World Literature Today Considers Jazz

I created this tribute portrait of jazz pianist and composer 
Thelonious Monk out of fabric and thread. It's called "Loudest Noise."
Check out the rest of my jazz art series at http://www.laurencamp.com/art/jazz.shtml 

About six months ago, the editors of World Literature Today invited me to guest edit a special section on jazz poetry for the magazine. 

I compiled that special section, word by word and poet by poet, over the bitterest winter months. You can read my intro and hear a few poems online, or pick up a copy of the March/April 2011 issue and read it all -- the whole musical section, plus poems, profiles, essays, interviews of international literary luminaries. Good writing? Yes. A good way to learn about the world? Definitely.

I've been immersed in jazz for years and years - exploring the subject as a visual artist, a poet, a radio programmer, a performer. I've done everything I can but learn an instrument. It was thrilling to move outside of myself, outside of my country, and look at the words -- and musical rhythms -- of others. 

The way we keep music alive is by listening to it, buying it, letting it be part of our surroundings. The poems in this special section expand jazz in new directions. The words of these poets might just lead you back to more listening...

or even to some exploratory music-based writing of your own...