(photo by fabbio www.flickr.com/photos/fabiovenni/432334050/)News to T.S. Eliot, April is the coolest--not cruelest--month because it is the official month to celebrate both poetry and jazz!
We were fortunate last night to be swept away by the jazz of the Brubeck Brothers Quartet. What a feast of talent! Here's a taste:
I've seen them live before, and they did not disappoint last night!
In many ways, jazz and poetry go together. I'll call your attention to children's poet, writer, and musician Jaime Adoff (son of renowed poet Arnod Adoff and children's literature legend Virginia Hamilton). Some of his novels are written in free verse. His book The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth celebrates all kinds of music and has a glossary of music terms in the back.
The title poem begins
"Each word running fast across lips.
A direct line to my hips, twist and shake."
(photo by waifer X flickr.com/photos/waiferx/520220509/)"The Drummer" begins
"I ride on cymbals crashing like metallic waves.
Oceans of colors in my ear."
(photo by boltron www.flickr.com/photos/boltron/3386335077/)Yes, poetry and music go together. Poetry and jazz go together. Celebrate both this month! What poetry do you hear in this performance?
dear jane: thanks so much for the good words/i am sending this to jaime///and coincidentqlly: he and i will be in baltimore in a few days for the maryland ira conference and we will be reading pieces along with a middle school band...a kind of (dangerous!!!!) combination....we'll have fun///
ReplyDeletei used to manage charles mingus in the fifties...until i married virginia and moved to ohio in 1969 with jaime and her sister////and i remember vividly the poetry and jazz of mingus and langston hughes///kenneth rexroth and other west coast poets.....
anyway: arnoldadoff@hotmail.com....lets stay in touch......and thanks again: arnold