"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.
A master artist admired for his innovative use of image and text to tell stories in poetic ways, Jim Goldberg has produced a rich body of work over the last 30 years, and is presently a professor at the California College of Art and member of the famed Mangum Photos agency. Goldberg's "Prized Possession" comes from his acclaimed Open See Collection, which tells the story of refugees, immigrants, and trafficked individuals journeying from their countries of origin to their new homes in Europe. You can pick up a copy of Jim Goldberg's Open See Collection online.
