KOFI NATAMBU

Art is One thing, Criticism is Another

[Coltrane:  The Story of a sound, by Ben Ratliff, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007]

 

Tradition as Contemporary Function

[Olu Dara & the Okra Orchestra at Yoshi’s Jazz Club, 2000]

 

Language as Figure, Sound as Ground

[Whatsaid Serif, by Nathaniel Mackey, City Lights Books, 1999]

 

Love Is a Dangerous Necessity

 [The Gangster of Love, by Jessica Hagedorn, Houghton Mifflin, 1996]

 

Miles Styles.

[Miles Davis Live at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, August 31, 1986]

 

How to Lynch a (Black) Painter.

[Basquiat: A Killing in Art, by Phoebe Hoban, Vintage, 1999]

 

The Melody of History

[A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America, by Craig Werner, Plume/Penguin, 1999]

 

Winning & Losing

 [Lost Chords: The Contributions of White Musicians to Jazz: 1915-1945,

by Richard Sudhalter, Oxford University Press, 1999]

 

New Wine, Old Bottles

[Eve’s Bayou, Directed & Written by Kasi Lemmons, 1998]

 

“Jazz, Rock, Pop & Classical are all yesterday’s titles” –Ornette Coleman

[P’nk J’zz, Charles ‘Bobo’ Shaw & the Human Arts Ensemble, Muse Records, 1981]

 

Stick & Move

[Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali & the Spirit of the 1960s,

by Michael Marqusee, Verso, 1999]

 

The Writer as Seer & Modern Oracle

[Reckless Eyeballing, by Ishmael Reed, St. Martin’s Press, 1986]

 

Black Music Has Always Been Free.

[As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz,

by Valerie Wilmer, Lawrence Hill & Co., 1980]

 

Sco Knows

Roscoe Mitchell & the Sound Ensemble, Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin’

Shoes, Nessa Records, 1981]

 

Watch Out, Here Comes Black Arthur!

[LIGHT BLUE: Arthur Blythe Plays the Music of Thelonious Monk, Columbia, 1983]

 

Staying Warm

[Quilt I, edited by Ishmael Reed & Al Young, 1981]

 

Jazz & American Writing in the 20th Century.

[The Jazz Poetry Anthology, edited by Sascha Feinstein and Yusef Komunyakaa,

Indiana University Press, 1991]

 

Poetry Under Fire

[Volcan: Poems from Central America, edited by Alejandro Murguia, 1984

 

What’s Tradition Got to Do, Got to Do With It?

[Rhythm-a-ning: Jazz Tradition & Innovation in the ’80s

by Garry Giddins, 1986]

 

The Blues in 4-D

[Ornette Coleman & the Prime Time Band, Of Human Feelings,

Antilles Records, 1982]

 

Decoding Is An Act of Revelation

[Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society, Eye on You, About Time

Records, 1981]

 

Reading, Writing & Signifyin(g)

[The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African American Literary Criticism,

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Oxford University Press, 1988]

 

Time For A Blood Transfusion

[James ‘Blood’ Ulmer Quintet, Black Rock, Columbia, 1982]

 

Cecil Taylor: Live at Sweet Basil’s

[The Cecil Taylor Trio, NYC, February, 1989]

 

Our Music

[Whose Music Is it Anyway?: The Oxford University Press Jazz History/

Criticism Series, 1956-Present

 

Steve Lacy Loves Monk

[Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk, Fantasy Records, 1984]

 

A Critical Review of A Review

[Ready For Revolution:  The Life & Struggles of  Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

by Stokely Carmichael with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Scribner, 2003

​

A Critique of ‘Ken Burns’s Jazz Series’ on PBS : January 8–31, 2001

 

Coda: Interview with Kofi Natambu, New York, January 14, 1989

(Interviewed by Tyrone Williams, Ph.D)