The Poetry of Jazz: Live at Blue Llama by Allan Harris
'The Poetry of Jazz: Live at Blue Llama' by Allan Harris
The use of music as a backdrop to enhance the rhythm, emotion, and nuance of spoken word poetry is not new stuff, but it’s less common to find it done as rewardingly as on veteran jazz musician Allen Harris’s latest album The Poetry of Jazz: Live at Blue Llama. The latest addition to the Harlem New York native’s 30-year career of recording, performing, and composing, the album offers an inventive blend of poetry, pleasingly melodic vocal performances and jazz improvisation.
What’s especially interesting is that Harris chose the difficult path of taking well-known jazz standards and recognizable verse from well-worn classic poetry and paring them in original and evocative combinations. William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day” is set to gentle, idyllic piano that seamlessly slips into the hazy, autumnal tones of Lionel Hampton and Johnny Mercer’s ballad “Midnight Sun.” Lord Byron’s deeply romantic verse “She Walks in Beauty” perfectly complements Harris’s rendition of Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright’s soulful “With You I’m Born Again,” and university students forced to read Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” could better understand its meaning if they heard Harris’s reading followed by his defiant original “Shallow Man.”
Indeed, Harris’s original compositions highlight the album. His leather-tough “Weary Blues” frames insightful reflections on the significance of African American poet and activist Langston Hughes, “Autumn” captures fleeting warmth as summer fades to fall, and Robert Frosts over-recited “The Road Not Taken” sounds almost-new when followed by the album finale “The Road Not Taken.” Harris’s smooth vocals are accompanied by a skilled ensemble whose well-considered musical choices round out a rich, challenging listening experience.
