[Dixielandjazz] Poetry and jazz

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

This week hasn't been a good one for the DJML. The road to hell is indeed
paved with good intentions.

Back in the land of the living and on the subject of jazz and poetry, the
standard view is that this is a 1950s phenomenon and (as Charlie Hooks puts
it so nicely) the mix "always maimed both". Perhaps not always.

The phenomenon is actually at least as old as 1929. There are two sides,
made in Paris in October 1929, of Jean Cocteau reciting two of his poems to
accompaniments by the Dan Parrish orchestra. The titles are "La toison
d'or"/"Holidays" and "Les voleurs d'enfants"/"Pourquoi j'ai regrette". In
these cases I think the mix does work. "La toison d'or"/"Holidays" is of
particular interest to jazz enthusiasts because of a rare trumpet solo by
Cricket Smith.

All the best
Anton