Memorable Quotes – Mark Twain, on the pattern of a civilization’s destruction

“Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the…”

The Sunday Poem: “You Know by the Laughter” by Joan E. Bauer

Billy Wilder loved voice-over & the velocity
it gives a script. He loved to jump ahead trusting

the audience to stay with him. What’s more,
the satirist in him liked to comment.

“Always Follow the Pork Pie Hat” – a poem by Michael L. Newell

thick as soup
the summer air
and the music

rolling from nearby window
Mingus’s big band
in wild abandon

“Thoughts on Matthew Shipp’s Improvisational Style” – an essay by Jim Feast

Short of all the musicians being mind readers, what accounts for free jazz musicians’ – in this instance those playing with the pianist Matthew Shipp – incredible ability for mutual attunement as they play?

Interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong

The author discusses the third volume of his trilogy, which includes the formation of the Armstrong-led ensembles known as the Hot Five and Hot Seven that modernized music, the way artists play it, and how audiences interact with it and respond to it.

The Sunday Poem: “The Köln Concert” by Martin Agee

I’m listening to the Köln Concert
and it is déjà vu. It’s Keith Jarrett playing
the music I always knew but never listened to.
It is every night at midnight putting away the violin
and sitting alone somewhere on the Kansas prairie

21 jazz poems on the 21st of March, 2025

An ongoing series designed to share the quality of jazz poetry continuously submitted to Jerry Jazz Musician by poets sharing their relationship to the music, and with the musicians who perform it.

The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: Joe Lovano

Beginning in 1990, the noted photographer Giovanni Piesco began taking backstage photographs of many of the great musicians who played in Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, that city’s main jazz venue which is considered one of the finest in the world. Jerry Jazz Musician will occasionally publish portraits of jazz musicians that Giovanni has taken over the years. This edition features 1999 photographs of the saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Protest Matters: Haiku by Connie Johnson

artistic freedom
and a call for civil rights
someone needs to speak

Memorable Quotes – James Joyce, on aging

“One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of …”

The Sunday Poem:: “David Sanborn (1945-2024)” by Laura Trigg

He was born too early
for a shot or magical sugar cube
that could have prevented
the polio virus that found him
at the age of three.

Community Bookshelf #4

“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books and/or recordings. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so (September, 2024 – March, 2025)

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 23: “The Wave”

In this edition, Douglas’ poem is written partly as a reference to the Antonio Carlos Jobin song “Wave,” but mostly to get in the famed Japanese artist Hokusai’s idea of the wave as being a huge, threatening thing.  (The poem initially sprang from listening to Cal Tjader’s “Along Came Mary”).

Excerpts from David Rife’s Jazz Fiction: Take Two – Vol. 11: “Chick” and “Hen” Lit

In this edition, Rife writes about the “chicks” (energetic women, attractive, and open to experience) and “hens” (older women who have either buried or lost a loved one, and who seem content with their lives) who are at the center of stories with jazz within its theme.

“Pretending” – a poem by Erren Kelly

Is better than the alternative
Better than having to deal
With leaders drunk with power
Who crown themselves kings
Who sees the world as a commodity
To be conquered

The Sunday Poem: “Miles” by J. Stephen Whitney

scales peel from your swollen cheeks
snakes slip into the shade
your fingers webbed with silk
run swift as rivers
over the silver pistons

Creatives – “This is our time!“…A Letter from the Publisher

A call to action to take on political turmoil through the use of our creativity as a way to help our fellow citizens “pierce the mundane to find the marvelous.”

Jazz History Quiz #179

Throughout his career, this saxophonist was known as the “Vice Prez” because he sounded so similar to “Prez,” Lester Young. Who was he?

“Sextets: The Joy of Six” – a playlist by Bob Hecht

In Bob Hecht’s progressive series of playlists, in which he increases the number of instruments by one, he reaches the number six. The sextet format in jazz takes listeners into another harmonic realm and brings them to some of the most outstanding of modern jazz group recordings.  Over two hours of great listening…

Contributing writer Juan Mobili named Poet Laureate of Rockland County (New York)

News concerning the poet Juan Mobili’s appointment as Poet Laureate of Rockland County (New York).

Two poems for Bill Evans, by Linda Werbner and Michael L. Newell

Beautiful, sad poet
haggard and thin
dressed in the polyester suit
you bought at Sears with Philly Joe
Your brow is damp
You hide the pain in your side

The Sunday Poem:“Five Short Poems for Freddie Green” by Daniel Warren Brown

1. In the distance
a small blackbird
with red guitar epiphone wings—-
sings a far flung song, basic basie, cushioning
rushing winds and young spring crickets

Interview with Phillip Freeman, author of In the Brewing Luminous: The Life and Music of Cecil Taylor

The author discusses Cecil Taylor – the most eminent free jazz musician of his era, whose music marked the farthest boundary of avant-garde jazz.

A Black History Month Profile: The legendary author Richard Wright

In a 2002 interview, Richard Wright biographer Hazel Rowley discusses the life and times of legendary author Richard Wright, whose work included the novels Native Son andBlack Boy

The Sunday Poem: “Jazz Riven” by Michael Baldwin

Derelict dark and smoke ghosts
coagulate expectancy
among struggling silences.
Dumb dark sucks glances
of silver and gold
from yet mute metal.

Three poems on “free” jazz (and other topics)

free jazz
the perfect soundtrack
for chaos

Eric Dolphy
on my mind
as I swing blue
Straight Up and Down

Announcing the book publication of Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry

The first Jerry Jazz Musician poetry anthology published in book form includes 90 poems by 47 poets from all over the world, and features the brilliant artwork of Marsha Hammel and a foreword by Jack Kerouac’s musical collaborator David Amram. The collection is “interactive” (and quite unique) because it invites readers – through the use of QR codes printed on many of the book’s pages – to link to selected readings by the poets themselves, as well as to historic audio and video recordings (via YouTube) relevant to many of the poems, offering a holistic experience with the culture of jazz.

“What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?” Readers respond…

What are your hopes, anxieties, expectations for 2025?  How do you see it playing out? Readers respond to the question, “What one song best represents your expectations for 2025?”

Interview with Jonathon Grasse: author of Jazz Revolutionary: The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy

The multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy was a pioneer of avant-garde technique. His life cut short in 1964 at the age of 36, his brilliant career touched fellow musical artists, critics, and fans through his innovative work as a composer, sideman and bandleader. Jonathon Grasse’s Jazz Revolutionary is a significant exploration of Dolphy’s historic recorded works, and reminds readers of the complexity of his biography along the way. Grassed discusses his book in a December, 2024 interview.

Short Fiction Contest-winning story #67 — “Bluesette,” by Salvatore Difalco

The author’s award-winning story is a semi-satirical mood piece about a heartbroken man in Europe listening to a recording by the harmonica player Toots Thielemans while under the influence of a mind-altering substance.

“Rudy Van Gelder: Jazz Music’s Recording Angel” – an essay by Joel Lewis

For over 60 years, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder devoted himself to the language of sound. And although he recorded everything from glee clubs to classical music, he was best known for recording jazz – specifically the musicians associated with Blue Note and Prestige records. Joel Lewis writes about his impact on the sound of jazz, and what has become of his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio.

Community Bookshelf #3

“Community Bookshelf” is a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books and/or recordings. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so (March – September, 2024)