A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2022 Edition

August 14th, 2022

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The artist

Marsha Hammel

A native of Miami, FL, Marsha Hammel grew up in Central America and Europe, returning to the states in 1961. A prolific artist, she enjoys a wide audience for original paintings and published works in the UK, having been represented by Felix Rosenstiel’s in London since the early 90’s. During a four-decade studio practice, at least 1500 paintings have become part of private, corporate and institutional collections throughout the US and Europe. Click here  to visit her website.

 

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Poet biographies are listed in alphabetical order

 

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Poet and musician Michael D. Amitin, originally from California, traveled the roads of the American West before settling in Paris, France where he now lives. Recently named International Beat Poet Laureate 2020-2021, Amitin’s poems have been published in California Quarterly, Poetry Pacific, North of Oxford. Love Love Magazine. and others..

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After having completed her first years of Masters in American Literature at la Sorbonne and her second year of Masters at New York University, Claire Andreani started writing poetry, focusing her work on Emily Dickinson, E. E Cummings and Wallace Stevens. She is currently working on a collection of poetry called the city, exploring the absurdities and transformations imposed by Modern Society: how city life reflects in Human Nature and changes it.

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Jerrice J. Baptiste  has authored eight books. A poet in residence at the Prattsville Art Center & Residency in New York, she is extensively published in The Yale Review, Mantis, The Shawangunk Review; Eco Theo Review; The Caribbean Writer; Bluestem Magazine, and others.  Jerrice has been the featured poet on  Planet Poet-Words in Space; The Woodstock Poetry Society; The International Women’s Writing Guild.  She has facilitated poetry workshops for fifteen years.

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Byron Beynon coordinated Wales’ contribution to the anthology Fifty Strong (Heinemann ). His poems and essays have been featured in several publications; Jerry Jazz Musician, The London Magazine, Wasafiri, North of Oxford, Agenda, Poetry Ireland Review and the human rights anthology In Protest (University of London and Keats House Poets). Collections include The Echoing Coastline (Agenda Editions) and A View from the Other Side (Moonstone Press).

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Daniel Brown has loved jazz (and music in general) ever since he delved into his parents’ 78 collection as a child. He is a retired special education teacher who began writing as a senior. He’s content to write with the sunrise each day and always appreciates being published in a journal or anthology. His first poetry collection Family Portraits in Verse is forthcoming.

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Patricia Carragon’s poem “Paris the Beautiful” won Poem of the Week from great weather for MEDIA. Her fiction piece “What Has to Happen Next” is nominated for Sundress Publications Annual Best of the Net Anthology. Her latest book from Poets Wear Prada is Meowku. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, was just released by Alien Buddha Press. Patricia hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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photo by Jenn Merritt

Douglas Cole has published six collections of poetry and The White Field, winner of the American Fiction Award. His work has appeared in several anthologies as well as journals such as The Chicago Quarterly Review, Poetry International, The Galway Review, Bitter Oleander, Chiron, Louisiana Literature, Slipstream, as well Spanish translations of work (translated by Maria Del Castillo Sucerquia) in La Cabra Montes.  He has been nominated twice for a Pushcart and Best of the Net and received the Leslie Hunt Memorial Prize in Poetry. “Trading Fours With Douglas Cole” is a regular feature on Jerry Jazz Musician.   He lives and teaches in Seattle, Washington. Click here to visit his website.

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Kristofer Collins

Kristofer Collins is the publisher of Low Ghost Press and the books editor at Pittsburgh Magazine. He is the co-host of the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series. He is the author of  The River Is Another Kind of Prayer: New & Selected Poems  (Kung Fu Treachery, 2019). A new collection,  Roundabout Trace, was published in 2022. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife Dr. Anna Johnson and their children Cassidy and Joni.

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Molly Larson Cook is an award-winning Oregon writer, writing coach, and artist. In 2016, she received the first Steve Kowit Poetry Prize in a national competition. Molly was a Fellow at the Fishtrap Writers Conference in Oregon where she worked with poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Molly’s jazz novel, Listen, was published in a limited edition in 2003. Her “Colors of Jazz” paintings can be seen by clicking here.

