SYLVIA HIKINS enjoys a varied Scouse alternative to traditional pantomimes
Latest editorial
One Caribbean!
CHRIS SEARLE is transported by a superfine tribute to James Baldwin
Neil Charles
[Pete Woodman]
Rereleases from The Pentangle, The Charlie Daniels Band, and Cousins and Willoughby
ANDY HEDGECOCK picks out his cultural highlights of 2025
Star cartoonist MALC MCGOOKIN finds lessons for today in the punch, and the economy of line, of an extraordinary generation of illustrators
LEO BOIX, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Dreamers, It Was Just An Accident, Folktales, and Eternity
JENNY MITCHELL, poetry co-editor for the Morning Star, introduces her priorities, and her first selection
Neil Charles Dark Days Quartet
Tribute to James Baldwin
Cafe Oto, Dalston London
I REMEMBER being immersed in reading the first explosive 100 pages of James Baldwin’s epochal novel, Another Country, as I rode on a Greyhound bus to take part in the massive Poor People’s Campaign demonstration in Washington DC in July 1968, shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Baldwin’s words about racist oppression and the life and suicide of the jazz drummer, Rufus Scott, were a profound message of their times. So I was determined, now in 2024, to hear Neil Charles’s Dark Days Quartet in Dalston’s Cafe Oto, celebrating Baldwin’s centenary.
Similar stories
CHRIS SEARLE pays tribute to the late South African percussionist, Louis Moholo-Moholo
CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May
CHRIS SEARLE samples the Kris Davis Trio at the Vortex and recommends highlights from the forthcoming programme
An unlikely venue hosts a memorable concert, and has future treats in store