it to Ho, phoneticizing a problematic spelling of = Houn, which=20 was always pronounced Ho.

⁸ This title is taken from the 1967 = recording of the=20 same name by Archie Shepp.

⁹ See Ho, =E2=80=9CWhat Makes = Jazz.=E2=80=9D

¹⁰ For more discussion of the etymology of = the word=20 =E2=80=9Cjazz,=E2=80=9D see Porter, and Merriam and Garner. I still = maintain that Archie Shepp=E2=80=99s=20 explanation is the most plausible and convincing.

¹¹ See Shepp, Mama Rose.

¹²See Calmore.

¹³ Amiri Baraka=E2=80=99s draconically = polemical and=20 categorical judgments are well known. My initial reading of his = either-or and=20 binary categorizations of =E2=80=9Cgut bucket=E2=80=9D vs. =E2=80=9Ctail = Europe=E2=80=9D (in evaluating=20 musicians and their music) as well as =E2=80=9Cin the tradition=E2=80=9D = vs. =E2=80=9Ccomprador=E2=80=9D or=20 =E2=80=9Cconfused=E2=80=9D (meaning NOT =E2=80=9Cin the = tradition=E2=80=9D) are from articles such as=20 =E2=80=9CAfro-American Literature and Class Struggle=E2=80=9D and = =E2=80=9CAfro-American Music and=20 Class Struggle.=E2=80=9D The latter is from my files and appeared = in the now=20 defunct Black Nation Magazine.

¹⁴ My criticism of Baraka=E2=80=99s = sloppiness encompasses=20 both his literary professionalism and his often outlandish and=20 near-if-not-outright paranoiac proffering. The accusations of = irresponsible=20 hyperbole contained in his controversial poem =E2=80=9CSomebody Blew Up = America=E2=80=9D were=20 supported by his own admission that he simply obtained his information = from the=20 internet and failed to do any serious factual investigation. In = =E2=80=9CWhy I Believe=20 Betty Shabazz and Diana Spencer [the late Princess Diana] Were = Assassinated,=E2=80=9D=20 commentary about a possible conspiratorial link between the deaths of = Betty=20 Shabazz (killed by her grandson) and the automobile collision that = killed=20 Princess Diana Spencer disturbingly reads like tabloid conjecture or = rant, than=20 either serious investigative journalism or political argument.

¹⁵ Kalamu ya Salaam is the Swahili name for = =E2=80=9CPen for=20 Peace,=E2=80=9D he was formerly Vallery Ferdinand, III.

¹⁶ The debate between advocates of Black = Nationalism=20 and Marxism ran during the early to mid-1970s with the September 1974 = issue=20 being the classic Black Scholar issue for this historic and = important=20 ideological struggle.

¹⁷ Kalamu ya Salaam unequivocally renounces = Black=20 Nationalism in the essay =E2=80=9CWhy Do We Lie About Telling the = Truth?=E2=80=9D

¹⁸ Z Magazine and its attendant = small press,=20 South End Press, would propel the publishing careers of bell hooks, = Cornel West,=20 Manning Marable=E2=80=94now three of the most well-known and well-paid = integrationist=20 democratic-socialist writers/pundits/intellectuals of = =E2=80=9Ccolor.=E2=80=9D

¹⁹ I believe =E2=80=9CAfro-Asian Arts = Dialogue=E2=80=9D was a name=20 Kalamu ya Salaam proposed from a small conference by that same title and = theme=20 organized by dancer/choreographer Peggy Choy during the time of the Los = Angeles=20 rebellion in 1992.

²⁰ See ya Salaam = =E2=80=9C=E2=80=98Bird=E2=80=99 is a Turkey!=E2=80=9D=20

²¹ Wynton Marsalis is clearly implicated in = my essay=20 =E2=80=9CWhat Makes =E2=80=98Jazz=E2=80=99 the Revolutionary Music of = the 20^th Century, and=20 Will It Be Revolutionary for the 21^st Century?=E2=80=9D =

²² Two recent, if the not the first, books = devoted=20 entirely to the music-making of Asian Pacific Americans are Wong, and=20 Zheng.

²³ My description of the Asia Society is = paraphrased=20 from conversations with Bill J. Gee and Peter Chow, former directors of = Asian=20 Cinevision and Bridge Magazine (an important, though now defunct, = national Asian American periodical), both projects operating as Asian = American=20 grassroots media organizations based in New York Chinatown.

Works=20 Cited

Baraka, = Amiri.=20 =E2=80=9CAfro-American=20 Literature & Class Struggle,=E2=80=9D Black=20 American Literature Forum 14.1 (Spring = 1980):=20 5-14.

----. = =E2=80=9CSomebody=20 Blew Up America.=E2=80=9D ChickenBones. 2001. Feb. = 2006. http://www.nathanielturner.com/somebodyblewupamerica.htm= .

----. =E2=80=9CWhy = I Believe Betty=20 Shabazz and Diana Spencer [the late Princess Diana] Were = Assassinated.=E2=80=9D Unity=20 Struggle, October/November 1997: 4-5, 14.

The Black=20 Scholar: = Journal=20 of Black Studies and Research. 11 Feb. 2006. http://www.theblackscholar.org.