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Brooklyn-born Arlene Corwin is age 87, and is a harpist, pianist and singer – a jazz musician forever. She earned her BA at Hofstra Univ. She has published 19 poetry books. In the 1950s her mother owned a jazz club in Hempstead, Long Island with Slim Gaillard. She currently lives in Sweden.

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Sean DesVignes

Sean Des Vignes is a Professor of English at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey and author of the chapbook Take My Eyes To The Dry Cleaners (evolNYC, 2014). A NY-Emmy Award Winner, his poetry has won the Beinecke Scholarship and the Burton A. Goldberg Poetry Prize. His work appears in or is forthcoming from  Rumpus, Kweli, Radius, African-American Review, and more.

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Lia Di Stefano is an award-winning graphic designer, painter, poet, and lover of many musical genres. In her poetry, she integrates a life-long love of words with the clarity of observation found in her visual art work. Her poems appear in The Red Wheelbarrow 13 and 14, Paterson Literary Review (honorable mention, 2021 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards), US1’s Worksheets 66 and 67, Jerry Jazz Musician, and Tigershark 21 (UK), among others. She lives by two rivers—the South Branch of the Raritan in Califon, NJ and the Hudson in Weehawken, NJ.

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Russell duPont is an artist and an author whose artwork is included in a number of public and private collections. He has published two novels, King & Train and Waiting for the Turk; two books of poetry; and two non-fiction chapbooks. His essay, “The Corner,” is included in the anthology Streets of Echoes. His work has been published in various newspapers and literary magazines. He was the founder & publisher of the literary magazine,.the albatross.

Visit his website by clicking here

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Debora Ewing is a prolific poet, artist, songwriter, and ruiner of peace for the greater good. She’s also a peer reviewer for Consilience Science-based Poetry Journal and Global Content Editor for Igneus Press, but she is not The Cool Mom. Find her work at Dodging the Rain, Beyond Words, San Pedro River Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, and elsewhere. Deb posts serial fiction at debnation.com
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(Debora’s short story “Coloring Outside the Lines” was the first winning story in the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest, published in October of 2002.  The contest is currently in its 61st edition).

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George Held’s work has appeared in, among other periodicals, Blue Unicorn, Spring, Transference, and Two Cities Review and has received eleven Pushcart Prize nominations. Among his 22 books is the poetry chapbook Second Sight (2019); his forthcoming book, The Lucky Boy, collects nine of his short stories.

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James Higgins is an irreverent Oregon poet who writes about many subjects. Having lived in several states, served in the army and graduated with a University of Oregon BA in English Literature, he has written poetry all his life. His work has appeared in Terra Incognita’s 2019 poetry anthology.  He lives with his best wife ever in Eugene, Oregon and is retired.

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D. H. Jenkins’ plays have been staged in California, Arizona, Australia, and Japan. His poems appear in the art films “Call From a Distant Shore” and “Our Autumn,” and in The Tiger Moth Review and Jerry Jazz Musician.

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Dr. Emory D. Jones is a retired English teacher who has taught in high school and in community colleges. He has six hundred and ninety-five credits  including publication in such journals as Writer’s Digest, Quarterly Review, and Encore.  He lives with his wife in Iuka, Mississippi.

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photo by Jim Whitcraft

George Kalamaras is former Poet Laureate of Indiana (2014– 2016) and Professor Emeritus at Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he taught for 32 years. He has published twenty collections of poetry, twelve full-length books and eight chapbooks.

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Erren Kelly

Erren Kelly is a two-time Pushcart nominated poet from Boston whose work has appeared in 300 publications (print and online), including Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine, Ceremony, Cacti Fur, Bitterzoet, Cactus Heart, Similar Peaks, Gloom Cupboard, .and .Poetry Salzburg.

