Olio

"Voluminous Olio, a “black vessel of spiritspeak,” choruses with history in an enormously beautiful, half-imagined collection of songs yet unsung. As with all historical fiction, Tyehimba Jess has created a hybrid work, riffing here with the voices of musicians and vaudevillians of the early 20th century. Throughout, there is a strong posture of reverence for a time when black song was necessarily colored by the blues. It’s both gorgeous and stupefying — a marvel to read someone whose blood beats loudly enough in rhythm with the past to resuscitate the dead."