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JJ 12/64: Poetry And Jazz In Concert

Sixty years ago Graham Boatfield thought that efforts in London to marry jazz and poetry were a failure and recommended instead Langston Hughes with Henry Allen and other jazz musicians. First published in Jazz Journal November 1964

I love jazz, all sorts, and like it more and more. I enjoy poetry, but less acutely than in my teens and twenties, and the appeal becomes more limited. That is my experience, and I find that it is fairly general.

Poetry And Jazz, an attempt to canalise the appeal of both arts, fails to make much genuine appeal. It does attract an audience, but it is possible that audiences accepts p & j more as a current convention than as a serious art form.

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In both these records, there is jazz by the Michael Garrick Quintet. Some of it is quite fatuous, some of it reasonable. The most interesting part of it is Garrick’s own piano, fluent and at times almost starting to swing; the other front­line men have little opportunity and play uneventful music.

If you want real poetry and music, where the verse breaks into song under its own vital impetus, listen to the late James Stephens. If you want the only real poetry and jazz, where the two mingle naturally, listen to the Negro poet Langston Hughes with Henry Allen and other jazz musi­cians.

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Discography
Record 1: The Michael Garrick Trio with Joe Harriott and Shake Keane. Readings by Adrian Mitchell and Dannie Abse. (20/21½ min)
(Argo DA 26 12inLP 32s. 2d.)
Record 2: The Michael Garrick Trio with Joe Harriott and Shake Keane. Readings by Jeremy Robson and Laurie Lee (22/25 min).
(Argo DA 27 12inLP 32s. 2d.)

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