Click here to read “Under Quarantine” — COVID-era poetry of Erren Kelly, published by Jerry Jazz Musician

 

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Michael Keshigian is the author of 14 poetry collections.  His latest, What To Do With Intangibles, is published by Cyberwit.net.  Most recent poems have appeared in Muddy River Review, Bluepepper, Smoky Quartz, San Pedro River Review, Tipton Poetry Journal. Published in numerous national and international journals, he has received seven Pushcart Prize nominations and two Best Of The Net nominations.

(michaelkeshigian.com)

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Joe Kidd is a published poet and songwriter.  In 2015 he released the CD titled Everybody Has A Purpose, and in 2020 published The Invisible Waterhole, a collection of spiritual and sensual verse.   Joe is a member of the National & International Beat Poet Foundation (USA), Angora Poets (Paris France), The Society of Classical Poets, and 100,000 Poets For Change International.  In 2022 he was appointed Beat Poet Laureate of the State of Michigan 2022-2024.  He was recently recognized as an Official Poet of the Government of Birdland.  Joe was inducted into the Michigan Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in June 2017.  Click here to visit his website.

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Robert Kokan has had poetry published in Bramble, and  the ezines Yellow Mama  and Breathe.

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Gloria Krolak is a member of vibesworkshop.com, a website where her favorite vibes players teach, share and spread the word about the unique appeal of the instrument. Gloria has served on the board of the Junior Jazz Foundation, based on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Her book, Jazz Lines, all poems built with jazz tune titles, was inspired by poet Hayden Carruth’s poem “The Fantastic Names of Jazz,” which lists jazz musicians by their nicknames, from Zoot Sims to Jelly Roll Morton. 

Visit her website by clicking here

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Michel Steven Krug is a Minneapolis poet, fiction writer, former print journalist from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and he litigates.  His poems have appeared in  New Verse News, Poetica Publishing, Liquid Imagination, Blue Mountain Review, Portside, JMWW, Cagibi, Silver Blade, Crack the Spine, Dash, Mikrokosmos,  North Dakota Quarterly, Eclectica, Writers Resist, Sheepshead, Mizmor Anthology, 2019, Poets Reading The News, Ginosko, Door Is A Jar, Raven’s Perch, Main Street Rag, Brooklyn Review and others.

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Diane Lefer is known primarily as a fiction writer but she writes in many forms. Her published poetry includes work inspired by Otis Spann and Big Mama Thornton. A magazine article from years ago remains a favorite, profiling a Russian jazz musician who defected from the Soviet Union for one reason only: “to live in the land of Charlie Parker.” More at dianelefer.weebly.com

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Aurora M. Lewis is a retiree, having worked in finance for 40 years. In her fifties she received a Certificate in Creative Writing-General Studies with Honors from UCLA. Aurora’s recent poems, short stories, and nonfiction were accepted by The Literary Hatchet, Jerry Jazz Musician, The Copperfield Review, and Gemini Magazine, to name a few. She self-published her first book, Jazz Poems, Reflections on a Broken Heart in 2021 and it is available on Amazon.

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photo by Penny Heath

Laurinda Lind lives in New York’s North Country, next door to Canada. Some of her writing is in  Blue Earth Review, New American Writing, Paterson Literary Review, and  Spillway.  She is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee.

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Phil Linz was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in several cities across the United States. He began writing poetry in 1971 and is founder and publisher of Fierce Grace Press, which specializes in chapbooks, believing in the concept of “Publishing Under the Radar.”. His new book, The Chapbooks: Collected Poems, is available on Amazon.  Mr. Linz currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware.

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photo by James Archbold

Kathryn MacDonald has published  in literary journals in Canada, the U.S., Ireland, and England, as well as in anthologies. Her poem “Duty / Deon” won   Arc Award of Awesomeness (shayne avec i grec, judge,  January 2021).  “Seduction” was shortlisted for the Freefall Annual Poetry Contest edited by Gary Barwin and was published in  (Fall 2020). She is the author of  A Breeze You Whisper: Poems and  Calla & Édodur (fiction). She is a member of the League of Canadian Poets.

