GILLES PETERSON and STUART BAKER (SOUL JAZZ RECORDS) FREEDOM, RHYTHM AND SOUND Chapter 2: Journeys To Enlightenment BOOKRevolutionary Jazz Original Cover Art

Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker's new Freedom, Rhythm and Sound showcases the stunning graphic works of mainly independently published jazz record cover designs in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and beyond, from radical jazz musicians such as Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and others.

This new second volume of Freedom, Rhythm and Sound book is a new ‘chapter’, featuring hundreds more unique, rare and beautiful jazz record cover designs. This book documents the continued development in jazz as African-American artists set out on new journeys to enlightenment, heading out into Europe at the end of the 1960s.

The artwork of these (often self-produced) record cover designs during this era reflected their radical agenda, spiritual awareness and singular search for musical and personal freedoms. From raw, DIY aesthetics to lyrical and poetic illustrations, sometimes containing futuristic worlds and ancient landscapes, the designs are always bold, strikingly graphic, and most importantly capture the spirit of the music, giving them a unique beauty.

As well as the radical jazz music of this time, this new ‘Chapter’ of Freedom, Rhythm and Sound also includes sections on the record cover art of African-American poets and writers, Civil Rights and Black Power Movement recordings (Martin Luther King, Malcolm X), early musical pioneers (Yusef Lateef, Max Roach, Ornette Coleman and others) all of which helped influence and shape the world of radical jazz from the 1960s onwards.

REVIEWS OF THE FIRST FREEDOM, RHYTHM AND SOUND:

“A remarkable book” The New Yorker

“If there can be such a thing as a revolutionary coffee table book, Freedom

Rhythm & Sound is it―a chance to wallow in the Afrocentric visual language of

the non-mainstream black jazz vinyl of this extraordinary fertile and creative

period.” Eye

“Like the uncompromising music they represent, all the covers broadcast a

sense of bold, brazen ideology” Pitchfork

“A definitive account of a complex passage of cultural upheaval.” The Independent

“For decades, no one was sure how to refer to this extraordinary music. Calling it

‘fire music’ does justice to its incandescent spirit, still burning from the pages of

a book that preserves the memory of a special time.” The Guardian

“These sleeves are the original independent legacy to America’s premier art form

– Jazz. In terms of African-American cultural expression they are part of a long

line of thought that was charged in the 1960s by John Coltrane, Martin Luther

King, Ornette Coleman, Malcolm X and others” The Wire

“A hefty compendium of radical jazz cover art” Mojo