7:30 p.m.
Just Added: Vocalist Dee Alexander will join us for one song!
Featuring poet, writer, and civil rights activist Sonia Sanchez, the newly-named Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Jazz and Literature will explore the languages of jazz and improvisation as they intersect with the spoken and written word. Smaller groupings of musicians will collaborate with Sanchez through both preconceived and spontaneously composed accompaniment to her poetry. Unaccompanied readings and standalone music performance will also be featured.
This program takes inspiration from historical and contemporary collaborations between word and sound. Points of departure include the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s-30s, the Beat Generation of the 50s, and the Black Arts Movement of the 60s-70s, all of which gave rise to formative literature, poetry, music, and activism. The identity formation encouraged by these movements – individuality and finding your own voice – directly connects to the practice of improvisation, a touchstone of the jazz tradition. Contemporary hip hop and spoken word practices have built upon these foundations, illuminating how the exploration of history becomes a journey to the present moment.
(Pictured, Sonia Sanchez and Dana Hall)
Notes from the Artistic Director
There have been a number of literary movements
that were and are informed by jazz in its many forms - The Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Generation, the Black Arts Movement. And with these movements, there
were particular artists and songs...for the Beats, there was Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan
Getz, Charlie Parker, and the music and literary scene around City Lights
Bookstore in San Francisco in the late 1950s. I’d like to explore the ways in which poets and
novelists have used the forms, flow, and feeling of jazz in their works. Authors who do this quite vividly include, but aren't limited to,
Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Ralph
Ellison, Jack Kerouac, Stanley Crouch, June Jordan, and Albert Murray. I’d also
like to explore the ways in which musicians, and specifically jazz musicians,
have been inspired and influenced by literature, poetry, and the spoken word to
create their aural art. Interesting examples include Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis,
and Stevie Wonder.
FEATURED MUSICIANS
DANA HALL, drums and cymbals
PAT MALLINGER, saxophones and flutes
JEFF PARKER, guitar
JUSTIN THOMAS, vibraphone
LORIN COHEN, bass
RYAN COHAN, piano
The Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media is proud to partner with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble for this program.
Sonia Sanchez is one of the most important figures in African-American literature. She has had a profound impact on this literature’s oral tradition, her writing including a variety of styles, languages, and dialects. She is the author of more than 18 books of poetry in addition to plays and anthologies. Among the many honors she has received are the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the Lucretia Mott Award, the Outstanding Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Peace and Freedom Award from Women International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), a National Endowment for the Arts Award, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
Tickets $25 - available exclusively via Brown Paper Tickets. Student tickets $5 with valid ID - order online, via phone, or at the venue and present valid ID at the door.
