Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
When Carl Sandburg died in 1967, President Lyndon Johnson hailed the famed poet as “more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.” Fifty years after Sandburg’s passing, drummer/composer Matt Wilson pays tribute to the “poet of the people.” Sharing both Sandburg’s Midwestern roots and his gift and passion for communicating lofty art to a broad and diverse audience, Wilson has been a lifelong admirer of the poet’s work and has been setting his words to music for more than 15 years. The long-awaited release of “Honey and Salt” coincides with the 50th anniversary of Sandburg’s death. To re cite Sandburg’s poems, Wilson enlisted a stellar list of jazz greats including John Scofield, Christian McBride, Bill Frisell, Carla Bley, Joe Lovano and Rufus Reid. Wilson sets these recitations in an eclectic variety of settings for his ensemble.
Meanwhile, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom re-imagines the poetry of 19th-century visionary Emily Dickinson in two different settings. Her new two CD set “Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson,” showcases her jazz quartet’s interpretation of Dickinson’s poetry and includes a second version for jazz quartet and spoken word featuring readings by popular stage and film actor Deborah Rush. Bloom was inspired to musically interpret Dickinson when she learned that the poet was a pianist and improviser herself, reconfirming what she’s always felt in the jazz-like quality of Dickinson’s phrasing. “I didn’t always understand her,” Bloom says, “but I always felt Emily’s use of words mirrored the way a jazz musician uses notes.”
Also this week, bassist Christian McBride follows up his 2011 Grammy-winning big band debut with “Bringin’ It,” with a big band including Freddie Hendrix, Michael Dease, Steve Davis, Steve Wilson, Rodney Jones and Ron Blake
Composer/arranger/pianist John Beasley offers up a sec
ond batch of stellar big band charts of Thelonious Monk tunes on “Monk’estra Volume 2”.
Guitarist Dave Stryker is “Strykin’ Ahead” with his new CD, augmenting his working trio of organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter with vibraphone ace Steve Nelson.