A Note From Ishmael Reed (SFJAZZ Poetry Festival, Night #2)

 

Italian-American poets at the 2nd Annual SFJAZZ Poetry Festival

A beautiful account from SFJAZZ Poet Laureate Ishmael Reed, who curated the 2nd Annual SFJAZZ Poetry Festival over the weekend:

"The great Italian American poet, Sandra Gilbert said, what would those immigrants who entered Ellis Island have thought had they known that one day Italian-American poets would appearing in a beautiful room located in the SFJAZZ. The [Irish-Americans] ended their evening with Sean Casey leading the audience in an Irish song. This was great!"

Sandra Gilbert w/ Ishmael Reed at SFJAZZ Center

Irish-American Night in Joe Henderson Lab

This week features a different kind of poetry... the lyricism of singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash, who starts a sold out run in Miner Auditorium this Thursday (4/10), part of her River & The Thread Tour. Keep up with this SFJAZZ Calendar!

"When I Die I Will Go To Jazz" — Ishmael Reed Art Installation

"When I Die I Will Go To Jazz" at Raise Up Off Me Alley

Last week, SFJAZZ Poet Laureate Ishmael Reed's poem "When I Die I Will Go To Jazz" was installed on the north gate of Raise Up Off Me Alley (named to honor jazz legend Hampton Hawes) at the SFJAZZ Center. Come by the Center and have a read!

Ishmael Reed was a clear choice to fill the new SFJAZZ Poet Laureate chair. An acclaimed poet, playwright and novelist known for his polemical works about American political culture and social oppression, as well as the jazz-like rhythms accented through his language, Reed resides in Oakland after retiring from a UC Berkeley professorship.

Ishmael Reed on being the SFJAZZ Poet Laureate:

"Jazz has given so much to me; maybe now I can give something back."

The SFJAZZ Poet Laureate chair was created to celebrate the connection between poetry, jazz and spoken word, and to inspire young poets and musicians to further their craft and contribute to the global conversation of art. Reed curated the 1st Annual Poetry Festival earlier this year, presenting many of California's great poets in Joe Henderson Lab. Reed continues this dialogue between word and sound at the 2nd Annual Poetry Festival, April 3-6, 2014, as part of the SFJAZZ Center's Season 2, currently underway.

If you're keen to see Reed's poem, drop by the SFJAZZ Center, or find his New and Collected Poems 1964-2007. For more information on the 2nd Annual Poetry Festival, visit sfjazz.org.

1st Annual SFJAZZ Poetry Festival

SFJAZZ Poet Laureate Ishmael Reed brings a diverse group of poets center stage, many riffing with improvising instrumentalists. Following each night’s final performance, young poets will have a chance to get onstage during an open-mic session and perform their work beginning around 10:30PM.

The first annual SFJAZZ Poetry Festival features a diverse cast of poets – among them the state’s current poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, the celebrated feminist poet Lorna Dee Cervantes, the elegant Beat writer Michael McClure and Reed himself – many performing with improvising instrumentalists. Those musicians include such gifted Bay Area players as woodwind master Melecio Magdaluyo, jamming with poet and performance artist Genny Lim on June 7. The following night, Reed mixes it up with pianist Mary Watkins, on a bill with the commanding Al Young, performing his poetry with bassist Dan Robbins.

“For SFJAZZ’s first annual Jazz Poetry Festival, we have assembled some of the most prominent Bay Area poets, some of whom will be accompanied by some of the finest local musicians,” says Reed, a prolific writer of poems, essays, novels and plays who taught for decades at UC Berkeley. “This may be the most exciting and diverse poetry festival held in San Francisco in recent years.”

SFJAZZ Poetry Festival
June 6 - 9 · Joe Henderson Lab
Two Sets Per Night: 7:30PM & 9PM
Open Mic Each Night at 10:30PM
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06/06 - Juan Felipe Herrera & Alejandro Murguía
06/07 - Lorna Dee Cervantes, Genny Lim, Indira Allegra, Boadiba, Tennessee Reed & Neli Moody
06/08 - Al Young, Ishmael Reed & Michael McClure
06/09 - Lucha Corpi, Jack & Adelle Foley, Floyd Salas, & Claire Ortalda

To learn more about the festival and/or purchase tickets, visit the SFJAZZ website.