New Day Jazz
Justin Desmangles
Joining me this afternoon, in the 5 o'clock hour, author John Keene, discussing his most recent book, Counternarratives.
Ranging from the 17th century to the present and crossing multiple continents, Counternarratives’ novellas and stories draw upon memoirs, newspaper accounts, detective stories, interrogation transcripts, and speculative fiction to create new and strange perspectives on our past and present. In “Rivers,” a free Jim meets up decades later with his former raftmate Huckleberry Finn; “An Outtake” chronicles an escaped slave’s fate in the American Revolution; “On Brazil, or DeÃÂnouement” burrows deep into slavery and sorcery in early colonial South America; and in “Blues” the great poets Langston Hughes and Xavier Villaurrutia meet in Depression-era New York and share more than secrets.
Only a few, John Keene among them, in our age, authentically test the physics of fiction as both provocation and mastery. Continuing what reads like the story collection as freedom project, in Counternarratives, Keene opens swaths of history for readers to more than imagine but to manifest and live in the passionate language of conjure and ritual. — Major Jackson
Keene finds inspiration in newspaper clippings, memoirs, and history, and anchors them in the eternal, universal, and mystical. — Vanity Fair
Keene exerts superb control over his stories, costuming them in the style of Jorge Luis Borges…Yet he preserves the undercurrent of excitement and pathos that accompanies his characters' persecution and their groping toward freedom. — Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
Queering the script, defying the imperative to be silent, however, does not require confidence or a vision of what progress means. It is, rather, in all its uncertainty and risk, the most basic stuff of—the very matter of—life. It is also the crowning achievement of one of the year’s very best books. — Brad Johnson, Quarterly Conversation
Keene’s collection of short and longer historical fictions are formally varied, mold-breaking, and deeply political. He’s a radical artist working in the most conservative genres, and any search for innovation in this year’s U.S. fiction should start here. — Christian Lorentzen, Vulture
Practically every sentence in the book perforates, stretches out, or pries open literary modes designed to be airtight, restrictive, and racially exclusionary…An expert generator of suspense, Keene also turns out to be a skilled humorist, a mischievous ironist, a deft, seductive storyteller and a studied historian. — Max Nelson, Bookforum
Genre
Jazz
Missed the Show?
Sunday 11/01/2015 @ 3:00PM - 6:00PM
| Artist | Song | Album | Label | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Dyani | Radebe | Witchdoctor's Son | Steeplechase | March 15, 1978 |
| Johnny Dyani | Mbiza | Witchdoctor's Son | Steeplchase | March 15, 1978 |
| Ishmael Reed | Judas | Conjure | Pangea | Autumn 1983 |
| Hamiet Bluiett featuring Quincy Troupe | Snake Back Solos | Nali Kola | Soul Note | July 7, 1987 |
| Air | G.v.E. | Air Time | Nessa | November 17, 1977 |
| Airbreak | ||||
| Joseph Jarman - Don Moye | Mama Marimba | Black Paladins | Black Saint | December 19 & 20, 1979 |
| Joseph Jarman - Don Moye | Ode to Wilbur Ware | Black Paladins | Black Saint | December 19 & 20, 1979 |
| Roberta Flack | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face | First Take | Atlantic | February 24 - 26, 1969 |
| Roberta Flack | Tryin' Times | First Take | Atlantic | February 24 - 26, 1969 |
| Eddie Gale | Black Rhythm Happening | Black Rhythm Happening | Blue Note | May 2, 1969 |
| Eddie Gale | The Gleeker | Black Rhythm Happening | Blue Note | May 2, 1969 |
| Jayne Cortez - Richard Davis | Essence of Rose Solitude | Celebrations and Solitudes | Strata-East | July 18, 1974 |
| Airbreak | ||||
| Caetano Veloso | Triste Bahia | Transa | Philips (Brazil) | c. 1972 |
| Cecil McBee | Pepe's Samba | Compassion | Enja | August 3, 1977 |
| Edward Kamau Brathwaite | The Cabin | Rights of Passage Vol. 2 | Argo (U.K.) | c. 1968 |
| Stan Getz - Joao Gilberto | Retrato em Branco e Preto | Getz / Gilberto '76 | Resonance | March 11-16, 1976 |
| Airbreak | ||||
| Kenny Dorham | Basheer's Dream | Afro-Cuban | Blue Note | March 29, 1955 |
| Teddy Edwards - Howard McGhee | You Stepped Out of a Dream | Together Again!!!! | Contemporary | May 15 & 17, 1961 |
| Interview with John Keene by Justin Desmangles | Interview with John Keene by Justin Desmangles | Interview with John Keene by Justin Desmangles | Interview with John Keene by Justin Desmangles | Interview with John Keene by Justin Desmangles |
| Joseph Jarman - Don Moye | Black Paladins | Black Paladins | Black Saint | December 19 & 20, 1979 |