Poemjazz
(Spoken CD)

The musical themes of Poemjazz were improvised during the recording sessions, except for two pre-existing compositions by Laurence Hobgood: "When the heart dances" with "The city" and "The Gillespie girl" with "Last robot song."

Recorded August 20 and December 20, 2011 at Rockland Recording ; Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joe Q.

"POEMJAZZ treats a voice speaking poetry as having a role like that of a horn: speech with its own poetic melody and rhythm, interacting with what the music is doing. The variations in pitch and cadence are those inherent in the words themselves, as they make their way through the lines: the language true to itself while adapting its rhythms and pitches to counterparts in music. The melodic arcs and contours of the grammar, the patterns of the consonants and vowels -- all those in the poetry are in a dialogue with the music, not sung, not acted, but spoken as verse responding to the music. The music, in turn, responds in that dialogue with the poetry, rather than illustrating it or interpreting it or setting it. The phrases of the voice like the phrases of a horn -- but spoken. The phrases of the piano like a language, expressing ideas and feelings -- but musically. To put it simply, a conversation between the sounds of poetry and music."--Robert Pinsky, liner notes.

Compact disc.