Matana Roberts' Genealogy of Jazz

Morgan, Frances, In These Times

COIN COIN, A series of musical works by Chicago-born saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts, explores the genealogy of Roberts' own family, and in the process addresses African- American history from slavery to the present day. Chapter One of the work, released on Constellation Records this year and subtitled "Gens de Couleur Libres" ("Free People of Color"), is a 2010 live recording taken from a concert in Montreal in which Roberts plays alto sax and directs a i5-piece band. She also provides spoken, sung and sometimes screamed vocals, in which she narrates the stories of, and sometimes becomes, characters including Coin Coin, the name of 18th-century freed slave Marie Thérèse Coincoin, …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Matana Roberts' Genealogy of Jazz. Contributors: Morgan, Frances - Author. Magazine title: In These Times. Volume: 35. Issue: 12 Publication date: December 2011. Page number: 40+. © Institute for Public Affairs, Inc. Mar 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.