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Friday, March 30, 2012 7:30 p.m.
Jazz and Poetry with Robert Pinsky
accompanied by Ben Allison
Cost: $10; $20
Robert Pinsky, three-time U.S. poet laureate and author of several acclaimed books of poetry, prose, and translation will bring his verse to life on the Pollak Theatre stage in a reading with musical accompaniment. Elegant and tough, vividly imaginative, Pinsky’s poems have earned praise for their wild musical energy and ambitious range.
The Long Branch native whose first ambition was to be a jazz musician, told The Paris Review “in jazz, as in poetry, there is always that play between what’s regular and what’s wild. That has always appealed to me.” During these performances Pinsky explains, “The musicians have read the poems beforehand, and we discuss appropriate music a bit, but what we do is at the heart of it improvised.”
Pinsky will be accompanied by celebrated bassist/composer Ben Allison who was called “one of today’s best young jazz musicians” by the Boston Globe and a “visionary composer, adventurous improviser, and strong organizational force on the New York City jazz scene” by JazzTimes.