Wax Poetics Issue 32

Issue 32 offers a rare and insightful look at funk visionary Sylvester Stewart, better known as Sly Stone. We also follow reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff through a long and textured career which spanned five decades and encompassed several milestones in the music and movie mediums.

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Featured Articles:
  • Sly Stone
    "I don't read much of what anybody writes about me, but I know that it's mostly secondhand stuff that looks like it's supposed to be firsthand. I don't know nobody, and nobody knows me, and they don't know what they're talking about."
  • Jimmy Cliff
    At last, Jimmy Cliff was off and running, with hit singles at the top of the Jamaican charts. The mode was ska, and the music forceful and bright.
  • Ahmad Jamal
    In 1958, a Pittsburgh-born pianist named Ahmad Jamal recorded a show tune entitled "Poinciana" at a venue called the Pershing Lounge. His elegant pianisms transformed that song into something rare for the jazz world—a hit record.
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    Also Includes:
    • Re:Discovery Hildegard Knef, Purple Image, Clive Smith and Brenda Hutchinson, Alton McClain and Destiny, Odyssey Five
    • Obituaries Earl Palmer, Norman Whitfield, Jerry Wexler, Alton Ellis
    • Houston Rennaissance H-Town rappers HISD initiate a Lone Star rebirth
    • Poetic Justice Jean Grae's daring wordplay propelled her to hip-hop's forefront
    • Electro Shock Terry Lynn upends traditional reggae with charged Kingston commentary
    • The Fifth Element Cey Adams established the visual constituent of the hip-hop nation
    • The Producer's Producer Large Professor laid the groundwork for a generation of beatmakers
    • Breaking Free Filmmaker Jamaa Fanaka escaped the confines of blaxploitation
    • Machine Funk Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince electrified hip-hop in the '80s
    • There's a Riot Goin' On An excerpt from I Want to Take You Higher — The Life and Times of Sly and the Family Stone published by Backbeat Books
    • Island Ambassador Jimmy Cliff reached global audiences without toeing the line
    • Gold Standard Pianist Ahmad Jamal charted a new popularity for jazz
    • Seoul Power The South Korean B-Boy Cipher
    • Maker's Mark Vincent Chin's Randy's Records shaped reggae's legacy

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