The poet Jayne Cortez passed away this past December 28th in New York City (
New York Times obituary). She started publishing her poems in the late 1960s and in the 70s began performing her poetry backed by music,
first in
collaboration with bassist Richard Davis, and then backed by her own band The Firespitters. Some of their tracks have found their way to YouTube:
I See Chano Pozo,
If the Drum Is a Woman,
There It Is,
Maintain Control & Economic Love Song I,
Everybody Wants to Be Somebody,
Takin' the Blues Back Home,
Talk to Me (for Don Cherry),
I've Been Searching,
You Can Be and
Endangered Species List Blues. Just two years ago she performed solo with her son by Ornette Coleman, drummer Denardo Coleman:
Find Your Own Voice,
I'm Gonna Shake and
She Got He Got. In 1997 she was featured on University of California television network in the series
Artists on the Cutting Edge where she read poems and discussed her work. Finally,
here's a brief clip from the 1982 documentary Poetry in Motion, where she was interviewed.
posted by Kattullus
on Jan 5, 2013 -
4 comments
July 17th 1959: "Billie Holiday died in a New York City hospital from cirrhosis of the liver after years of alcohol abuse, aged 43 (while under arrest for heroin possession, with police officers stationed at the door to her room). In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank." Still, the world remembers her for her music, her voice that changed lives. Some of her best:
Nice Work If You Can Get It,
Fine and Mellow,
Strange Fruit,
I'll Be Seeing You,
Good Morning Heartache,
Summertime,
I'm A Fool to Want You,
As Time Goes By,
Solitude,
Come Rain or Come Shine and
The Man I Love.
[more inside]
posted by pleasebekind
on Jul 17, 2011 -
30 comments
April Fools Day, 2009 also means happy
60th birthday to one of my favorite musicians,
Gil Scott-Heron (
previously).
From his popular early works like the
heavily referenced "
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "
Whitey On The Moon", and "
The Bottle", to his continued productions and tours
over the decades, he's had a few
hurdles, but
never stopped. For more on his life and music, here's a great documentary from a few years back (MLYT):
pt. 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
posted by p3t3
on Mar 31, 2009 -
26 comments
