BLACK PEARLS The Poetry of Maya Angelou

The voice on this reissue of a 1969 recording showcases the rawness and the gutsiness that have always defined Angelou. Her reading at once reveals the beauty and immediacy of tragedy's transformation into art. A generous amount of jazz creates musical relief from an often hypnotic cadence, and the poems are lush with color and sharp as a knife. Disturbing, graphic, charged, and intensely human, Angelou's rhythm and rhyme play with the ear and aptly express her message. Robin Marcus Vasquez lends extensive liner notes, revealing much about the medium of that message. Such a lyrical lesson from the mouth of the poet herself is worthy of resurrection. M.L.L. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]