Poet Imira Baraka and saxophonist Sonny Simmons shared the stage in performance at EastSide Cultural Center in Oakland last weekend.

“The artists here tonight are Freedom Fighters, fighting with their instruments. This stage is the canvas that these artist paint on,” said Bridges.

Sharing the stage with Baraka was Simmons, who firmly rooted in tradition as a disciple of Charlie Parker and master of the saxophone, inspires and excites audiences and musicians as he embodies the home-grown spirit of Oakland.

“I grew up in Oakland with Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale and all of the beautiful brothers who escaped the revolution,” said Simmons.

His interest in jazz happened at a time when the Oakland scene was really fertile with music.

As a kid, Simmons witnessed musicians such as Dexter Gordon, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan first-hand.

As one of the few jazz musicians to also play English horn in the early ‘60s, Simmons worked with Charles Mingus and Prince Lasha before recording for ESP-Disk.

Hosted by KCSM and KPFA’s Greg Bridges, Baraka’s poetry flowed openly with Simmons’ music.

With over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, music history and criticism, the poet icon and revolutionary political activist Baraka reads poetry and lectures on cultural and political issues across the USA, Caribbean, Africa and Europe.

His work is influenced by Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk and Sun Ra. Renown, who founded the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in the 1960s.

Other influences include the Cuban Revolution, Malcolm X and other world revolutionary movements.

“Somebody Blew Up America” is part of Baraka’s first collection of poems published in the Caribbean. The title of this poem headlined him in the media in ways that’s rare to poets and authors.

The poem’s own detonation caused the author’s photo and words to be splashed across the pages of New York’s Amsterdam News and The New York Times, as well as to be featured on national and international media.

Both distinguished artists, Baraka and Simmons came to the stage with an aura of literary and post-bop celebrity.

Sharing EastSide’s stage with the two masters were other Bay Area master musicians, including Michael Floyd on drums, Joe McKinley on bass and Bob Joslin on violin and piano.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the show,” said Janine Theodore, a patron of the arts.

Coming into its fifth year, the EastSide Cultural Center is known as the platform for artists, activists and brave truth-tellers.

The center is a spacious yet intimate venue, presenting weekly performances and ongoing arts workshops with open rooms for music, dance, theater, multimedia and visual arts.

The lively community arts district in which it resides is one of the few places where the predominantly Asian, Latino, African-American and Native American communities share common ground to create cultural dialogue of understanding and solidarity.