In this video, Saxophonist Bruce Williams, member of Olive Lake’s 17-piece band and participant in City of Asylum Pittsburgh’s 2010 Jazz Poetry Concert, explains his views on a jazz ensemble.
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The poet Terrance Hayes is “bringing the National Book Award home to Pittsburgh,” as he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hayes’ Lighthead beat out the works of four other poets, including established writers such as C.D. Wright. Watch Hayes read at the 2010 Jazz Poetry Concert and read Sampsonia Way’s interview with the author.
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Saxophonist and Trombone player Alfred Patterson moves just as easily between musical styles: he was a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, toured with the American Ballet Company, played in the pit orchestras for musicals such as “Dreamgirls” and “La Cage Aux Folles,” and jammed with the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras. In this video, Patterson discusses sound, poetry, and the nature of improvisation.
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In this video, Musician Erica Lindsay talks about composition, improvisation, poetry, and playing with a large band. Lindsay has been featured in the Jazz Poetry Concert series as a member of Oliver Lake’s Big Band Ensemble and is currently working on her own projects with improvised saxophone and orchestral compositions.
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According to baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, if you want to know jazz, you must first know the blues. “The blues is what this music is about. Period,” he said during rehearsal for City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s 2010 Jazz Poetry festival. In this video, Harding explains how the sound of the sax emanates from the same place as the human voice and reflects on the rich jazz legacy of rust belt cities like Pittsburgh and Detroit.
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Pittsburgh-based poet Terrance Hayes has been nominated for a National Book Award for his collection Lighthead. This video features selections of Hayes’ poetry at the 2010 Jazz Poetry Concert.
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In this video created by Rattapallax magazine exclusively for Sampsonia Way, the poet Edward Hirsch talks about Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s deep and lasting influence on him.
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