An Evening of POEMJAZZ

“An Evening of POEMJAZZ” featuring renowned poet ROBERT PINSKY and Grammy Award winner jazz pianist LAURENCE HOBGOOD and saxophonist STAN STRICKLAND, in concert on Thursday evening, August 20th at 7:00 PM at Wellfleet Preservation Hall and produced by the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Tickets are $25.00 and can be purchased on line or by calling: 508.349.7511.

POEMJAZZ treats a voice speaking poetry as having a role like that of a horn: speech with its own poetic melody and rhythm, in conversation with music. POEMJAZZ is simply a conversation between the sounds of poetry and music. Robert Pinsky, the only three-term United States Poet Laureate, brings an innovative energy to all he does. In 2011, his acclaimed Selected Poems appeared his libretto for Tod Machover’s opera Death and the Powers: A Robot Pageant premiered in Monaco before coming to Boston’s ART. Next year, his adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s Wallenstein will be presented by the Shakespeare Theater of Washington, D.C.

As Poet Laureate, Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of Americans – of varying backgrounds, all ages, from every state – shared their favorite poems, as documented by the video segments, as seen on PBS and now at www.favoritepoem.org. Connecting all of these projects is Pinsky’s conviction – clear to anyone who has heard him read a poem – that poetry is a vocal, bodily art, closely allied to music. For that reason, POEMJAZZ, his collaboration with Laurence Hobgood and Stan Strickland that expresses something from the core of Robert Pinsky’s art.

“In jazz, as in poetry,” Robert Pinsky told The Paris Review in an interview, “there is always that play between what’s regular and what’s wild. That has always appealed to me.”

Best known for his collaboration with vocalist Kurt Elling, multiple Grammy-nominee and 2010 Grammy-winner; Laurence Hobgood has enjoyed a multi-faceted and dynamic career.  Musical Director for Elling since 1995, he’s played on, composed, arranged and co-produced all of Elling’s CDs (six for Blue Note and three for Concord), each Grammy-nominated. 2009’s Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane and Hartman, recorded live at Lincoln Center, won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Jazz Record.

In 1993, Hobgood met Kurt Elling and began a collaboration that resulted in Elling’s signing with the storied Blue Note label, with Hobgood as his co-producer and musical director. The two became great friends and were named 1995 Chicagoans of The Year in the Arts by the Chicago Tribune.

In 1996, Hobgood joined with Paul Wertico and bassist Brian Torff to form a new trio called Union, which released two CDs on the Naim label. Since then he has found time, amidst almost constant touring, writing and recording projects with Elling, to record three further headlining projects for Naim label. Elling’s third Concord CD, The Gate, co-produced by Elling and Hobgood with music legend Don Was, has received a 2012 Grammy nomination for “Best Vocal Jazz Album.”   POEMJAZZ is a Circumstantial Production.

Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor Stan Strickland has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, New Zealand and the former Soviet Union. Stan has opened for Jazz greats Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, and for Bare-naked Ladies. He toured South Africa with The Village People, and was a featured soloist with Take Six and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Stan has performed and collaborated with over a dozen choreographers including Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon, and Bill T. Jones. He has performed at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of Academy Award winning documentary Born into Brothels and at three exclusive fashion/fragrance events for fashion icon Donna Karan.