Sounds of Liberation hail from Philadelphia’s Germantown, which is well-known for its Sun Ra Arkestra community homestead. They were at the forefront of black liberation music in the seventies. After playing in elementary schools and prisons, the band traveled to New York City with George Gilmore, their manager (father of Linc Gilmore, Breakwater fame), for a session at Columbia University. The five-song session, which lasted for five minutes, has not been heard before. It would have been released on New Horizons’ debut album. The 500-copy edition on Dogtown Records is now a prized collectible in creative music collector circles. Sounds Of Liberation was formed by Warren Robert Cheeseboro (aka Khan Jamal) in 1970. However, the band’s prospects began to improve with the arrival of Byard Lancaster. Lancaster was an expert at negotiating deals, with or without approval from the band. Deal-making led to more gigs and increased recognition from local newspapers. Sounds Of Liberation was more like a community than a band, and that spirit led to a strong desire for the group to work with both schoolchildren and inmates. They did exactly that and continued doing so until the mid-seventies. Corbett vs. Dempsey