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Elliott Martin  is a historian, poet, musician, writer, and  graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University  in Richmond, Virginia.  His poetry appears in The Copperfield Review, Amendment Literary and Arts Journal, Artemis Journal, and elsewhere.  Originally from Southwest Virginia, he plays bass guitar around his new home as often as he can. He is a Civil War nerd, and loves jazz, blues, classical and rock music. 

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Prince A. McNally is a widely published teaching poet out of Brooklyn, New York  who facilitates workshops for kids in crisis through schools and outreach programs, utilizing poetry and creative writing as a means of expression and self-discovery. His poems have appeared in Boog City, Spill Words, Tuck Magazine, Dissident Voice, Jerry Jazz Musician & The Blue Mountain Review, to name a few. In addition, he is a recipient of a Poets & Writer’s Grant, an NYPHA Award and several Best of The Net nominations.

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Jessica Lee McMillan is a poet who expects to be buried under her shelves of books and records. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Blank Spaces, Pocket Lint, Pinhole Poetry, Rat’s Ass Review, Tiny Spoon, The South Shore Review, Dream Pop Journal, and Blue Heron Review, among others. Jessica lives in New Westminster, British Columbia. She can be reached at https://twitter.com/JessicaLeeMcM

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photo by Alice Mello

Jim Mello is a counselor and clinical supervisor in the substance use disorder field. He’s also a part time clergy person, and has taught in the University of Maine system as an adjunct professor. Besides people, his passion is music and he.became a poet by default. He has three books published, two by Moon Pie Press, and one self-published.

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David P. Miller’s collection,  Bend in the Stair, was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in 2021. Sprawled Asleep was published by Nixes Mate Books in 2019. His poems have appeared in  Meat for Tea, Denver Quarterly, The Poetry Porch, subTerrain, Muddy River Poetry Review, Constellations, Lily Poetry Review, Caustic Frolic, Clementine Unbound, and Nixes Mate Review, among others. He lives with his wife, the visual artist Jane Wiley, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

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Sean Murphy has appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” as well as in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and AdAge. A long-time columnist for PopMatters, his work has also appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Memoir Magazine, and others. He has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his chapbook, The Blackened Blues, is now available from Finishing Line Press. To learn more, visit seanmurphy.net

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Namaya is an internationally reknowned Jazz poet, storyteller, humorist and sublime improvisational artist. He has performed throughout the US and has toured in Europe, New Zealand, Japan, Asia, the Americas and Palmyra Syria.  Both as a solo artist, with his band the Jazz Beat Blues Poetry Ensemble, and with jazz musicians around the world, Namaya performs an astonishing blend of jazz word, story and improvisation.

Visit his website by clicking here

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Michael L. Newell lives in Florida.  He has had seven books of poetry published in the last three years.

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Mary K O’Melveny, a retired labor rights lawyer, lives with her wife in Woodstock, New York and Washington DC. She is the author of three books of poetry and co-author of two anthologies; her award-winning poetry has appeared in many print and on-line literary journals and on national blog sites.

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Martha Patterson’s short story collection Small Acts of Magic was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021.  Other work has been published in more than 20 anthologies and journals, and her plays have been produced in 21 states and eight countries.  She has two degrees in Theatre, from Mount Holyoke College and Emerson College, and lives in Boston, Massachusetts.  She loves being surrounded by her books, radio, and laptop.  

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After having taught middle and high school English for 32 years, Marianne Peel is now nurturing her own creative spirit. She has spent three summers in Guizhou Province, teaching best practices to teachers in China. She received Fulbright-Hays Awards to Nepal (2003) and Turkey (2009). Marianne participated in Marge Piercy’s Juried Intensive Poetry Workshop (2016). Marianne’s poetry appears in Muddy River Poetry Review, Belle Reve Literary Journal, Jelly Bucket Journal, among others. Marianne is also a veteran musician, playing flute/sax and singing in various orchestras, bands, choirs, and jazz bands her whole life. She has a collection of poetry forthcoming from Shadelandhouse Modern Press.

