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Back in the kulturally-vapid eighties I was bemoaning the fact that there was not ONE fanzine out there in notice-me land that was devoted to the avgarde/free jazz idiom, one that was done up in a definitely Bangs/Meltzer "style" where various New Thing players from the fifties onward got written up, perhaps with a nod towards the various rock 'n roll acts who actively took various jazz moves and incorporated them into their own ranch house suburban slob styles. Heck even I thought about diving deep into such an endeavor only that I was one who was wanting to learn more rather than disseminate the information, and besides it wasn't like I had the moolah to involve myself in such a worthy project given how all of my hard-begged was going towards my own publishing efforts. Then again none of YOU did either so one big fie o thee! We sure coulda used one tho.
I wouldn't exactly call CRICKET a fanzine even though a good portion of its space was taken up with coverage of the late-sixties movement in jazz cataclysm (making it not that different from the vast assortment of jazz fanzines that have been up and about since the thirties). It was more or less in the "small press" category given the credo of the people involved, but it was a mag that I would have somewhat envisioned coming out a good fortysome years back had a person out there only had the wherewithal to slap something along these lines together. With more pictures perhaps and that hard gonz writing style, but still CRICKET is an interesting surprise for this guy who probably heard of its existence a good time back and naturally forgot all about it.
There's a lot in here, even stuff that white people can like if you're the kind of white person who goes whole hog into the variety of aspects that have been poured into the font of sixties/seventies new thing expression. LeRoi Jones soon to be Imamu Amiri Baraka by the fourth issue was the brains behind this "Jihad Publication" so's you'll get an idea what to expect even if there's only one Jewish ref that I've caught in the entire run. Loads of hefty opinions and deep thought regarding the late-sixties black jazz experience, along with some nice 'n cutting putdowns regarding some allegedly dire efforts from people these guys expected more of (Shepp, Ayler) and some downright crass yet truthful enough opines with regards to some of the whiter breed of sounds (even if done by definitely black people) that was coming out of the tear yourself apart unless you were living in Sharon PA year of 1968. Rec reviews, poetry, short sagas etc. pop up in these pages and even you won't be bugged by the overt pro-afro ideals put forth (these being the pre Negro fatigue days) because the force and drive of Baraka and crew including A.B. Spellman and Larry Neal are for the most part things that any fan and follower of the avgarde would be bound to take to heart.
Heck you get some surprise guest writers here from Sun Ra to a pre-stodgy Stanley Crouch talking about the jazz scene as it relates to the New Black ideal, and besides it's great reading rebuttals to former Ornette drummer and all 'round humongous jazz being Shelley Manne's putdown of his former leader's THE EMPTY FOXHOLE and ten-year-old Ornette Denardo's magnifico efforts therein, or Milford Graves on the news aspects of percussiondom and the fact that drummers can make their own time 'stead of keep it. Best of all, these Angry Young Afro-Americans had yet to really go full froth against everything and seemingly everyone so the cringe factor is way down there...non-blacks can read on without any damage to their own sense of well being.
Neat part...the ad for various Jihad books/movies/records that pop up at the end of each and every issue. Back then you could buy the legendary SONNY'S TIME NOW for a mere five smackaroos which is a whole lot less that what it would cost you these days ($1000?), though if you wanted to rent the film version of Baraka's DUTCHMAN it would set you back a good $100 and in there here and now you can watch it here for free. There's also a soul album featuring the Jihad Singers which sounds like something that might be big on the hit parade these days. I get the idea that a good 99.999...% percent of the people who were reading THE CRICKET could not even afford a dollar pamphlet let along a five dollar album so llike, who exactly out there was buying all this up. If it were rich white kids doin' the ol' purchasing power game I'll bet Baraka woulda been more upset about it than the time he discovered that a good portion of his readership were jews!
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