D.C. Poetry Project member Avis D. Matthews brings us into the present with "Metaphorical," a poem inspired by Lori Williams. Avis introduces Lori here as "a local jazz vocalist who's star has been steadily rising for several years. Every time I hear her live and on recordings I am impressed with the purity and authenticity with which she sings this genre."
Metaphorical
The song is
a Pacific wave
when Lori sings it –
robust,
graceful,
high and climbing,
screaming freedom.
Dancing,
flying/flowing,
catching light:
sunray,
moonbeam,
shimmering,
shimmying,
spinning,
sparkling blue,
so blue.
Swirling,
soaring/cresting
to a
soul eclipse,
to a
cool-warm glide,
to a
daybreak stretch,
to a
healing within.
-- Avis D. Matthews
For more information, see Lori's bio here: http://www.lorijazz.com/bio You can see how many different local and international musicians she has worked with. One is pianist Allyn Johnson, director of UDC's Jazz Studies program and a frequent performer at the Strathmore Mansion and elsewhere--speaking of local musicians!
And here is Avis' biography. As you can see, she has many, many talents.
Avis is a reader, poet, essayist, teacher, editor, and singer – in varying order, depending upon the season and the energy. She always is a daughter, sister, aunt, niece, and friend. She has been a high school social studies teacher for eight years and is pursuing an M.A. in American History at the University of Maryland College Park. Her professional work also has included public relations, marketing, journalism, and arts management.
She would fight for: love, children, public libraries, truth, and justice. She wouldn’t want to live in a world without: good people, words, music, and funny stuff.
My husband and I enjoyed listening to these videos that Avis found for us:
(“What About April?”)
(“Afro Blue” medley)
(“How Can I Begin Again?”)
Below is a picture of Lori Williams as Ella Fitzgerald in the local musical Ladies Swing the Blues. She is second from the left.
If you would like more information about the "contest" at this blog, here is the entry where I discuss it:
To see another approach, here is Ed Schelb's "Blue Logic":http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-logic.html
Enjoy! I hope that Avis (and Lori Williams--and Allyn Johnson) have inspired you to write.
I wanted to pass on some information from Avis. Lori Williams will be performing in the DC area this summer:
ReplyDelete- July 28 at Bethesda Blues & Jazz w/Winard Harper(!!!)
- Aug. 2 at Loew's Madison Hotel downtown.
Here is the rest of her schedule for the summer: http://www.lorijazz.com/schedule
I hope that the weather in Vienna is much nicer than the weather in DC today!
Thank you very much for sharing my website.
DeleteI'm scheduled to perform with Winard on Sunday, July 27.
Hope to see you there!
You're welcome, Lori. :) My husband and I would love to hear you perform, but Aug. 2 would probably work better for us.
DeleteAvis, you make me want to hear her sing. I need to check her out.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will check out my music. I'm grateful to Avis for this honor. www.lorijazz.com
ReplyDeleteDo you have performances planned for the fall, Lori?
DeleteWe have readers in Baltimore and New England, too!
In fact, I saw that a few of my high school classmates up in Massachusetts had read Avis' poem (hi!), so they may be interested if you go up to Boston or Worcester.
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