Legendary composer-improviser and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell is best known for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago over the past several decades,…
959, Leni Sinclair born Magdalene Arndt left a West Berlin refugee camp bound for Detroit, where relatives lived. A teenager with a love of Beat poetry, avant-garde jazz and film, she carried a camera wherever she went. Soon immersed in the Detroit’s underground arts and leftist politics, she met John Sinclair and began photographing the jazz scene, which led to photographing rock shows by the likes of the MC5 (whom she and John managed) and the Stooges. Over the years, Leni amassed an invaluable, unrivaled archive that has finally received a proper showcase, Motor City Underground. Richie Unterberger spoke at length with Leni Sinclair for PKM about her book and her incredible journey.
In the wake of the Afrofuturism festival of arts and music at New York’s Carnegie Hall, DeForrest Brown, Jr examines the liberating potential of the movement’s legacy