African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston

Arranger's Preface 1: Origins; 2: Growing Up in Brooklyn; 3: The Scene Shifts to the Pacific; 4: Postwar: Escaping the Panic; 5: Post-Berkshires: Succumbing to the Irresistible Lure; 6: Enter Melba Liston; 7: Uhuru Afrika: Freedom Africa; 8: Making the Pilgrimage; 9: Touring the Motherland; 10: Making a Home in Africa; 11: Connecting with the Gnawa; 12: Building a Life in Tangier: The African Rhythms Club; 13: Festival Blues, Then Divine Intervention: Blue Moses; 14: Post Morocco and the Ellington Connection; 15: Compositions and Sessions; 16: The African Rhythms Quintet; 17: The African Queen; 18: The Adventures of Randy Weston; 19: Ancient Future; Conclusion: Randy Weston ... Philosophically Yours Discography; Awards and Citations; Index

"Randy Weston is magical, spiritual, ebullient and generous soul who just happens to be one of the most original composers and pianists of the last 60 years. African Rhythms is his fascinating story in his own voice--a story that starts in Brooklyn and moves through the Berkshires, Africa and Europe before returning to Brooklyn. A wonderful read."--Michael Cuscuna "When Randy Weston plays a combination of strength and gentleness, virility and velvet emerges from the keys in an ebb and flow of sound seemingly as natural as the waves of the sea."--Langston Hughes, in the liner notes for Weston's album Uhuru Afrika "African Rhythms is unlike anything I've ever read. Randy Weston--pianist, composer, bandleader, activist, ambassador, visionary, griot--takes the reader on a most spectacular spiritual journey from Brooklyn to Africa, around the world and back again. He tells a story of this great music that has never been told in print: tracing its African roots and branches, acknowledging the ancestors who helped bring him to the music and draw the music from his soul, singing praise songs for those artistic and intellectual giants whose paths he crossed, from Langston Hughes to Melba Liston, Dizzy to Monk, Marshall Stearns to Cheikh Anta Diop. And in the process, Mr. Weston bares his soul, revealing a man overflowing with ancient wisdom, humility, respect for history, and a capacity for creating some of the most astoundingly beautiful music the modern world has ever experienced."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original "In his new autobiography, African Rhythms, Randy Weston recounts a life-changing epiphany. Working as a dishwasher at a Berkshires resort in the '50s, the aspiring jazz pianist stumbled upon a lecture by the musicologist Marshall Stearns, who traced the roots of jazz to West Africa... Not only did Weston get to know Stearns, but he also went on to become one of the most knowledgeable and well-known