August 31, 2007: Jazz Poetics and Other Vibes
Today we welcome special guest, Professor Aldon Nielsen, for a show focusing on the relationship between African-American poetics and jazz. We’ll listen to an eclectic mix of jazz musicians and poets, often in literal dialogue with one another, and investigate the social and aesthetic significance of the jazz/poetry connection. We focus specifically on the new “Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield” project, a collaboration between bassist William Parker and poet Amiri Baraka.
Aldon Lynn Nielsen is the George and Barbara Kelly Professor of American Literature in the Pennsylvania State University ‘ s Department of English. His works of scholarship include Writing between the Lines, C.L.R. James: A Critical Introduction, Black Chant, and Integral Music: Languages of African American Innovation, and Every Goodbye Ain ‘ t Gone, an anthology of experimental poetry by black American artists co-edited with Lauri Ramey.