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Catherine Perkins, resident of Lexington, Kentucky, has poems printed in numerous locally published anthologies. She wrote for the Jazz Arts Foundation blog, briefly, in 2016. Catherine was brought up listening to jazz, blues and swing and owes her deep connection to music and the arts to her mother, Antoinette. 

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Barry Peters  and his wife, the writer Maureen Sherbondy, live in Durham, North Carolina. Publications include Best New Poets, New Ohio Review, Poetry East, The Southern Review, and The Southampton Review.

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Jaden Pierce is an emerging Asian American poet and writer from the Washington, DC area. His poems ‘Comparison’, ‘Rhythm’ & ‘Scare’ will appear in Dreich Magazine.

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Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Carrie Magness Radna is an archival audiovisual cataloger at the New York Public Library, an Associate Editor of  Brownstone Poets  Anthology (2022-), and a poet who loves to travel (when it’s safe).  Her Poetry collections:   Hurricanes never apologize (Luchador Press, 2019) and  In the blue hour  (Nirala Publications, 2021); were nominated for Best of the Web (2021) and The Pushcart Prize (2022). Currently she lives with her husband Rudolf in Manhattan. 

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Rita B. Rose is a New York poet, author and vocal stylist. From the sixties to nineties, she graced many stages. Her singing style is a unique blend of rock, blues and jazz. Her poetry is featured in: Time of the Poet Republic, Africa, Polarity Magazine, New York, Poet Magazine, United Kingdom, Eyeball magazine, Boston, and cc&d Magazine, Texas. Books include: Flower Poems: Personalities in Bloom, Veranda Sundown, Asylum: from the inside

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Ed Ruzicka, an occupational therapist, lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he and his wife, Renee, often sit on a patio that backs up to the sunset. Find Ed’s many takes on the rocky marriage between freedom and the American highway in his second book My Life in Cars. Ed’s poems have appeared in the Xavier Review, Rattle, and Canary as well as many other literary journals and anthologies.
More at: http://edrpoet.com/poems.html

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Bernard Saint is a U.K. poet who has published in U.K. and United States literary magazines since the 1960’s. He is a regular contributor to International Times. His most recent book is Roma, published by Smokestack Books. He worked as a therapist and supervisor in the U.K. National Health Service in psychiatry and in addiction recovery.

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Dr. Roger Singer was in private practice for 38 years in upstate New York. He has four children, Abigail, Caleb, Andrew and Philip and seven grandchildren. Dr. Singer has served on multiple committees for the American Chiropractic Association, lecturing at colleges in the United States, Canada and Australia, and has authored over fifty articles for his profession and served as a medical technician during the Vietnam era. Dr. Singer is the Poet Laureate of Old Lyme, Connecticut. He has had over 1,070 poems published on the Internet, magazines and in books and is a 2017 Pushcart Prize Award Nominee. He is also the President of the Shoreline Chapter of the Connecticut Poetry Society.

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John L. Stanizzi has authored Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, Hallelujah Time!, High Tide – Ebb Tide, Four Bits, Chants, Sundowning, and POND. Besides Jerry Jazz Musician, John’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Cortland Review, American Life in Poetry, and others. He’s been translated into Italian and appeared widely in Italy. He’s had nonfiction in Stone Coast Review, Ovunque Siamo, Literature and Belief, and others. John lives with his wife, Carol, in Connecticut.

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M.G. Stephens is author of 24 books, including the just published hybrid work of prose and poetry, fact and fiction, about an out-of-work actor who lands the part of Hamlet, and is entitled History of Theatre or the Glass of Fashion (MadHat Press). In the autumn, Dispatches Editions will publish his nonfiction work, When Poetry Was the World, about downtown New York in the 1960s, including chapters on Thelonious Monk.

