Wax Poetics is a bimonthly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, hip-hop, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl records.

Since the first issue of Wax Poetics was published in December 2001, the magazine has expanded its operations to include apparel sales, a record label, a music download site, book publishing and film divisions, and a weekly radio show on New York City's East Village Radio

East Village Radio

East Village Radio is an Internet radio station which broadcasts from a storefront studio in the East Village of Manhattan, in New York City. EVR serves both as a voice for the local downtown cultural scene and as a forum for the community at large...

 hosted by the magazine's staff.

In November 2008, Wax Poetics, Inc. unveiled Wax Poetics Japan.

No digital versions or back issues of Wax Poetics have ever been released, and as of April 2010, the company had no plans to do so.

History

In spring 2001, Editor-In-Chief Andre Torres was living in New York City and conducting preliminary research for a documentary on die-hard record collectors when he realized there were no publications to consult devoted to the culture of beat-digging. He scrapped the documentary and, instead, decided to start his own quarterly to fill what he perceived to be gaps in the landscape of contemporary music magazines.

"No one was even touching jazz, soul, funk, or anything like that", Torres said in a March 2008 interview with Current TV. "What I was trying to do was essentially look at hip-hop through that lens."

Torres enlisted the help of Brian DiGenti, a close friend with editorial experience as a freelance writer. Both Torres and DiGenti had graduated from the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

 in 1995—Torres with a degree in painting and DiGenti with a degree in English. Although they had met at school, they didn't begin to develop a friendship until they had both moved to New York City in the late '90s. There, they often made beats and went mining for vinyl

Vinyl

A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...

 together, further cultivating a common fascination with the crate-digging lifestyle. DiGenti had moved to California about a year before Torres called about the start-up, but agreed to co-found the publication across the country.

For a year, DiGenti and Creative Director Kevin DeBernardi, then a partner in the fledgling quarterly, collaborated to create a mock-up of Wax Poetics. In December 2001, Torres, DiGenti, and DeBernardi independently published the first issue, which cost $6 USD and featured stories on Bobbito, Scotty Hard, Idris Muhammad

Idris Muhammad

Idris Muhammad is a jazz drummer. He changed his name in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. He is known for his funky playing style. He has released a number of albums as leader, and has played with a number of jazz legends including Lou Donaldson, Johnny Griffin, Pharoah Sanders and Grover...

, Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

, and Madlib

Madlib

Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...

. The magazine continues to be independently published.

Starting with Issue 2, Torres began to incorporate a one-page editor's letter to preface the magazine's content.

With Issue 15, published in February 2006, Wax Poetics transitioned from a quarterly to bimonthly magazine.

As of September 2011, forty-eight issues of the magazine have been published. In terms of physical size, the magazine is a 7x10-inch publication in the vein of National Geographic. It has grown from 81 pages in its first issue to 130 pages on average. Aside from regular contributions from editors, the magazine has no staff writers and relies exclusively on freelance work.

According to a 2009 press manual released by Wax Poetics, Inc. readership has also grown exponentially. Today, there are approximately three readers to each issue, making for a total audience of 232,200. About 92% of Wax Poetics readership lies within the United States, mostly in Mid-Atlantic and Pacific states. Ninety-seven percent of readers claim to collect their issues, according to a Wax Poetics reader survey conducted in June 2008.

Torres' manifesto was not only to shed light on funk, soul, and jazz, but to illuminate the symbiotic and historical relationship between those genres and contemporary hip-hop. Wax Poetics regularly features seminal artists like David Axelrod

David Axelrod

David Axelrod may refer to:* David Axelrod * David Axelrod , Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama* David B. Axelrod , poet and educator...

 or Bob James

Bob James (musician)

Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...

, unveiling the stories behind the people and music that have provided both a cultural framework for hip-hop to evolve, and the sonic backbone for crucial elements like breakbeat.

"We dibble-dabble in the new and the old", Torres told Current TV. "Young people come to this older music; it's through hip-hop. It's hearing someone sample something and saying, "Oh, yo, I gotta find that record that Primo or Dr. Dre or whoever used on that track. It's like a time-machine. You use hip-hop to travel back and pick up on everything that's happened before."

