Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

Reading with Ed Dorn at the Just Buffalo Literary Center, Buffalo, NY, December 8, 1978

(recording courtesy of Robert Creeley)

Complete reading (21:44):MP3

1. Against Bourgeois Art (recording starts in medias res) (3:48): MP3
2. Caution, part 3 (3:50): MP3
3. I Love Music (2:15): MP3
4. War Clouds Over the World (5:03): MP3
5. Dope (6:47): MP3

The Revolutionary Theatre (11:40)

From a Reading at San Francisco State University, 4 March 1965

1. Introduction (4:50)
2. Snake Eyes (0:40)
3. A Poem for Speculative Hipsters (0:34)
4. Black Bourgeoisie (0:54)
5. Young Soul (0:49)
6. Poem for Half-White College Students (1:46)
7. Western Front (1:24)
8. In One Battle (1:00)
9. Bad Mouth (0:50)
10. Ghosts (0:50)
11. Where's the Romantic Life? (0:57)
12. Three Movements and a Coda (1:28)
13. Blue Whitey (0:25)
14. 3rd Avenue (0:50)
15. Poem for Bald Heads (1:04)
16. Houdini (0:59)
17. The People Burning(4:01)
18. Chapter 1 of "A New World" (22:03)

From a Reading at the Asilomar Negro Writers Conference, Pacific Grove, California, early August, 1964

Complete Recording (24:41)

1. Introduction (0:36)
2. As a Possible Lover (0:52)
3. A Contract for the Destruction and Rebuilding of Patterson (2:12)
4. The Dance (1:43)
5. A Poem for Speculative Hipsters (0:36)
6. Black Dada Nihilismus (4:02)
7. Snake Eyes (0:39)
8. Short Speech to My Friends (2:27)
9. Houdini (0:46)
10. A Poem Some People Will Have to Understand (1:20)
11. Tightrope (0:23)
12. Kenyatta Listening to Mozart (1:08) (this poem discussed on PoemTalk at the Writers House)
13. Mise En Scene, Newark 1947 (0:49)
14. Three Modes of History and Culture (2:49)
15. Blue Whitey (0:26)
16. The Bronze Buckaroo (2:08)

More Amiri Baraka Poems

• Black Dada Nihilismus (DJ Spooky mix) (4:12)
• A Black Mass Part 1 (15:43)
• A Black Mass Part 2 (19:51)
• For Pharaoh Sanders (0:54)
• In Walked Bud (2:43)
• Pressure to Grow (1:30)
• The X Is Black (Spike Lie) (3:07)
• "Wooden Negroes Appear at a Slam" and several "Low Coups" (5:08) recorded at his home in Newark, New Jersey, 9 July 2001

Choice and Style: Amiri Baraka discussed on PoemTalk at the Writers House

• PoemTalk #20: "Kenyatta Listening to Mozart" (26:19)
• PoemTalk Blog: Episode #20 on Amiri Baraka

Baraka Reads Charles Olson (footage by Henry Ferrini):

For more information on Baraka's recorded output, be sure to visit The Amiri Baraka Discography Project, edited by Marc Epstein.

Amiri Baraka on PennSound Daily

• August 3, 2009: "PoemTalk 20: Amiri Baraka's "Kenyatta Listening to Mozart"
• July 31, 2009: "An Amiri Baraka Primer"
• May 21, 2008: "Newly Segmented Buffalo Recordings from Ed Dorn, Amiri Baraka"
• December 10, 2007: "Amiri Baraka on PennSound"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2008 Amiri Baraka. Used with permission of author and Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. DJ Spooky mix used with the permission of Paul D. Miller.PennSound Amiri Baraka page edited by William J. Harris Distributed by PennSound.