Amiri Baraka and Rob Brown - Somebody Blew Up America

www.JazzSanctuary.org Somebody Blew Up America, by Amiri Baraka (poetry) and Rob Brown (saxophone), recorded live on February 21, 2009 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY. Poetic icon and revolutionary political activist Amiri Baraka performs with Rob Brown, an eloquent and versatile saxophonist with a deep knowledge of jazz, in a reading from his book Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems. The recital of the provocative poem Somebody Blew Up America engaged the poet warrior in a battle royal with the governor of New Jersey, who demanded his resignation as the states Poet Laureate. With influences on Barakas work ranging from musical orishas such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, and Sun Ra to the Cuban Revolution, Malcolm X and world revolutionary movements, he is renowned as the founder of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in the 1960s that became, though short-lived, the virtual blueprint for a new American theater aesthetic. This production is part of "Free Jazz at the Sanctuary," a 13-part series of jazz performance videos featuring some of the world's most talented improvisers performing a wide spectrum of music in the genre broadly known as free jazz. Each hour-long show is available on DVD directly from Downtown Music Gallery (www.downtownmusicgallery.com). For more information on this series visit www.JazzSanctuary.org The complete series consists of performances by: The Thirteenth Assembly (Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone) Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (Kahil El'Zabar, Ernest Dawkins, Corey Wilkes) From Between Trio (Michel Doneda, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jack Wright) Michael Vlatkovich Quartet (Christopher Garcia, Jonathan Golove, David Mott, Michael Vlatkovich) Sax Soup Poetry and Voice (Joe Giardullo, Pierre Joris, Nicole Peyrafitte) Trio Tarana (Sam Bardfeld, Ravish Momin, Brian Prunka) The Ras Ensemble (Clif Jackson, Dave Miller, Ras Moshe, Tor Yochai Snyder) William Hooker Empty Cage Quartet (Ivan Johnson, Paul Kikuchi, Jason Mears, Kris Tiner) Weasel Walter Trio (Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Weasel Walter) Splatto Festival Chorus (Dave Barrett, Michael Bisio, Ed Mann, Todd Reynolds) Amiri Baraka and Rob Brown Fay Victor Ensemble (Ken Filiano, Anders Nilsson, Michael TA Thompson, Fay Victor). "Free Jazz from the Sanctuary" is a co-production of NY Media Alliance and the Arts Department at Rensselaer, made possible in part with support from the NYS Council on the Arts and the NYS Music Fund, established by the NYS Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers.