|
Jazz and poetry are intertwined because of their immense
opportunity for self-expression. One
could, of course, make this same claim for the intertwining of poetry with
other forms of self-expression. Poet,
essayist, saxophonist and Professor English, Sascha Feinstein, in his
discussion of this linkage, this interweaving, of jazz and poetry, emphasizes
the spiritual devotion of some jazz musicians.
For them, a life separated from jazz can not be contemplated. It is the
improvization, he says, which is at the centre of this self-expression. This line of thought is also true of my poetry, but the
devotion in my case is to a new religion of The Book. My life is literally unimaginable without
this Book. It would be quite unnatural
for me not to write about this new religion of The Book. This Book is intimately connected to
emotionally charged events in my personal life and my poetry gives expression
to this intimacy, this emotional charge, in a form of self-expression that is
rooted in improvization. –Ron Price with thanks to “Jerry Jazz Musician:
Interview with Sascha Feinstein,”
Internet Site, 1 November 2008. They’ve been playing in the background all my life, but I have to turn the dial, put the program on, listen to the record or CD.
Receptivity is a key, investing meaning or nothing will happen: it will just be a lot of noise, sound, crashing waves on the shore. I’ve slowly grown accustomed to the sound like a distant echo that keeps repeating, a fog horn that keeps blowing as the ships come in on stormy nights.
There’s nostalgia in many of the cadences, intonations, tones and timbre.
They take me back and over, through and with. It’s a pity that such beauty can not be seen and only heard, but that will be enough to enrich my life to the last syllable of my recorded time here. Ron Price
1 November 2008
-------------
married for 48 years, a teacher for 32, a student for 18, a writer and editor for 16, and a Baha'i for 56(in 2015)
|