Home » Jazz Articles » Book Review » Secret Carnival Workers

257

Secret Carnival Workers

By

View read count
Secret Carnival Workers
By Paul Haines, edited by Stuart Broomer
Paperback; 232pages
ISBN: 0978342607
Coach House Books
2007

Jazz and poetry ought to be natural kindred spirits. Both are about individualistic expression, projecting sentiment over logic. But with rare exception, "jazz poetry" tends to be pretty awful. More often than not, it falls into either mimicry—attempting to emulate a particular musician or instrument—or homage, championing a player, style or scene. Rather than being of itself, it becomes referential, not "jazz poetry" but "poetry about jazz."

Paul Haines—who died in 2003 at the age of 69—was the rare writer who managed to connect to the music without having to announce the fact. Best known for his libretto for Carla Bley's landmark album Escalator Over the Hill, Haines' writing covered beautifully simple slice-of-life verse, evocative liner notes and, on occasion, actual jazz journalism, but always with his own enigmatic style. His talent for simple abstraction made the surreal seem self-evident and his voice carried through his various ventures.

As a critic, he disregarded convention to follow his own muse. Reviewing the Italy Jazz Festival for Coda in 2002 he took the opportunity to interview musicians about jazz education and compiled comments from Andrew Cyrille, John Tchicai, Evan Parker, John Zorn and others. At times the wandering spirit could stray too far off track, as in a review of a Turkish festival that falls too deep into travelogue. But even then, the pieces collected here by Stuart Broomer (who was his editor at Coda) resonate with a need to express. Additional essays by Broomer, Bley, Roswell Rudd and Michael Snow make the book function as a sort of vague, half-auto biography, as nonlinear as its subject's own work.

Ultimately the value in Haines' writing is the same quality that gives jazz its appeal: it has an immediacy; his poetry is momentary, minute in subject matter, stated because it was felt and worthy because of its crafting.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Popular

Read Take Five with Pianist Irving Flores
Read Jazz em Agosto 2025
Read Bob Schlesinger at Dazzle
Read SFJAZZ Spring Concerts
Read Sunday Best: A Netflix Documentary
Read Vivian Buczek at Ladies' Jazz Festival

Get more of a good thing!

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

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.