Since Issue 4, every issue of the magazine features a "re:Discovery", or a brief article that revisits a noteworthy vintage record. Recent issues include upwards of five re:Discovery blurbs, each accompanied by a full-color photograph of the record itself or its original cover.

Aesthetically, the magazine has been hailed by the New York Times Style Magazine as, "The best and most exquisitely laid-out music bimonthly in America" Starting with Issue 19, Wax Poetics regularly began to feature a different artist on the front and back covers of the magazine; prior to this design change, both covers typically featured artwork or non-specific vintage photographs.

"I wanted to create something that, when you finished reading it, there would be no way that you would ever think about putting it in the trash", Torres told Current TV.

In 2007, Wax Poetics, Inc. expanded to include a book publishing division and a record label.

Wax Poetics Books has since released three coffee table anthologies, including two collections of notable past articles, published in response to demand for back issues. The manifesto of Wax Poetics Records is to reissue rare LPs, 12-inches, and 7-inches.

In summer 2008, the company also launched an online music store—Wax Poetics Digital—where customers can purchase performance-quality mp3s of music featured in the magazine.

In 2011, Wax Poetics, Inc. received an Utne Reader

Utne Reader

Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...

 Independent Press Award for Arts Coverage.

Featured Artists

The following are published issues with an abridged list of featured artists:

Issue 1: Idris Muhammad

Idris Muhammad

Idris Muhammad is a jazz drummer. He changed his name in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. He is known for his funky playing style. He has released a number of albums as leader, and has played with a number of jazz legends including Lou Donaldson, Johnny Griffin, Pharoah Sanders and Grover...

, Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

, Madlib

Madlib

Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...

Issue 2: Bob James

Bob James (musician)

Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...

, Ike Turner

Ike Turner

Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

, the Kings of Rhythm, Clive Chin

Clive Chin

Clive Chin is a Chinese Jamaican record producer whose work includes recordings by The Wailers, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry and Black Uhuru, among others...

Issue 3: People Under the Stairs

People Under the Stairs

People Under the Stairs is a hip hop group from Los Angeles, California formed in 1997 by Thes One and Double K. The group has released eight critically acclaimed full-length albums and performed on every continent except Antarctica. It is estimated that the group has performed well over 1,000 sold...

, Peanut Butter Wolf

Peanut Butter Wolf

Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf, is a DJ, hip-hop producer and the founder of hip-hop label Stones Throw Records.A native of San Jose, California, He took on the name Peanut Butter Wolf in the late-80s when he realized that a girlfriend’s youngest brother feared the “peanut butter wolf monster”...

, The Last Poets

The Last Poets

The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...

, Charlie Ahearn

Charlie Ahearn (director)

Charlie Ahearn was born in 1951 in Binghamton, New York, and is a film director and creative cultural artist currently living in New York City. Although predominantly involved in film and video production, he is also known for his work as an author, freelance writer, and radio host...

, King Tubby

King Tubby

King Tubby was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of dub in the 1960s and 1970s...

Issue 4: Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...

, Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...

, The Rza, The Hollies

The Hollies

The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...

Issue 5: Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...

Issue 6: Sun Ra

Sun Ra

Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...

, Eddie Kendricks

Eddie Kendricks

Eddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...

Issue 7: Pete Rock

Pete Rock

Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...

, Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...

Issue 8: Danger Mouse

Danger Mouse

Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...

, DJ Premier

DJ Premier

Christopher Edward Martin , better known by his stage name DJ Premier , is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru...

, Madvillain

Madvillain

Madvillain is a hip hop group consisting of MF DOOM and Madlib . Their debut album Madvillainy was met with wide critical acclaim for its unique approach—short songs, obscure lyrics, few choruses and a sound which was generally unfriendly to commercial radio.In 2006, Madvillain was featured on...

Issue 9: RJD2

RJD2

RJD2 is an American music producer, singer and musician. RJD2 was born in Eugene, Oregon, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was signed to the Definitive Jux label where he released two largely instrumental hip hop albums and has produced tracks...

, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Geto Boys

Geto Boys

Geto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...

, Al Green

Al Green

Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...

Issue 10: Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

, Melvin van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...

Issue 11: The Imperials

The Imperials

The Imperials are an American Christian music group that has been around for over 45 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There have been many changes for the band in membership and musical styles...

, Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...

Issue 12: Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith (musician)

Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...

, Yusef Lateef

Yusef Lateef

Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...

Issue 13: Ron Everett, Eric B. & Rakim

Eric B. & Rakim

Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...

, Sharon Jones, The Meters

The Meters

The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...

Issue 14: Big Boi

Big Boi

Antwan André Patton , better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André...

, Edan

Edan

Edan aka Edan Portnoy is an American alternative hip hop artist. He is an emcee, DJ and record producer.Edan is known for his unique/unlikely take on hip hop culture, where traditional rap songs are often skewed by 60's rock samples, tape echoes, and foreign language choruses, not to mention the...

, Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...

, Blowfly

Issue 15: David Axelrod

David Axelrod

David Axelrod may refer to:* David Axelrod * David Axelrod , Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama* David B. Axelrod , poet and educator...

, Jackie Jackson

Jackie Jackson

Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson is an American singer and musician, a member of The Jackson 5, and the second child in the Jackson family.-Life and career:...

, Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

, Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...

Issue 16: The Jungle Brothers, Hank Shocklee, Herbie Mann

Herbie Mann

Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...

, Bill Withers

Bill Withers

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...

Issue 17: J Rocc, Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...

, Prince and the Revolution, Little Beaver

Little Beaver

Little Beaver may refer to:* Little Beaver, the Navaho pal of Red Ryder* Willie Hale, musician also known as Little Beaver* Lionel Giroux, the wrestler known as Little Beaver...

, Jay Dee

Issue 18: Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...

, Parliament Funkadelic, George Clinton

George Clinton (musician)

George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...

, Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins

William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...

Issue 19: Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...

, Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...

, Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

 and David Byrne

David Byrne

David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...

, J.J. Cale

J.J. Cale

JJ Cale , born John Weldon Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has...

Issue 20: Lee "Scratch" Perry, King Curtis

King Curtis

Curtis Ousley , who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer...

, Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

Issue 21: James Brown

James Brown

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...

, Planet Rock

Planet Rock

Planet Rock may refer to:* "Planet Rock" , a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force* Planet Rock: The Album, a 1986 album containing the song...

Issue 22: Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...

, DJ Jazzy Jeff

DJ Jazzy Jeff

Jeffrey Allen Townes , also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff or simply Jazz, is an American hip hop, R&B record producer, turntablist and actor. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...

, Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

, Betty Davis

Betty Davis

Betty Davis is an American funk, rock and soul singer. She was also Miles Davis's second wife.- Background :She worked as a model, appearing in photo spreads in Seventeen, Ebony and Glamour...

Issue 23: Rick James

Rick James

James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...

, Black Milk

Black Milk

Curtis Cross, better known as Black Milk, is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:In 2004, he formed B.R. Gunna, with Young RJ, and Fat Ray, and together they released Dirty District: Vol. 2, a follow up to a compilation released in 2001 by Slum Village, which he had...

, DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow

Joshua Paul Davis better known as DJ Shadow is an American music producer, DJ and songwriter. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was constructed...

, Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...

, Arthur Russell

Arthur Russell

Arthur Russell may refer to:* Arthur Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill , Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India* Arthur Russell , British athlete...

, KRS-One

KRS-One

Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

Issue 24: Oh No

Oh No

-Miscellaneous:* The band's cheaply-produced yet elaborately choreographed videos for "Here It Goes Again" and "A Million Ways" have become YouTube staples - particularly the video for the former song, featuring the band dancing on treadmills - and have done much to propel the songs, the album, and...

, Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash

Joseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....

, Gangstarr, Augustus Pablo

Augustus Pablo

Horace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...

, Marcos Valle

Marcos Valle

Marcos Kostenbader Valle is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and record producer. He has produced works in many musical styles, including bossa nova, samba, incidental music and fusions of American/European rock, soul and dance music with Brazilian styles.-Biography:Valle's talent was evident from...

, Kool and the Gang

Issue 25: The Eliminators

The Eliminators

The Eliminators were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Perry Saturn and John Kronus who were best known for their time in Extreme Championship Wrestling between 1995 and 1997.-History:...

, Ceu

CEU

CEU may refer to:*Continuing education units in the United States*Central European University in Budapest, Hungary*College of Eastern Utah*Centro Escolar University in the Philippines*Centro de Estudios Universitarios in Spain...

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

Issue 26: Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Blow

Kurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label...

, Eddie Fisher

Eddie Fisher

Edward Fisher may refer to:* Ed Fisher , American baseball player* Eddie Fisher , American singer* Eddie Fisher , American player* Ed Fisher , player...

, Bobby Byrd

Bobby Byrd

Bobby Byrd born Robert Howard Byrd was an American funk/soul/R&B/gospel musician, songwriter and record producer. He was born in Toccoa, Georgia, and is a 1998 winner of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's prestigious Pioneer Award...

, Pharcyde, Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy is a reggae and dancehall artist from Jamaica.-Career:In 1976, Levy formed a band with his cousin, Everton Dacres, called the Mighty Multitude; the pair released "My Black Girl" in 1977...

, Osaka Monorail

Issue 27: Chuck Brown

Chuck Brown

Chuck Brown is a guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "The Godfather of Go-go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late 1970s...

, Tom Terrell

Tom Terrell

Thomas Gerald Terrell was a music journalist, photographer, deejay, promoter, and NPR music reviewer. Born Thomas Gerald Terrell, and later known as Scooter, King Pleasure, and Tom T., he was a life-long musicologist who recognized talent and trends long before they became popular, and, until his...

, Newcleus

Newcleus

Newcleus is an American electro and old school hip hop group that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They are primarily known for their 12-inch singles "Jam-On's Revenge", re-released as "Jam on Revenge " , and "Jam on It" ....

, Brownout

Issue 28: Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus, is an experimental multi-genre music producer from Winnetka, California. His debut album, 1983, was released on Plug Research Records in 2006...

, Q-Tip, Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

, The Lebron Brothers

The Lebron Brothers

The LeBrón Brothers are a musical family born in Puerto Rico and raised in Brooklyn, New York.The brothers are Pablo, Jose, Angel, Carlos and Frankie. They provide the vocals and rhythm section of the band....

, Questlove

Issue 29: Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

, Spoonie Gee

Spoonie Gee

Spoonie Gee is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of few rap artists to release records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term 'hip hop' and some the themes in his music were precursors of Gangsta rap....

, Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...

, Pete Rock

Pete Rock

Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...

, Spoonie Gee

Spoonie Gee

Spoonie Gee is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of few rap artists to release records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term 'hip hop' and some the themes in his music were precursors of Gangsta rap....

Issue 30: Bad Brains

Bad Brains

Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...

, Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, Dave Bartholomew

Dave Bartholomew

Dave Bartholomew is a musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century...

, The Rascals

The Rascals

The Rascals were an American blue-eyed soul group initially active during the years 1965–72. The band released numerous top ten singles in North America during the mid- and late-1960s, including the U.S. #1 hits "Good Lovin'" , "Groovin'" , and "People Got to Be Free"...

Issue 31: Shuggie Otis

Shuggie Otis

Shuggie Otis is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist....

, MF DOOM

MF Doom

Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...

, Patrick Adams, Menahan Street Band

Menahan Street Band

The Menahan Street Band is a musical ensemble featuring musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. The group was founded by Thomas Brenneck while living in an apartment on Menahan St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York...

, Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...

, Slick Rick

Slick Rick

Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...

Issue 32: Sly Stone

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

, Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

, Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...

, Large Professor

Large Professor

Large Professor , also known as Large Pro and Xtra P, is a New York City-based hip hop record producer and emcee. He is also best known as a founding member of the influential underground hip hop group Main Source, and as a frequent collaborator with Nas...

