In Straight Up, Without Wings, Joe McPhee surveys sixty years in creative music. Starting with his trumpeter-father's influence and formative years in the U.S. Army, McPhee recounts experiences as a Black-hippy-cum-budding-musician based in upstate New York, perched at an ideal distance from Manhattan’s free jazz demimonde of the 1960s and its loft scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, revealing never-told tales and reveling in the joys of noise, McPhee puts the influence of – and encounters with – Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler into the context of an independently-minded young player, ravenous for experience, dealing with the crucible of racism, seeking to break out beyond the bounds of a regional Hudson Valley scene that he knows like the back of his hand. The memoir draws forward through thrilling passages in Europe and across the United States, as McPhee gains momentum, as his music becomes the impetus for multiple record labels, as he collaborates with figures from Peter Brötzmann to Pauline Oliveros, and as he eventually goes on to inspire musicians far and wide. Written as an oral history, deftly conducted by Mike Faloon to preserve McPhee’s unique narrative voice, Straight Up, Without Wings includes “reflections” by eight musicians from across the protagonist’s rich history.
Joe McPhee is a multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, composer, and poet based in Poughkeepsie, New York. His acclaimed LP Nation Time was recorded in 1970; fifty years later, its track “Shakey Jake” was featured in the “Defiant Jazz” episode of the television series Severance. McPhee has recorded for numerous record labels, including CjR and Hat Hut, both of which were founded expressly to release his music. His most recent production is Musings of a Bahamian Son, which features McPhee reciting his own poetry.
Mike Faloon is a teacher and writer based in New York’s Hudson Valley. He is the author of The Other Night at Quinn’s: New Adventures in the Sonic Underground.
Fred Moten is a poet, scholar, editor, educator, and performer based in New York. Among his many books are In the Break, The Feel Trio, Black and Blur, and perennial presence fashion falling.
Moor Mother is a poet, professor, musician, and interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. She is half of Black Quantum Futurism. Her discography includes Black Encylopedia, Jazz Codes, and The Great Bailout, and her most recent book is American Equations in Black Classical Music.