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Susandale’s poems and fiction are on WestWard Quarterly, Mad Swirl, Penman Review, The Voices Project, and Jerry Jazz Musician. In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan. The Spaces Among Spaces from languageandculture.org has been on the Internet. Bending the Spaces of Time from Barometric Pressure is on the Internet now. She was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize by Jerry Jazz Musician for her poem “To Paul

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photo by John Tobias

Emily Jon Tobias is an American author and poet, Pushcart Prize nominee, and author of the forthcoming debut story collection, Monarch: Stories (Nomadic Press, 2023). Award-winning work has been featured in literary journals such as Santa Clara Review, Talking River Review, Flying South Literary Journal, Furrow Literary Journal, The Opiate Magazine, The Ocotillo Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Tahoma Literary Review, forthcoming in Big Muddy, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University Oregon.

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A native of Maryland’s eastern shore, Joel was educated at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (B.S.) and Rowan University (M.M.). He is the organist and choir director at First Presbyterian Church in Ocean City, Maryland.

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Steve Trenam is currently teaching a poetry writing class as part of the Santa Rosa Junior College Older Adults Program, and is in part responsible for the formation of Poetic License Sonoma, an eight-member gathering of local poets who conduct Zoom readings once a month with the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. His poetry has appeared in Canyon, River, Stone and Light, and in Pandemic Puzzle Poems, both published by Blue Light Press, 2021. Other poems appear in Crossroads, the Redwood Writers poetry anthology published in May 2022.

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Laura Trigg is a retired physician, jazz and blues fan of many years, and amateur poet. Her poems are influenced by the music and culture of the American South.

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photo by Jack Underwood

Terrance Underwood is a retired Rolls-Royce Service Engineer, veteran, College Grad (B.A. History) who has been listening to recorded jazz music since he was 5-6 yrs old. One of his first memories is listening to a 78 version of “Cherokee” by Charlie Barnett.

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Judith Vaughn lives in Sonoma, California. She attended New York City College, John F. Kennedy University, and Dominican University with a focus in Psychology. Her publications include: First Literary Review-East, several publications; Oak Leaf News, a student publication at SRJC, Santa Rosa, CA; Jerry Jazz Musician: Several publications; and Redwood Writers, Crossroads, A Poetry Anthology, Summer 2022.

Judith is also a photographer:

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Anthony Ward chooses to write because he has no choice. He writes to get rid of himself and lay his thoughts to rest. He derives most of his inspiration from listening to classical music and jazz since it is often the mood which inspires him. He has recently been published in Jerry Jazz Musician, Synchronized Chaos, Literary Yard, Mad Swirl, Shot Glass Journal and Ariel Chart.

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Emmett Wheatfall lives in Portland, Oregon. As a published poet and lyrical recording artist he has published three books of poetry;  As Clean as a Bone  (2018),  Our Scarlet Blue Wounds  (2019), and  With Extreme Prejudice: Lest We Forget(2022). Emmett has recorded four albums and three singles of spoken poetry to music. For more biographical information visit https://www.poet-emmettwheatfall.com.

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Isabel White has performed across the UK, at Shakespeare & Co in Paris and in Rotterdam. She was twice runner up in the BBC Radio 3 Proms Competitions; a finalist in nine others and poet-in-residence for organizations working with marginalized communities. With three full collections and a pamphlet under her belt, Isabel’s poetry has been widely published – in 18 books and journals to date. Isabel founded performance collective Alarms and Excursions in 2009, www.alarmsandexcursions.com

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Antoinette F. Winstead is a poet, playwright, director and actor living in San Antonio, Texas, where she’s a professor at Our Lady of the Lake University. Her poetry has appeared in several publications, including Voices de la Luna, Langdon Review, Texas Ballot Poetry, Tejas Covido, and The Poet Magazine. She is currently serving as the 2021-2022 Writer in Residence for the Carver Community Cultural Center in San Antonio. She was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize by Jerry Jazz Musician for her poem “Life Is…

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Rodney Wood is retired and lives at Farnborough in the UK. He’s published two books of poetry: Dante Called You Beatrice and When Listening Isn’t Enough. Rodney is also co-host of a monthly open mic and has been widely published. More at: https://rodneywoodpoet.wordpress.com/

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Natasha Zarin’s work has appeared in Event, The Maynard, Grand Dame Literary, Press Pause Press. In 2021, she read at the Emerging Writers and Readers Series in Toronto (virtually). Natasha works as a school counselor and lives in Surrey, BC with her partner and two children. She is currently writing about tentacles and tripe in a memoir about food and family.