Calmore, John O. = =E2=80=9CCritical=20 Race Theory, Archie Shepp, and Fire Music: Securing an Authentic = Intellectual=20 Life in a Multicultural World,=E2=80=9D 65 S. Cal. = L. Rev. 2129=20 (1992).

Enter the = Dragon.=20 Directed = Robert=20 Clouse, 1973.

Forward 3. Getting Together = Publications,=20 1979.

Higashida, Cheryl. = =E2=80=9C=E2=80=98Not=20 Just a =E2=80=9CSpecial Issue=E2=80=99: Gender, Sexuality, and Post-1965 = Afro-Asian=20 Coalition Building in the Yardbird = Reader=20 and This Bridge Called My Back.=E2=80=9D Afro/Asia: = Revolutionary Political=20 and Cultural Connections between African and Asian Americans. Ed. = Fred Ho=20 and Bill V. Mullen. Durham: Duke UP, Forthcoming.

Ho, Fred ed. = Legacy to=20 Liberation:Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific = America.=20 Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2000.

Ho, Fred. Personal = email to=20 Cheryl Higashida. 27 March 2004.

----. = =E2=80=9CWhat Makes=20 =E2=80=98Jazz=E2=80=99 the Revolutionary Music of the 20^th = Century, and Will It Be=20 Revolutionary for the 21^st Century?=E2=80=9D African = American Review.=20 29.2 (1995): 283-290.

----. A Song = for=20 Manong. = AsianImprov=20 Records, no date.

----. Tomorrow = is=20 Now! Soul = Note 121117-2, 1985.

Ho, Fred, and Bill = V.=20 Mullen, eds. Afro/Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural = Connections=20 Between African and Asian American. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP,=20 Forthcoming.

Kofsky, Frank. = Black=20 Nationalism and the Revolution in Music. New York: Pathfinder Press, = 1970.

McAdoo, Bill. = Pre-Civil=20 War Black Nationalism. New York: D. Walker Press, 1983.

Merriam, Alan P., = and=20 Fradley H. Garner. =E2=80=9CJazz=E2=80=94the Word.=E2=80=9D The Jazz = Cadence of American=20 Culture. Ed. Robert G. O=E2=80=99Meally. New York: Columbia = UP, 1998. 7-31.=20

Mullen, Bill. = Interview with=20 Kalamu ya Salaam. San Antonio, Texas, 2001.

Porter, Lewis, = =E2=80=9CWhere Did=20 the Word =E2=80=98Jazz=E2=80=9D Come From?=E2=80=9D Jazz: A = Century of Change. New York:=20 Schirmer Books, 1997. 1-12.

Revolutionary = Action=20 Movement (RAM). =E2=80=9CThe Relationship of Revolutionary Afro-American = Movement to the=20 Bandung Revolution,=E2=80=9D Black Power, Summer-Fall, 1965, from = the Robert F.=20 Williams Collection, Box 2, Bentley Historical Library.

Rush = Hour. Brett Ratner, director,=20 1998.

Rush Hour=20 II. Brett = Ratner,=20 director, 2001.

Shange, Ntozake. = For=20 Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide Once the Rainbow is Enuf.=20 Macmillan Inc., 1977.

Shepp, Archie. = Blas=C3=A9.=20 Affinity (1969) FA 1, 1980.

----. = Goin=E2=80=99 Home.=20 Horace Parlan. Steeplechase SCCD-31079, 1978.

----. The Magic = of Ju-Ju.=20 Impulse! (GRP) MVCI-23036, 1967.

----. Mama = Rose.=20 Steeplechase SCS-1169, 1982.

----. Trouble = in Mind.=20 Horace Parlan. Steeplechase SCCD-31139, 1980.

Small, = Christopher. Music=20 of the Common Tongue: Survival and Celebration in Afro-American = Music.=20 London: J. Calder; New York: River Run Press, 1987.

Stalin, Joseph.=20 Dialectical and Historical Materialism. New York: International=20 Publisher, 1940.

Williams, Robert = F. Personal=20 Interview. Winter 1977/78.

Wong, Deborah. = Speak it=20 Louder: Asian Americans Making Music. New York: Routledge, 2004. =

ya Salaam, Kalamu. = =E2=80=9C=E2=80=98Bird=E2=80=99=20 is a Turkey!=E2=80=9D Coda

----. The Magic = of=20 Ju-Ju. Submitted to Third World Press.

----. =E2=80=9CWhy = Do We Lie About=20 Telling the Truth?=E2=80=9D Afro/Asia: Revolutionary Political and = Cultural=20 Connections Between African and Asian American. Ed. Fred Ho and Bill = V.=20 Mullen. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, = Forthcoming.

ya Salaam, Kalamu, = ed.=20 African American Review 29.2 (1995)

X, Malcolm. = Malcolm X=20 Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements. New York: Pathfinder = Press,=20 1965.

X, The Autobiography of = Malcolm X.=20 Spike Lee, director, 1992.

Zheng, Su. = Claiming=20 Diaspora: Music, Transnationalism, and Cultural Politics in = Asian/Chinese=20 America. London: Oxford UP, 2005.

Critical = Studies in=20 Improvisation. ISSN: 1712-0624

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