The start of my Black History Month has been all about Julius Eastman. Late to every party, I only became aware of him when I read from Claude McKay’s Harlem Shadows as part of an evening of music by the James McVinnie Ensemble at Bold Tendencies; one of the pieces they played was Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla (1979) on two pianos (four hands). I was mesmerised. Julius Eastman (1940-1990) was a gay African American classical composer, conductor, pianist, singer and dancer whose work left a mark on experimental music but is mostly lost. Influenced by the Lutheran canon, jazz, minimalism, and later, disco, he was a victim of his own eclectic genius and of roadblocks raised by his intersectional identities, at a time when his work was questioned by Black peers (who objected to his use of the N word in titles), the white classical music world (for obvious reasons), and John Cage (furious at Eastman for queering his work). What has survived of his own compositions is best captured on the 2005 CD Unjust Malaise (an anagram of Julius Eastman; told you – GENIUS). A biography of sorts emerges from the essay collection Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and his Music, edited by Renée Levine Packer and Mary Jane Leach. He was extreme, provocative and didn’t give a fuck; in an interview with a local newspaper in Buffalo, NY, he said “What I am trying to achieve is to be myself to the fullest. Black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, a homosexual to the fullest”. Last night @marsdoug and I attended the @setfiretoloraine x @lcorchestra reimagining of his work at Queen Elizabeth Hall (where Eastman once performed), supported by the spooky theremin of @heklahekla. We lacked a programme but thought we could make out new versions of Stay On It, Gay Guerrilla, Crazy N****r and Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc among Loraine’s synth-drenched, house-inflected soundscapes, and the orchestra’s energy and commitment were incredible. Eastman would’ve been proud. 🖤 #southbank #blackhistorymonth #juliuseastman