If being the founder and chairman of Third World Press Organisation – the largest independent black-owned publishers – wasn’t enough for activist and poet Haki R Madhubuti, he is also credited with a lesser-known yet remarkable music career. As the bandleader of Haki R. Madhubuti and Nation: Afrikan Liberation Arts Ensemble, Madhubuti combined his razor-sharp spoken-word poetry with a band of incredible musicians to create an unforgettable experience of avant-garde and spiritual jazz.
The first album by the group Rise Vision Comin was released in 1976, and features among others Wallace Roney on trumpet, Clarence Seay on bass and Agyei Akoto on saxophone who also served as creative director. It features 9 tracks with the title track, “Rise, Vision, Comin” a great example of the adhesive comradery between instrumentation and Madhubuti’s spoken-word. On the track, they match each other pace for pace and build into frenzy where they finally reach Madhubuti’s prophetic words, “We are what we are, We are what we are not, we are what we are going to be”.
A prominent name in the Black Arts Movement, Haki R Madhubuti to date has published over 20 books with his direct and illuminating form of poetry having shared the same halls as other vital voices in the movement like Audre Lorde and Maya Angelou. P-VINE is thrilled to reissue Rise Vision Comin on limited-edition vinyl with a unique Japanese obi strip, and celebrate the music of Madhubuti’s extraordinary career.
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