[JPL] poetry in jazz

[Nou Dadoun]

 I used to do annual poetry and jazz shows as well, I can dig up some of my
old playlists but some of the things I haven't seen mentioned here are:

Mike Westbrook - Westbrook Blake - Songs of Innocence and Experience
Steve Lacy - many many projects including Brion Gysin, Robert Creeley etc
George Russell's New York New York - Jon Hendricks
Mingus - Scenes in the City, The Clown
Norma Winstone - (on Distances) James Joyce, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Stan Tracey - Under Milkwood - Dylan Thomas
Langston Huges The Weary Blues (one side Mingus,, the other Leonard Feather
all-stars)

etc,


.. N




>
>
> When I did Jazz Tracks not only did I use poetry on recorded music that was
> available, I picked out things that were germane to whatever was going on in
> the culture at that particular time and produced my own using jazz and
> thespians reading text from poetry and prose written by famous as well as
> local writers.  An example of this was using some of the Langston Hughes'
> Simple stories.  One in particular was called "Bebop" from the Best Of
> Simple and using Dizzy Gillespie's "Bebop" as a backdrop.  I used Herbie
> Hancock's "Vein Melter" as a backdrop to describe a particularly chilling
> situation that author Mark Mathabane who wrote "Kaffir Boy" faced when he
> came face to face with the notion of taking his own life in the shanty town
> in Johannesburg that he grew up in, in his own Shakespearian quandry of "To
> Be or Not To Be."  I use local story tellers all the time and the music
> becomes an accompaniment for those stories.  I invite you to check out my
> Halloween special on our website.  It is an 88 minute show celebrating
> Halloween and I've used 17 different jazz selections that serve as either
> background or foreground elements including Wayne Shorter telling the story
> of "Water Babies" with samples of "Mysterious Traveller" underneath as well
> as Charles Minguses reading of the "Chill Of Death" set to his own music.
>  There are local storytellers on this show as well as the finale where I
> break up Edgar Alan Poe's "A Tell Tale Heart" into two parts (The Crime and
> The Punishment) using a selection from Joe Zawinul's "Tales From The Danube"
> as well as Yusef Lateef's "Meditations" that serve marvelously to add to the
> tension.  If you google Bobby Jackson + Jazz Tracks + Halloween you should
> come right to the show.
>
> Aloha,
>
> Bobby Jackson
>
>
> Shauna,
>
> You might look for Abbey Lincoln's "When Malindy Sings" with lyrics from a
> poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Also, Jay Clayton's new CD has songs based on
> poems by ee cummings and others. Sheila Jordan has recorded songs based on
> poems by Robert Creeley. And Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill has
> libretto written by Paul Haines. George Gruntz wrote Happening Now based on
> poems of Allan Ginsberg. David Amram wrote the song Pull My Daisey with
> Kerouak, Ginsberg and Cassidy. Jeanne Lee wrote lots of music based on
> poetry, including her own poems, like In These Last Days. Of course it
> depends on what you call poetry, but I always got a kick out of Come On a My
> House with lyric by William Saroyan.
>
> There's lots more. You might find this useful on some level:
> http://jazzstudiesonline.org/?q=node/597
>
> Larry
>
> > Hello everyone.
> >
> > I'm having a mental lapse and could use some help from lovers of
> > literature and jazz.
> >
> > For a little project I'm working on, I am looking for examples of
> > poetry in jazz. Not jazz poetry, and not poetry being spoken over
> > music...but a poem turned into song...like Luciana Souza's versions
> > of Elizabeth Bishop or Pablo Neruda poems, Kate McGarry's take on an
> > e.e. cummings poem, Patricia Barber's take on a Paul Verlaine poem,
> > Kurt Elling on a Roethke or Rilke poem...that sort of thing.
> >
> > Any reminders, on or off-list, are appreciated! Thanks in advance for
> > your thoughts.
> >
> > -Shaunna
>
>
>
> --
> ====
> Nou Dadoun
> The A-Trane on the air since 1986 | CFRO 102.7 FM, Vancouver BC
> Fri 2:30-5:30 pm PST | http://www.coopradio.org/stream.html
>
>