Issue 33: Gamble and Huff

Gamble and Huff

Kenneth Gamble and Leon A. Huff are an American songwriting and record production team who have written and produced over 170 gold and platinum records. They were pioneers of Philadelphia soul and the in-house creative team for the Philadelphia International record label...

, Teddy Pendergrass

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass was an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter. Pendergrass first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s before a successful solo career at the end of the decade...

, The Stylistics

The Stylistics

The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the...

, Questlove, Vince Montana

Issue 34, The Jazz Issue: Melvin Sparks

Melvin Sparks

Melvin Sparks was an American soul jazz, hard bop and jazz blues guitarist. He recorded a number of albums for Prestige Records, later recording for Savant Records...

, Horace Tapscott

Horace Tapscott

Horace Tapscott was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s...

, Creed Taylor

Creed Taylor

Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...

, Joel Dorn

Joel Dorn

Joel Dorn was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels...

Issue 35: Lord Finesse

Lord Finesse

Lord Finesse is a Hip hop artist and producer, hailing from The Bronx, New York, best known as the leader of the D.I.T.C. rap crew.- Career :...

, Ralph MacDonald

Ralph MacDonald

Ralph MacDonald is an American percussionist and song-writer. He joined Harry Belafonte's band at age 17. He wrote the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song "Where is the Love" with songwriting partner William Salter. Probably his best-known composition is the Grover Washington, Jr...

, Booker T. Jones

Booker T. Jones

Booker T. Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. and the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime...

, Byron Lee

Byron Lee

Byron Lee OD, OJ was a musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.-Biography:Lee was born in Christiana in Manchester Parish to an Afro-Jamaican mother and a Chinese father Byron Lee OD, OJ (born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee, 27...

, Mahavishnu Orchestra, E.Z. Mike Simpson

Michael Simpson (producer)

Michael Simpson, also known as "E.Z. Mike", is one-half of the Los Angeles-based producing duo the Dust Brothers, who co-wrote and produced many critically acclaimed records including the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" and Beck's "Odelay". He won a Grammy Award for his songwriting & production on...

, Def Jef

Def Jef

Def Jef is the stage name of Jeffrey Fortson , an American alternative hip hop musician and rapper of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was born in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA....

, Roger Troutman

Roger Troutman

Roger Troutman was the lead singer of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the Funk movement and heavily influenced West Coast hip hop due to the scene's heavy sampling of his music over the years...

Issue 36, The Brazil Issue: Jards Macalé, Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...

, Arthur Verocai, Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...

, Tim Maia

Tim Maia

Tim Maia , born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in Rio de Janeiro, was a famous Brazilian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical musical style...

Issue 37: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5 , later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana...

, Wah Wah Watson, DJ Nicky Siano

Nicky Siano

Nicky Siano was a resident DJ at Studio 54. Siano was born in Brooklyn, New York.In 1971 at the age of 16 he got his first djing gig, with the help of Robin Lord, and in 1972 he opened The Gallery in SoHo, Manhattan with his older brother Joe Siano. At the time he was considered to be the best DJ...

Issue 38: David Holmes

David Holmes (musician)

David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...

, Iceberg Slim

Iceberg Slim

Iceberg Slim aka Robert Beck was a reformed pimp and American author of urban fiction.-Early life:Born Robert Lee Maupin, in Chicago on August 4, 1918, he spent his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois until he returned to Chicago...

, Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...

, Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...

, Spike Lee

Spike Lee

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....

Issue 39, The Africa Issue: Orchestre Poly Rythmo

Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou

Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou are a band from Benin, which plays Afrobeat, Funk, Soukous and other styles, often based on Vodun ryhtmns. Active since the late 1960s, and having recorded around 500 songs, they are still touring around the world today, playing in venues such as London's Barbican...

, Pax Nicholas, Rail Band

Rail Band

The Rail Band, formed in 1970, is one of the most popular groups in the history of Malian music; it was later known as Super Rail Band, Bamako Rail Band or, most comprehensively and formally, Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako...

, Tony Allen

Tony Allen (musician)

Tony Oladipo Allen is aNigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. He is currently writing his autobiography "Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat" with author/musician Michael E...

