Moor Mother is announcing Jazz Codes today; coming out on July 1, it is her second album for ANTI- and a companion to her celebrated 2021 release Black Encyclopedia of the Air. Alongside today’s album announcement she has shared a video for the new track ”Woody Shaw” feat. Melanie Charles. Directed by Cyrus Moussavi.
“Woody Shaw” was filmed in the Leimert Park headquarters of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, founded in 1961 by Horace Tapscott with the vision of promoting a true community orchestra dedicated to Black music in South Central LA. Though Tapscott passed in ‘99, PAPA still goes strong under the leadership of his son, Mekala.
Jazz Codes uses poetry as a starting point, but the collection moves toward more melody, more singing voices, more choruses and more complexity. In its warm, densely layered course through jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, Jazz Codes sets the ear blissfully adrift and unhitches the mind from habit. Through her work, Ayewa illuminates the principles of her interdisciplinary collaborative practice Black Quantum Futurism, a theoretical framework for creating counter-chronologies and envisioning Black quantum womanist futures that rupture exclusionary versions of history and future through art, writing, music, and performance.
Moor Mother – aka the songwriter, composer, vocalist, poet, and visual artist Camae Ayewa – is also a professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
TOUR DATES
5/27 – Berlin, Germany – CTM Festival
5/30 – Ljubljana, Slovenia – Druga Godba Festival
6/16 – Lucerne, Switzerland – B Sides Festival
6/23 – Mannheim, Germany – Mannheim Triennale
6/25 – Toulouse, France – Les Siestes Electroniques
6/27 – Bolzano, Italy – Alte Adige Festival
6/30 – Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
7/2 – Budapest, Hungary – Kolorado Festival
7/4 – Montreal, Canada – Montreal Jazz Fest
7/8 – Los Angeles, CA – Resident
8/8 – Wiltshire, UK – End of the Road Festival
8/10 – Berlin, Germany – A L’larme! X Berlin 10
#moormother