about this book

Free Jazz Communism actualizes the concert of the Archie Shepp–Bill Dixon Quartet at the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, 1962. Edited by Sezgin Boynik and Taneli Viitahuhta, the book contextualizes the politics of free jazz music in light of global decolonization movements, anti-war activism, structures of racial capitalism, and forms of avant-garde music.

Apart from the theoretical and historical overview by its editors, the book includes testimonies of the collective and international spirit of the 1962 Youth Festival, translated documents from the Finnish press, a new interview with Archie Shepp, a commissioned text by Jeff Schwartz on the historical context of the political engagement of free jazz musicians, and reproductions of three hard-to-find texts by Shepp.

This book was selected by Tique for Objects & Sounds.