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Benjamin Boone

Saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone’s 2018/2019 Origin Records “Poetry of Jazz” releases, collaborations with the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize recipient Philip Levine, were recognized as milestone poetry/music projects. Voted the #3 “Best Album of 2018” in DownBeat Magazine’s 83rd annual Readers Poll (just behind Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis), praised in leading musical and literary publications, and featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” The Poetry of Jazz established Boone as one of the most compelling voices among contemporary artists exploring the intersections between poetry and music.

He builds upon this foundation on his 2020 Origin Records album, The Poets Are Gathering, encompasses nearly a dozen writers exploring themes that thrum with the urgency of a protest march. The poetry addresses ripped-from- the-front-page topics such as police murder, racism, immigration, poverty, inequity, and mass shootings. As Gene Seymour writes in his extensive liner notes, “There are incantations and supplications to be found here. Also: elegies and headlines, howls and mantras, reveries and outbursts. They instruct and affirm.”  

Poets include Tyehimba Jess (Pulitzer Prize), Patricia Smith (LA Times Book Award/National Slam Poetry Champion), Juan Felipe Herrera (U.S. Poet Laureate), and Edward Hirsch (MacArthur)—intertwining their work with that of 20 musicians, including pianist Kenny Werner, guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Corcoran Holt, and drummer Ari Hoenig.

Panoramic in scope and kaleidoscopic in vision, The Poets Are Gathering bursts with vivid imagery, exuberant emotions, exacting diagnoses, sinuous melodies, and thoughtful interplay. The album’s diverse voices offer perspectives on the world that is the United States in 2020. The social, cultural, political, and emotional turmoil of the moment is a recurring theme. In “Against Silence,” Tyehimba Jess offers a panorama of American violence and its toll, speaking against indiscriminate and unjust murder, both by police officers and drones, while Patricia Smith’s “That’s My Son There” condenses that panorama, providing a raw, intimate examination of the horrific and needless pain caused by these murders. Haitian American poet Patrick Sylvain twice meditates on immigration, portraying both the fraught journey and arrival (“Marooning”) and what it leaves behind (“Ports of Sorrow”). However, there is also room for less overtly political expression, whether in T.R. Hummer’s “The Sun One (Homage to Sun Ra),” Edward Hirsch’s nostalgic reflection “Branch Library,” or Marisol Baca’s cosmic abstraction “Spiral.”

The album’s far-flung vision isn’t surprising considering that the recording process was interrupted by Boone’s year- long music-rich Fulbright Fellowship in Ghana (an experience he documented with the Ghana Jazz Collective on their 2020 album Joy). The culture shock he experienced upon his return to Fresno was magnified by the unmistakable political and societal tensions he saw in the country, and he made sure the album reflected that reality. “I am humbled and honored to be able to collaborate with such marvelous poets, who so eloquently speak the truth about this country and of existence,” says Boone. “I am touched by their profound messages.”

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3
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm

Read "Caught in the Rhythm" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...

10
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poets Are Gathering

Read "The Poets Are Gathering" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Saxophonist Benjamin Boone continues his ambitious foray into jazz and poetry, this time recruiting an impressive cadre of poets for his aptly entitled release, The Poets are Gathering (Origin, 2020). The union of poetry and jazz has never been so powerfly presented, reflecting the past year of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement, the universal role of the poet, and the power of art and voice to raise awareness and inspire change. The album employs the likes of US Poet ...

4
Interview

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz and the Ghanaian Connection

Read "Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz and the Ghanaian Connection" reviewed by Duncan Heining


So, Down Beat picks your record, The Poetry of Jazz, as one of its year-end top three. You put out a second volume, which is similarly well-received. Now here's the conundrum. Do you lock into the niche and follow up with more of the same? Or do you go for broke with that program masterpiece you always dreamed of? If you're saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone, the answer's neither of the above. Instead, Boone has opted for a set with ...

5
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: Joy

Read "Joy" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Benjamin Boone's set with this band born and grown in Ghana is a genuine cross-cultural jazz Joy. The seeds of Joy were planted when composer-saxophonist Boone spent a year as a US Fulbright Scholar in Ghana in sabbatical from his professorship at California State University (Fresno), to study the country's music and musical traditions. The music Boone found made him feel at home: “These guys know American jazz inside and out--but with a definite Ghanaian twist," he explains. ...

2
Album Review

Benjamin Boone with the Ghana Jazz Collective: Joy

Read "Joy" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


When saxophonist Benjamin Boone took a sabbatical from his teaching position at California State University Fresno to travel to Ghana as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, he envisioned a yearlong educational immersion in the music, arts and broader culture of the region. What he couldn't have imagined, which became reality, was connecting with a set of Accra-based musicians who would welcome him into the fold as a band mate. Eager to document this newfound partnership before he returned to America, Boone ...

3
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

Read "The Poetry of Jazz" reviewed by Duncan Heining


Lenny Bruce might have skewered it with his skit, “Psychopathia Sexualis." Mike Myers' mildly misogynist poet might have parodied it in the movie I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). It has been dismissed as a late-fifties fad associated with the Beats. And, yet, the desire of poets and jazz musicians to combine their art forms has proven surprisingly durable. Sometimes, the practice is just plain embarrassing and made worse by the reality that those involved, like the man ...

3
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

Read "The Poetry of Jazz" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Benjamin Boone's The Poetry Of Jazz could easily have been titled The Jazz of Poetry because of the almost interchangeable nature of the terms. The composer/saxophonist's vision to put music to the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine's prose is a reminder to listeners that jazz was birthed by the common man, and is not to be kept in an ivory tower.Both professors at Cal State Fresno, Levine and Boone had performed together before, and the saxophonist had used ...

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Recording

Saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone Adds New Layers To His Experiments With Poetry And Jazz On 'Caught In The Rhythm,' Set For September 15 Release On Origin Records

Saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone Adds New Layers To His Experiments With Poetry And Jazz On 'Caught In The Rhythm,' Set For September 15 Release On Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Benjamin Boone’s large-scale project fusing jazz with contemporary poetry reaches its deepest, richest point yet on Caught in the Rhythm, to be released September 15 on Origin Records. The fourth album in the saxophonist-composer’s series matches his remarkable assemblage of revered poets—including Edward Hirsch, Tyehimba Jess, and Patrick Sylvain—with an equally remarkable group of jazz improvisers that include Ambrose Akinmusire, Greg Osby, Kenny Werner, and Ben Monder. Boone’s fascination and ingenuity with poetry and jazz are well established. The two-volume ...

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Recording

Saxophonist Benjamin Boone Broadens His Explorations Of Poetry & Jazz With "The Poets Are Gathering," Due Oct. 16 From Origin Records

Saxophonist Benjamin Boone Broadens His Explorations Of Poetry & Jazz With "The Poets Are Gathering," Due Oct. 16 From Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Benjamin Boone takes his fascination with the merger of poetry and jazz to stunning new heights on The Poets Are Gathering, set for an October 16 release on Origin Records. True to its title, the album finds the saxophonist-composer assembling a large group of acclaimed American poets—11 in all, including Tyehimba Jess (Pulitzer Prize), Patricia Smith (LA Times Book Award/National Slam Poetry Champion), Juan Felipe Herrera (U.S. Poet Laureate), and Edward Hirsch (MacArthur)—intertwining their work with that of 20 musicians, ...

1

Recording

Saxophonist-Composer Benjamin Boone Collaborates With Accra-Based Ghana Jazz Collective On New Album "Joy," Due March 20

Saxophonist-Composer Benjamin Boone Collaborates With Accra-Based Ghana Jazz Collective On New Album "Joy," Due March 20

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone’s “The Poetry of Jazz," a visionary collaboration with U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, was praised in leading musical and literary publications, featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and voted the #3 Best Album of 2018 in DownBeat’s 83rd annual Readers Poll. Boone documents an equally compelling collaboration, this time from his year as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Ghana, on his newest project “Joy," set for a March 20th release on Origin Records. This album, the fifth ...

1

Recording

Second Volume Of "The Poetry Of Jazz," Much-Lauded Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, To Be Released Jan. 18

Second Volume Of "The Poetry Of Jazz," Much-Lauded Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, To Be Released Jan. 18

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Saxophonist/composer Benjamin Boone’s The Poetry of Jazz, a collaboration with the late U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, was recognized as a milestone spoken word/jazz project immediately upon its release last March. Praised in leading musical and literary publications, featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and voted the #3 Jazz Album of 2018 in DownBeat’s annual Readers Poll, The Poetry of Jazz established Boone as one of the most captivating and compelling voices among contemporary artists exploring the intersections between poetry ...

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Recording

"The Poetry Of Jazz," A Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Philip Levine, Due March 16 From Origin Records

"The Poetry Of Jazz," A Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Philip Levine, Due March 16 From Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Musicians and poets have been inspiring each other for millennia, with collaborations in San Francisco and New York between beat poets and beboppers during the 1950s a particularly memorable recent chapter. On the forthcoming The Poetry of Jazz, which Origin Records will release on March 16, saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levine make an invaluable contribution to the jazz-and-poetry canon and set a standard for the genre that will be hard to surpass in the future. Fellow ...

***PRAISE FOR 2018’s “THE POETRY OF JAZZ,” ORIGIN RECORDS (82754)***

“An album of unmistakable importance – one could say of historic importance.” ~ UK Vibe Magazine, 5/5 review, April 21, 2018.

“The composition seems so natural…Poetry and jazz have long been great partners, but ‘The Poetry of Jazz’ offers a fresher take…one not to be missed.” ~ The Paris Review, “Editor’s Pick,” March 23, 2018.

“A terrific record– the best of its sort mixing poetry and jazz.” ~ NPR’s Tom Vitale.

“You hold in your hands jazz history. This is a CD that must be heard!” ~ Donald Brown, jazz pianist/producer.

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Primary Instrument

Saxophone

Location

Fresno

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Clinic/Workshop Information

I give masterclasses in composition, improvisation and performance.

John Coltrane
saxophone
Miles Davis
trumpet
Kenny Garrett
saxophone, alto
Lyle Mays
keyboards
Pat Metheny
guitar
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto
Chris Potter
saxophone
Hiromi
piano

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Caught in the Rhythm

Origin Records
2023

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Joy

Origin Records
2020

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The Poets Are...

Origin Records
2020

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The Poetry of Jazz,...

Origin Records
2019

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The Poetry of Jazz

Origin Records
2018

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Live with Steve...

Self Produced
2010

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Mississippi 1955 Confessional

From: Caught in the Rhythm
By Benjamin Boone

Against Silence

From: The Poets Are Gathering
By Benjamin Boone

The Intricacies of Alice

From: Joy
By Benjamin Boone

Videos

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