Afrofuturism in Jazz Music
Liberation has always been at the forefront of most African-American artistic expression; Afrofuturism is another version of it. Afrofuturism (as the name implies) is the imagined futuristic society of the global African Diaspora. This has been expressed in many different forms across the 20th and 21st century, but the actual term was coined by author Mark Derry in 1993. The easiest recognizable forms of Afrofuturism deal with intergalactic space travel, transhumanism, and spiritual enlightenment for all black people across the globe.
Jazz music has also been used to express the hopeful ideas of Afrofuturism. You can’t talk about Afrofuturism *in general* without bringing up Sun Ra. Sun Ra is partially responsible for bringing this movement out into the public consciousness. “Ahead of its time” is the best description of Sun Ra’s music, both thematically and technically. Sun Ra was known to bring in electric instruments into his compositions, over a decade before it became mainstream in jazz music. A quick scroll through his discography would show many albums and songs dealing with space, including: Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, The Other Side of The Sun, and Space is the Place. He’s mostly famous for his avante-garde style of playing. Sun Ra helped pave the path for many jazz musicians and gave them inspiration for their cosmic and spacey sounds.
It would be fair to say that Afrofuturistic jazz music didn’t really kick off until the early to mid 70s, when the use of electric instruments finally became mainstream in the jazz soundscape. Did somebody say Miles Davis? I swear I heard someone mention his name… Anyway, Davis being the rockstar that he was, dropped Bitches Brew in 1970, sort of announcing the beginning of the fusion era of jazz music. Bitches Brew was Davis’ best-selling record at the time, chock-full of heavily edited and pure psychadelic sounds. Looking at the cover art alone (created by Mati Klarwein), you can tell what this album is about. African spirituality, space, and enlightenment are present in the music, and even the cover — clearly showing the core tenets of Afrofuturism.
As the members of Davis’ many ensembles came and went, many went on to make names for themselves. One of those people that I want to focus on is Herbie Hancock, my main inspiration for researching and writing this essay. Hancock is famously known for his jazz funk albums like Headhunters and Sunlight. However, before and even during his breakout to success, he released a few albums with that Afrofuturistic sound, mainly Sextant and Thrust. Both albums deal heavily with this otherworldly space sound, especially Sextant.
Another jazz titan, John Coltrane was a major part of the Afrofuturist movement in jazz music. Coltrane was known, especially in the years leading up to his premature death, for spirituality in his music (one of the core tenets). On the year of his death, he recorded Interstellar Space, which was released by Impulse Records posthumously in 1974, in the heat of the Afrofuturist wave. Each of the tracks are named after the planets in our solar system, and the album is full of the classic Coltrane avante-garde sound with frantic runs of saxophone notes and fast drumming tempos. Pharoah Sanders, another major player in the spritual jazz sphere released a couple of Afrofutuist jazz albums, such as Thembi (1971) and Karma (1969). Sanders takes inspiration from eastern spirituality in these albums, bringing in a new perspective to the jazz sound, while still keeping the aspects of spirituality and the future that Afrofuturuism is known for.
While the movement took off and had its heyday in the early to mid-70s, there is still a well established Afrofuturist movement in today’s jazz sound. Prominet jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington has almost based his entire brand around space travel and the themes of Afrofuturism that we’ve all come to know and love. Washington’s most recent album releases have songs that follow Afrofuturistic themes: such as The Space Travellers Lullaby or Agents of the Multiverse. Washington’s use of contemplative, multilayered saxophones and sometimes a choir, he perfectly expresses the idea of Afrofuturism. In a more modern and electric sense, Flying Lotus is a prominent producer who I think hits the tenets of Afrofuturism. Spirituality and spacy productions have always been at the forefront of almost all of Flying Lotus’ albums, especially Cosmogramma. Themes of space exploration and futuristic techology are filled in this album, with even a wink to the legacy of Sun Ra with a song named Arkestry!
Afrofuturism, while a somewhat vague topic, is an interesting theme that many jazz musicians participated in. What I’ve talked about in this short article hasn’t even scratched the surface of this art form. For those looking to get into jazz and find joy in sci-fi fantasy, Afrofuturism is a great subgenre to research. SFJAZZ has a great playlist for those who are interested in Afrofuturist jazz. In my honest opinion, the state of Afrofuturism is in good hands and I can’t wait to see where there these talented people take the sound next.
