Cleveland-born poet, writer, and activist Keith LaMar tours Europe, the US, and Chile performing his debut album, Freedom First, but does so from his cell at the Ohio State Penitentiary, where he has spent 30 years in solitary confinement on death row for a crime he testifies that he did not commit. (Submitted photo)
Poet to perform at Antioch from death row
- Published: October 23, 2025
Keith LaMar and Albert Marquès will present a Freedom First jazz concert Sunday, Oct. 26, beginning at 1 p.m. in the Herndon Gallery at Antioch College.
LaMar is a Cleveland-born death row prisoner, poet, writer and activist who has spent more than 30 years in solitary confinement for a crime he maintains he did not commit. Albert Marquès is a Brooklyn-based, Catalan pianist and composer.
LaMar will perform live via phone from a solitary confinement cell. He is scheduled for execution by the state of Ohio on Jan. 13, 2027. This concert aims to raise awareness about and support for LaMar’s case, as well as awareness about upcoming death penalty legislation in Ohio.
The concert’s ensemble will feature LaMar’s spoken word, Marquès on piano, Devon Gates on electric bass, Eddie Bayard on saxophone and Zack O’Farrill on drums. Award-winning poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqibwill be a special guest at the performance.
After the concert, the audience is invited to listen to a post-performance dialogue that will feature Pierce Reed, director of policy and outreach with the Ohio Innocence Project, or OIP, and two law students from the University of Cincinnati working with the OIP. The three will talk about the pieces of legislation that impact the death penalty and wrongful conviction cases in Ohio.
Since 2020, LaMar and Marquès have toured the world with their project Freedom First, collaborating with a rotating roster of international musicians in cities across the United States and abroad. In 2022, LaMar and Marquès made history with the release of “Freedom First,” the first-ever full-length album created by an artist on death row. In 2025, LaMar and Marquès released “LIVE FROM DEATH ROW,” the first-ever live album recorded by an artist facing execution on death row.
LaMar’s conviction stems from the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising. According to reporting in the New York Times, physical evidence was compromised by law enforcement, and prosecutors leaned on incentivized informant testimony to convict LaMar, suppressing exculpatory evidence. Tried before an all-white jury in a rural Ohio community, LaMar was sentenced to death. More details about his case can be found at keithlamar.org.
During his time in prison, LaMar became a student of jazz, especially drawn to John Coltrane and “A Love Supreme.”
“John Coltrane saved my life,” LaMar said. “Had it not been for ‘A Love Supreme,’ I’m sure I would have lost myself [in prison]. I listened to it every day, and it rewired something in me, changed the circuitry of my brain and opened me up in a way that allowed me to view things, most especially myself, through a broader lens. I needed that, to free my mind, in order to keep living and breathing.”
LaMar came to the attention of the jazz community after talking to Mother Jones in 2020 about the case and his experience filling his time in solitary confinement. Brian Jackson, a jazz musician who frequently collaborated with Gil Scott-Heron, then reached out to LaMar. Together, they created a podcast about music and justice that attracted more attention. Over the past five years, the jazz community has rallied around LaMar, presenting numerous concerts to benefit the Justice for Keith LaMar campaign and advocate for his freedom.
The concert is being sponsored by the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom at Antioch College; Oranjudio Recording, a Columbus-based recording company; and the Yellow Springs-based 365 Project.
Tickets for the concert are $40. Ticket sales will begin on Friday, Oct. 17, at http://www.antiochcollege.edu/cskc.
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