The Cricket: Black music in evolution
- Place of Publication: Newark, NJ
- Language: English
- Date of Publication: 1968-1969
- Periodicity: Irregular
- Editors: LeRoi Jones, Larry Neal & A. B. Spellman
- Publishers: [s. n.]
- Type: Full Text
Three issues of The Cricket: Black Music in Evolution were published, two in 1968 and one in 1969, by LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka), Larry Neal, and A. B. Spellman. The editors focus was on Black music and liberation: “The true voices of Black Liberation have been the Black musicians. They were the first to free themselves from the concepts and sensibilities of the oppressor. The history of Black Music is a history of a people’s attempt to define the world in their terms.”1 In revolutionary terms, they proposed empowering Black artists and providing a forum for writing on Black music. The magazine’s title comes from a “scandal sheet” which Buddy Bolden supposedly edited in New Orleans. (Its publication is highly dubious.) The editors stated that the “hip white boys” dismissed Bolden’s Cricket as mere gossip – but this second Cricket would have much more.
Following this manifesto, the first issue begins with Sun Ra’s spiritual self-exploration of his music, Larry A. Miller on rhythm and blues and white musicians, Milford Graves on Black musicians and empowerment, a poem “And some music is not music…” by Sun Ra, and LeRoi Jones's review of Pharoah Sanders’s album Tauhid. Issue 2 opens with A. B. Spellman’s perspective on moving from New York to Atlanta. Jimmy Stewart contributes a position paper, “Revolutionary Black Music in the Total Context of Black Distention,” Milford Graves writes on defining Black Art, and Stanley Crouch writes on Horace Tapscott and the Community Cultural Orchestra. Poetry appears throughout, by Sonia Sanchez, Clyde Halisi, Don L. Lee, Sun Ra, Norman Jordan, and Ben Caldwell.
At 66 pages, issue 3 is substantially longer and contains a greater range of contributions. Imamu Ameer Baraka (Jones) writes on issues of Black art, spiritualism, and a biting satire of musical whiteness (“Rockgroup”). Mtume writes on Black musicians and revolutionary art; Albert Ayler describes a spiritual vision; Jimmy Stewart assesses Ornette Coleman; Roger Riggins reviews albums by Charles E. Clark and Frank Wright and memorializes Coleman Hawkins; Larry E. Neal writes on Pharoah Sanders, Thelonious Monk, and Albert Ayler; Norman Jordan writes on positive Black music; Donald Stone reviews Julius Lester’s album Departures. As with other issues, poetry is interspersed throughout.
1 “The Cricket”, issue 1: i.