The Rich are Only Defeated When Running for their Lives

Description

British-Trinidadian poet/musician/author Anthony Josephs latest album was inspired by and echoes the fertile London scene. Anthony has surrounded himself with some of the best musicians on the local scene, including Jason Yarde, Shabaka Hutchings (Sons Of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming), Crispin Robinson (founder of the iconic acid jazz band Galliano,) and Rod Youngs (Gil Scott Herons drummer).

Operating as a dedication to poetic ancestors and a coming together of musical generations, The Rich are Only Defeated When Running for their Lives is also an almighty jam. Recorded live in August 2020, it shows off the prowess of a team of master musicians from Paris and London. Jason Yarde, who also produced Josephs 2018 album People of the Sun is credited as producer/composer/arranger to startling, albeit intimate, effect. Running throughout the release are inter-connected themes: memory, place, belonging and acts of homage.

Anthony Joseph has released seven previous albums six on Heavenly Sweetness and collaborated with Archie Shepp, Keziah Jones and Meshell Ndgeocello who produced his album, Time in 2014. He is the author of four poetry collections and three novels. His 2018 novel Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Literatures Encore Award, and long listed for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.