, Fela Kuti

Fela Kuti

Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...

, Orchestra Baobab

Issue 40: Tortoise

Tortoise (band)

Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...

, Joe Cuba

Joe Cuba

Joe "Sonny" Cuba was a Puerto Rican musician who was considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".-Early years:...

, Tribe

Tribe Records

Tribe Records was an American jazz record label active during the 1970s whose artists included Doug Hammond, Marcus Belgrave, Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison.-History:...

, Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

, Ohio Players

Ohio Players

The Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their double #1 hit songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster".- Biography :...

, Gene Paul, Johnny Lytle

Johnny Lytle

Johnny Lytle was a jazz drummer and vibraphonist.-Biography:...

Issue 41, The Hip-Hop Issue: Chillie B (Newcleus)

Newcleus

Newcleus is an American electro and old school hip hop group that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They are primarily known for their 12-inch singles "Jam-On's Revenge", re-released as "Jam on Revenge " , and "Jam on It" ....

, Guru

Guru (rapper)

Keith Edward Elam , better known by his stage name Guru, was an American emcee and member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts...

, Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...

, Souls of Mischief

Souls of Mischief

-Studio albums:-Singles:-External links:* [ Allmusic Biography]* *...

, DJ Disco Wiz

DJ Disco Wiz

DJ Disco Wiz in the Bronx, New York, USA, to a Puerto Rican father and a mother from Cuba. He is also credited with being the first Latino DJ in Hip-Hop music.- Old School :...

, Easy Mo Bee

Easy Mo Bee

Osten Harvey, Jr., better known by his stage name Easy Mo Bee, is a hip hop/R&B record producer, known for production work for late 80's artists such as Big Daddy Kane, but most notable for his affiliation with Bad Boy Records in its early years and his heavy production involvement in The Notorious...

, Ice-T

ICE-T

* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...

, Ice Cube

Ice Cube

O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...

, KRS-One

KRS-One

Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

, Grand Mixer DXT

Grand Mixer DXT

Grand Mixer DXT is an American turntablist. He was formely known as Grand Mixer D.ST. "D.ST" is a reference to Manhattan, New York City's Delancey Street on the Lower East Side...

, EPMD

EPMD

EPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group's name is a concatenation of the members' name "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith...

, Peanut Butter Wolf

Peanut Butter Wolf

Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf, is a DJ, hip-hop producer and the founder of hip-hop label Stones Throw Records.A native of San Jose, California, He took on the name Peanut Butter Wolf in the late-80s when he realized that a girlfriend’s youngest brother feared the “peanut butter wolf monster”...

Issue 42, The R&B Issue: Bilal, Spree Wilson, The Bamboos

The Bamboos (funk band)

The Bamboos are a Soul band from Australia.-Biography:The Bamboos were formed in 2000 in Melbourne Australia by NZ-born guitarist Lance Ferguson. The initial line-up consisted of Ferguson, Ben Grayson on Hammond Organ, Stuart Speed on Bass and Scott Lambie on Drums...

, Kings Go Forth

Kings Go Forth (band)

Kings Go Forth are a ten-piece American soul band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their sound is rooted in 1970s soul, and the group employs production and recording techniques common in that era....

, Melvin Bliss, Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...

, Gil Scott-Heron

Gil Scott-Heron

Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...

, Barry White

Barry White

Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...

, D'Angelo

D'Angelo

Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...

, Ernie Hines

Ernie Hines

Ernie Hines is an American Soul musician. Hines was born in Mississippi in 1938. Educated in gospel, he soon learned to play guitar and he played with everyone from Slim Harpo to Clyde McPhatter...

External links

• Wax Poetics.
• Wax Poetics Japan.
• Wax Poetics Records discography at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
  
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• Wax Poetics Digital Download Store.
• Wax Poetics Record Rundown on East Village Radio
  East Village Radio
  East Village Radio is an Internet radio station which broadcasts from a storefront studio in the East Village of Manhattan, in New York City. EVR serves both as a voice for the local downtown cultural scene and as a forum for the community at large...
  
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