University of Illinois Press publishing "BluesSpeak" by Chicago Beau
The Best of the Original Chicago Blues Annual
EDITED BY LINCOLN T. BEAUCHAMP JR.
This incomparable anthology collects articles, interviews, fi ction, and poetry
from the Original Chicago Blues Annual, one of music history’s most
signifi cant periodical blues publications. Founded and operated from
1989 to 1995 by African American musician and entrepreneur Lincoln T.
Beauchamp Jr., OCBA gave voice to the blues community and often
frankly addressed contentious issues within the blues such as race, identity,
prejudice, wealth, gender, and inequity.
OCBA often expressed an explicitly black perspective, but its contributors
were a mix of black and white, American and international. Likewise,
although OCBA’s roots and main focus were in Chicago, Beauchamp’s
vision for the publication (and his own activities as a blues performer and
promoter) embraced an international dimension, refl ecting a broad diversity
of blues audiences and activities in locations as farfl ung as Iceland,
Poland, France, Italy, and South Africa.
BluesSpeak includes key selections from OCBA’s seven issues and
features candid interviews with Koko Taylor, Eddie Boyd, Famoudou Don
Moye, Big Daddy Kinsey, Lester Bowie, Junior Wells, Billy Boy Arnold,
Herb Kent, Barry Dolins, and many more. The volume collects work from
literary artists such as Eugene B. Redmond, Quincy Troupe, Kalamu Ya
Salaam, Julie Parson Nesbitt, and Hart Leroy Bibbs. Also featured are
heartfelt memorials to bygone blues artists, insightful observations on the
state of the blues in Chicago and beyond, and dozens of photographs
of performers, promoters, and other participants in the worldwide blues
scene.
“This collection strikes an excellent balance between interview, blues
reportage, and literary work and will be of interest to blues fans, scholars
of black literature, and anyone interested in community arts.”
—Barry Lee Pearson, coauthor of Robert Johnson: Lost and Found