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Click here to learn how to submit your poetry

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3 comments on “A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2022 Edition”

  1. Joe,
    Thank you once again for your erudite collection of jazz poetry. Your website is a treasure of jazz collections and connections. I love the way you weave the arts into one tapestry depicting the best of human endeavors. I recommend it to everyone I know.
    Carry on!

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In This Issue

painting of Clifford Brown by Paul Lovering
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition...In this, the 17th major collection of jazz poetry published on Jerry Jazz Musician, 50 poets from all over the world again demonstrate the ongoing influence the music and its associated culture has on their creative lives.

(featuring the art of Paul Lovering)

Feature

photo of Rudy Van Gelder via Blue Note Records
“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.

The Sunday Poem

”"Day Dream" by Charlie Brice


The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work.... Charlie Brice reads his poem at its conclusion


Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem

Interview

Interview with James Kaplan, author of 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool...The esteemed writer tells a vibrant story about the jazz world before, during, and after the 1959 recording of Kind of Blue, and how the album’s three genius musicians came together, played together, and grew together (and often apart) throughout the experience.

Publisher’s Notes

photo by Rhonda Dorsett
On turning 70, and contemplating the future of Jerry Jazz Musician...

Essay

“Gone Guy: Jazz’s Unsung Dodo Marmarosa,” by Michael Zimecki...The writer remembers the late jazz musician Michael “Dodo” Marmarosa, awarded Esquire Magazine’s New Star Award in 1947, and who critics predicted would dominate the jazz scene for the next 30 years.

True Jazz Stories

Brianmcmillen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
True Jazz Stories: “Hippie In a Jazz Club” – by Scott Oglesby...The author relates a story that took place in San Francisco's jazz club the Keystone Korner in 1980 that led to his eventual friendship with the jazz greats Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy…

Book Excerpt

Book Excerpt from Jazz Revolutionary: The Life & Music of Eric Dolphy, by Jonathon Grasse...In this first full biography of Eric Dolphy, Jonathon Grasse examines Dolphy’s friendships and family life, and his timeless musical achievements. The introduction to this outstanding book is published here in its entirety.

Short Fiction

Impulse! Records and ABC/Dunhill Records. Photographer uncredited/via Wikimedia Commons
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #66 — “Not From Around Here” by Jeff Dingler...The author’s award-winning story is about a Jewish kid coming of age in Alabama and discovering his identity through music, in particular the interstellar sound of Sun Ra..

Click here to read more short fiction published on Jerry Jazz Musician

Playlist

“‘Different’ Trios” – a playlist by Bob Hecht...A 27-song playlist that focuses on non-traditional trio recordings, featuring trios led by the likes of Carla Bley, Ron Miles, Dave Holland and Jimmy Giuffre...

Feature

Excerpts from David Rife’s Jazz Fiction: Take Two – Vol. 5: “Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime”...A substantial number of novels and stories with jazz music as a component of the story have been published over the years, and the scholar David J. Rife has written short essay/reviews of them. In this seventh edition of excerpts from his book, Rife writes about jazz novels and short stories that feature stories about women, written by women.

Interview

Interview with Larry Tye, author of The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America...The author talks about his book, an intensely researched, spirited, and beautifully told story – and an important reminder that Armstrong, Ellington, and Basie all defied and overcame racial boundaries “by opening America’s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music.”

Poetry

John Coltrane, by Martel Chapman
Four poets, four poems…on John Coltrane

Feature

What we discover about Kamala Harris from an armful of record albums...Like her or not, readers of this site will enjoy learning that Vice President Kamala Harris is a fan of jazz music. Witness this recent clip (via Youtube) of her emerging from a record shop…

Short Fiction

Munich University of Music and Theater/© Raimond Spekking/via Wikimedia Commons
“The Pianist (Part One)” – a short story by J. C. Michaels...The story – finalist in the recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – describes the first lesson at a music conservatory of a freshman piano-performance major who is more accustomed to improvising than reading music. It is an excerpt from a novel-in-progress.

