Bryn Fortey Enters Both Contests

Recently jazz poet Bryn Fortey sent me poems for both of my winter/spring contests: poems about not driving and poems inspired by jazz musicians born in the 1930s.  I'm always pleased to meet another non-driver, and I hope to meet a few more by January.

BUT NOT FOR ME

DRIVE by James Sallis

Is permanently in my top ten novels

Sparse, pared back, no padding

I admire the writing

Even though the title is not  

Part of my personal vocabulary 

Drive?

ME?

Bollocks!

When other teens were

Working on worn out old bangers

Head stuck under a rusting hood

Happily covered in oil and muck

I was

Having a smoke

A glass of beer

Trying to chat up

The new girl on the block

I have never had any interest in cars

Or any wish to drive one

I took lessons once

At an employer’s insistence

But they just showed me firsthand

How many idiots drove cars

And confirmed what I knew

That it wasn’t for me

There have been times in my life when

A license might have been handy

But I’ve made it

Got by

All the way to old age

Without one

With one

My level of incompetence

Might have seen me dead years ago

Swings and roundabouts my friend

Any chance of a lift?

Bryn Fortey

Bryn has also found Joanne Brackeen, a jazz pianist born in the 1930s.  He has promised a few other discoveries...or rediscoveries for us.

JOANNE BRACKEEN

(Born Ventura, California, July 26, 1938)

Largely self-taught

Though with some formal training

Her involvement with popular piano styles was shattered

The moment she first heard Charlie Parker and bebop became

Her musical language of choice

New York soon beckoned

And her eloquent yet dynamic playing

Saw her mix in good company

A spell with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers

Was followed by employment with saxophonists

Joe Henderson and Stan Getz

Leading a series of trios and performing solo

To great critical acclaim

She combined the bringing up of her four children

With the precarious career of a jazz musician

Influenced by such piano luminaries as

Bill Evans and Chick Corea

She nevertheless developed a personal style

Recognized and admired

For both her playing and composition

Also known as an educator

Being a professor at two colleges

In spite of passing years

Brackeen has remained an important innovator

A force to be reckoned with

In the history of the piano in jazz

Bryn Fortey

Here is Joanne Brackeen, playing her original composition "Haiti B":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_sH-pFLD2o

She and Joe Henderson are performing "Relaxing at Camarillo": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khOd1oRCXPA  This video is from 1986.

This is her "Manha de Carnaval," which sounds quite familiar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVjrQ2_2-FA

This is her "Picasso": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJFAo2PZ5kU

I'll finish with a video of her playing in the Cologne subway as part of the Tony Iakatos Quartet:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4XINFu0vI

If you would like to know more about the winter/spring contests, see this link:

http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-fallwinter-contests-for-song-is.html