Home » Jazz News » Performance / Tour

145

Poetry and Jazz at the Cutting Room featuring Poet Dan Jaffe & Pianist Mike Melvoin Saturday, June 17 at 12:30 a.m.

Source:

Sign in to view read count
Dan Jaffe & Mike Melvoin Trio
To bring Playing the Word To New York City's The Cutting Room

Renowned jazz poet Dan Jaffe and highly acclaimed pianist Mike Melvoin have joined forces to celebrate a collection of Jaffe's vivid poetry with a unique collaboration titled Playing The Word. This duo, along with the world renown rhythm section of Bill Goodwin, Steve Gilmore and blues singer David Basse, producer of Playing the Word will bring this rare blend of jazz and poetry to New York City for a late night set at The Cutting Room, 19 West 24th Street, on Saturday, June 17 at 12:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 at the door.

As noted writer Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Jazz Institute at Rutgers University, says in his liner notes for the new CD: “The words and the music don't just co-exist; they come together, they swing and sing. Like a great musician when he or she takes a solo, he (Jaffe) tells a story, and tells it straight, without artifice or conceit--and that Melvoin hears those stories and joins in telling them, with his own clear and strong voice; not embellishing or echoing, but enhancing and embracing." The poetry Melvoin embraces on Playing The Word is from Jaffe's book of the same name, which deals with a number of intriguing jazz experiences. Over fifty musicians are referenced in Jaffe's book of jazz poetry, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk. The book also memorializes lesser-known jazz artists like the great Kansas City pianist, George Salisbury. Jaffe's poems evoke the essence of the jazz world. James Tate, Pulitzer Prize winning poet called them, “so vivid and passionate I could hear the tunes and see the smoke. The book is a great work of love."

Jaffe brings his poetry to life with a dynamic spoken word interpretation, delivered with impeccable timing and rhythm. The music provided by the masterful keyboard work of Mike Melvoin completes the jazz dialogue. Together, Jaffe and Melvoin educate, enlighten and entertain with a true passion and reverence for this great American music, the players who immortalized it, and lived it.

For further information, please contact Lori Hehr at 360-325-6044 or via email at [email protected]

For more information contact .

Comments

Tags

News

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.