Heard At The Troubadour

Listening to Michael Horovitz. 16th August 2008.


Jazz and poetry are closely linked.
Many of the Beat poets wrote
is if they were playing jazz:
Charlie Parker played in their heads.
Line length was according to breath length,
just like a sax player
would stack his phrasings.

I had the honour of performing
with the great Michael Horovitz,
our own Beat master,
at the famous Troubadour Club
in London in '08.
Here's an impression
of a section of that evening:


Jazz enters...
Jazz need not
come loud -
blown from a big swing
orchestra,
like Basie's.

Jazz comes
much smaller too:
bite size and
still blue.

One man
can blow jazz.
Blow sweet
and improvise
on some old tin horn,
and attachments.
Blow some sweet jazz
and read poems -
Blake meets Bebop!

Horovitz hums
through his under-cover
kazoo.
He moans.
He groans.
He makes all the tones.
He gets down
to the bone
on his -
Anglo-saxophone!



I hope to see you at the Appledore Book Festival. Let's talk music and poetry!

Eccentrically.
Colin.

http://www.inclusifolk.com/

www.eccentricclub.co.uk/