Nicole Mitchell / Haki Madhubuti

Nicole Mitchell & Haki Madhubuti: Liberation Narratives

by Mark Corroto
October 31, 2017

Poetry and jazz. Jazz and poetry have a long history together. From Langston Hughes to Kenneth Patchen, the spoken word messages of the poets have fit hand-in-glove with African-American music. In 1957 Charles Mingus recorded “Scenes In The City," documenting the hardscrabble life of an urban jazz disciple. Then came Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, and later, rap music. We're talking pre-hip hop, what Chuck D of Public Enemy called “the CNN for black people." The combination not only entertained, ...