Poetry

“Revival” © Kent Ambler.
If You Want to Go to Heaven, Follow a Songbird – Mary K O’Melveny’s album of poetry and music...While consuming Mary K O’Melveny’s remarkable work in this digital album of poetry, readings and music, readers will discover that she is moved by the mastery of legendary musicians, the wings of a monarch butterfly, the climate and political crisis, the mysteries of space exploration, and by the freedom of jazz music that can lead to what she calls “the magic of the unknown.” (with art by Kent Ambler)

Interview

The Marvelettes/via Wikimedia Commons
Interview with Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz, authors of But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?: An Oral History of the 60’s Girl Groups...Little is known of the lives and challenges many of the young Black women who made up the Girl Groups of the ‘60’s faced while performing during an era rife with racism, sexism, and music industry corruption. The authors discuss their book’s mission to provide the artists an opportunity to voice their experiences so crucial to the evolution of popular music.

Short Fiction

Photo by Stockcake
“Melody and Counterpoint” – a short story by Joshua Dyer...In this story - a short-listed entry in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest - Tucker works as a jazz pianist aboard the deep space luxury cruiser, the Royal Nebula. A flirtatious interlude pushes his new emotional software to its limits and beyond, and he learns the hard way what it means to be human.

Art

photo of Johnny Griffin by Giovanni Piesco
The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman...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 is of saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman, who appeared together at the at Bimhuis on June 25/26, 1999.

Short Fiction

bshafer via FreeImages.com
“And All That Jazz” – a short story by BV Lawson...n this story – a short listed entry in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – a private investigator tries to help a homeless friend after his saxophone is stolen.

Essay

“Like a Girl Saying Yes: The Sound of Bix” – an essay by Malcolm McCollum...The first time Benny Goodman heard Bix Beiderbecke play cornet, he wondered, “My God, what planet, what galaxy, did this guy come from?” What was it about this musician that captivated and astonished so many for so long – and still does?

Trading Fours with Douglas Cole

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 21: “The Blue Truth”...In this edition, the poet riffs on Oliver Nelson’s classic 1961 album The Blues and the Abstract Truth as if a conversation between conductor and players were caught on tape along with the inner monologue of some mystery player/speaker of the poem.

In Memoriam

Hans Bernhard (Schnobby), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“Remembering Joe Pass: Versatile Jazz Guitar Virtuoso” – by Kenneth Parsons...On the 30th anniversary of the guitarist Joe Pass’ death, Kenneth Parsons reminds readers of his brilliant career

Book Excerpt

Book excerpt from Jazz with a Beat: Small Group Swing 1940 – 1960, by Tad Richards

Click here to read more book excerpts published on Jerry Jazz Musician

Jazz History Quiz #176

photo of Lester Young by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
While legendary as a saxophonist, his first instrument was a violin and his second the piano — which he played well enough to work as an accompanist to silent movies. Ultimately it was Lester Young’s father who taught him the saxophone well enough that he switched instruments for good. (It was during this time that he also saved Lester from drowning in a river). Who is he?

Community

photo via Picryl.com
“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)

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Coming Soon

An interview with Larry Tye, author of The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America; an interview with Jonathon Grasse, author of Jazz Revolutionary: The Life & Music of Eric Dolphy; A new collection of jazz poetry; a collection of jazz haiku; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

Interview Archive

Ella Fitzgerald/IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Click to view the complete 25-year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Judith Tick on Ella Fitzgerald (pictured),; Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz on the Girl Groups of the 60's; Tad Richards on Small Group Swing; Stephanie Stein Crease on Chick Webb; Brent Hayes Edwards on Henry Threadgill; Richard Koloda on Albert Ayler; Glenn Mott on Stanley Crouch; Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake; Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.