The Hands of Grace, by Ishmael Reed

The Hands of Grace

by Ishmael Reed

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Awad I think my grandmother and my uncle Moses would've loved this record. I hold it close because it reminds me of how beautiful and dynamic Black art can be at every stage of life. Absolutely love it. Favorite track: Anniversary Song for Carla.

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Full Digital Discography

27

releases

Get all 27 Reading Group releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Spatial Data Management (Original Score), Soul Musings, Blue Monday, contradictions (plays lu xun, žižek, baudrillard and beckett), The Hands of Grace, Blood Karaoke, Moten/López/Cleaver, Рясні дрова, and 19 more. , and , .

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Hands of Grace CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Limited edition CD with original liner notes by Ishmael Reed and Fred Moten.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Hands of Grace via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Bells of Basquiat 04:46	buy track
2.	Hands of Grace 03:38	buy track
3.	Elegy for Lucille Clifton 02:46	buy track
4.	When Beautiful Boys Drown in the Nile they Become Gods 04:47	buy track
5.	Variations on the Slave Scale 05:14	buy track
6.	What I Hear When I View Basquiats 04:51	buy track
7.	How High the Moon 04:18	buy track
8.	Anniversary Song for Carla 02:10	buy track
9.	Steve Cannon Blues 04:19	buy track
10.	Timothy 03:05	buy track

about

"A great pleasure to play with my favorite writer; he has transformed his literary genius to the piano in one lifetime, Bravo!" -David Murray

Reading Group is thrilled to announce The Hands of Grace, a new album of original music by the legendary novelist, essayist, poet, critic, and playwright Ishmael Reed (b. Tennessee, 1938). The Hands of Grace presents for the first time the original music that Reed composed for his 2021 play, “The Slave Who Loved Caviar,” which was read at the Nuyorican Poets Café and premiered at the Theater for the New City in 2021. Also featured on the album are several other solo piano and ensemble compositions by Reed, with accompaniment from Roger Glenn (flute), Ray Obiedo (guitar), Carla Blank (violin), and Tennessee Reed (voice).

Reed’s compositions on The Hands of Grace range from humor and pastiche to arresting beauty. The intimate and idiosyncratic sound calls to mind the off-kilter beauty of Charles Mingus’s piano record and Carman Moore’s score (also on Reading Group) for Personal Problems (1980), the brilliant “black soap opera” that Reed co-developed with Steve Cannon and Bill Gunn. Opening with a minimalist meditation on Jean-Michel Basquiat (also the subject of the play), and moving through blues tunes, descriptive pieces, and tributes to poet Lucille Clifton and Reed’s partner Carla Blank, the record closes with a moving ode to Reed’s late daughter Timothy. The Hands of Grace offers a deep dive into the musicality of this inimitable artist.

Edition of 250 CDs, with liner note essays by Ishmael Reed and Fred Moten.
Mastered by Matt Bachmann.
Digital download comes with liner note booklet.

credits

released October 25, 2022

Ishmael Reed (piano, compositions)
Roger Glenn (flute)
Ray Obiedo (guitar, bass)
Carla Blank (violin)
Tennessee Reed (voice)

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Reading Group New York, New York

Reading Group, record label started in New York in 2016.

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readinggroup.co

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