2008 Woodie Awards
Po'Jazz: An Evening of Musical and Poetic Fusion
Brian O'Conner
Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: Features
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For some people, Greenwich Village embodies the spirit of old New York with its family-owned businesses and brownstone apartments. To others, it is the Mecca of the Beat generation, and still to others, it is the birthplace and home of modern jazz. The Cornelia Street Cafe buzzed with activity last Thursday; and nestled underneath the battered sidewalks and busy intersections poets, musicians, and onlookers gathered underneath the street for a night of words, notes, and high emotions.
Po'Jazz, a fusion of poetry and jazz, played to a filled house in the basement lounge of the landmark Cornelia Street Café, a haven for artists and musicians since its creation in 1977. Inside the mirror-laden club, businessmen and tattooed students sat shoulder to shoulder at candlelit tables, sipping drinks and listening to the words and music of prominent poets, college students, and the music of the Po'Jazz House Quartet.
Starting the program at the Hudson Valley Writer's Center, College of Mount Saint Vincent professor and longtime poet, Golda Solomon, brought the program to the Cornelia Street Café in the spring of 2003, and kicked off the night with a sonnet from a series she composed about the pitfalls of addiction. Solomon set the tone for the night through what is deeply known as "the medicine woman of jazz." Solomon has been active in the New York City jazz and poetry cultures for years through programs like Po'Jazz, Jazzjaunts, and her book of poetry Flatbush Cowgirl. In her latest project, she combines two of her loves into one; poetry becomes jazz and jazz becomes poetry as the two profoundly emotional art forms become one. Trumpets echo the timbre of the poet, and words follow drumbeats - poets become musicians and their words sing over improvised jams, as their stanzas become songs.
Prominent poet Patricia Smith, Joseph Lennon, a professor at Manhattan College and a distinguished writer of several sets of poetry and the book Irish Orientalism, vocalist Andrea Wolper, bassist Ken Filiano, and students featured in Manhattan Magazine (Manhattan College's yearly journal of poetry and photography), all read their works to an eager audience. Editor-in-Chief of Manhattan Magazine, Elysa Fein, Chris Gorman, John Easterbrook, David Flay, and Bridget Martin shared poems that spoke of topics as varied as fear in a post-9/11 world, and chagrin towards guys going for the wrong women. In a night filled with humor, satire, and dire seriousness, seasoned veterans and newcomers to the stage passionately shared their works to an appreciative and engaged audience.
Po'Jazz, a fusion of poetry and jazz, played to a filled house in the basement lounge of the landmark Cornelia Street Café, a haven for artists and musicians since its creation in 1977. Inside the mirror-laden club, businessmen and tattooed students sat shoulder to shoulder at candlelit tables, sipping drinks and listening to the words and music of prominent poets, college students, and the music of the Po'Jazz House Quartet.
Starting the program at the Hudson Valley Writer's Center, College of Mount Saint Vincent professor and longtime poet, Golda Solomon, brought the program to the Cornelia Street Café in the spring of 2003, and kicked off the night with a sonnet from a series she composed about the pitfalls of addiction. Solomon set the tone for the night through what is deeply known as "the medicine woman of jazz." Solomon has been active in the New York City jazz and poetry cultures for years through programs like Po'Jazz, Jazzjaunts, and her book of poetry Flatbush Cowgirl. In her latest project, she combines two of her loves into one; poetry becomes jazz and jazz becomes poetry as the two profoundly emotional art forms become one. Trumpets echo the timbre of the poet, and words follow drumbeats - poets become musicians and their words sing over improvised jams, as their stanzas become songs.
Prominent poet Patricia Smith, Joseph Lennon, a professor at Manhattan College and a distinguished writer of several sets of poetry and the book Irish Orientalism, vocalist Andrea Wolper, bassist Ken Filiano, and students featured in Manhattan Magazine (Manhattan College's yearly journal of poetry and photography), all read their works to an eager audience. Editor-in-Chief of Manhattan Magazine, Elysa Fein, Chris Gorman, John Easterbrook, David Flay, and Bridget Martin shared poems that spoke of topics as varied as fear in a post-9/11 world, and chagrin towards guys going for the wrong women. In a night filled with humor, satire, and dire seriousness, seasoned veterans and newcomers to the stage passionately shared their works to an appreciative and engaged audience.