LOVE NOTES FROM THE MADHOUSE

[JSngry]

Probably old news to a lot of folks here, but I jsut heard it. It's great.

Komunyakaa's poetry is direct, and he recites it in a very unaffected manner. He says stuff I can relate to in a way I can relate to. Hardly an intellectual analysis, I know, but there it is anyway.

The music's great too. It ranges from blues to Afro-Cuban to ballads to Ra-ish moments to other. It reamins focused, and never becomes self-indulgent or over-dramatic. You also got Fred Hopkins on here (always a plus in my book) as well Jeff Parker on guitar and some other players with whom I am not overly familiar, but probably should be. Everybody shines. Tchicai's tenor tone is at once warm and gut-gripping, and he uses it in the service of a direct lyricism that I personally find irresistable.

People expecting a "jazz meets poetry" event full of unapproachable abstraction in music and lyric will be disappointed, as will those expecting a Beat type thing for all ye olde hipsters. No compromises are made (the hardestcorehardboppers amongst us will probably not dig this), but no histrionics get played or sayed, either. In fact, I'll go so far as to call this one of the most successful/satisfying jazz/poetry affairs I've yet to encounter. Satisfyingly mature and deeply human.

The label is 8th Harmonic Breakdown out of Chicago, and it's available for $16 from Cadence: RIGHT HERE.

Check it out, y'all.

[JSngry]

Anybody?

[kh1958]

I hadn't heard that one, but I became a fan of John Tchicai upon hearing him at the Alterknit Theater a few years back. Sounds interesting.

[randyhersom]

I think the same poet has collaborated with Dennis Gonzalez and MP3s are among the many full CD mp3s available at www.dennisgonzalez.com. I think his recent Old Time Revival has one broken link, though.

Edited April 2, 2005 by randyhersom