Poetry and Jazz in performance and improvisation
Poet Laureate Community Outreach Series
Partially funded by Poets &Writers
Free Admission ($10 contribution requested)
Featured house ensemble includes: Christopher Dean Sullivan- Jazz Griot/Bassist, David Lowe-Keyboard, Ayana Lowe-Vocalist with Golda Solomon on Word.
Words That Move & Improv That Wonders
Guest Artists: Maryann de Prophetis, Vocal Improviser AND Steve Bloom, Poet and Social Activist
Over the two decades, Maryanne has continued to develop her compositional voice. Her recent recording, Come O Light, represents over 25 years of compositional development, marked by wide imagination and emotional range. She also plays improvised music with many different musicians, including JD Parran and Robert Dick, and has formed the improvising ensemble FIDOqrtet with pianist Shoko Nagai, drummer Satoshi Takeishi, and trumpeter Ron Horton. Maryanne has five recordings to her name: A Glance, Lilacs In Winter, Tell A Star, FIDOqrtet, and Come O Light. She has also written a considerable body of poetic work, not least of which are 90 Haiku, all written in the Poetry Month of April 2026 under the auspices of The HOT n DIRTY 30/30. “As with her previous CD, Maryanne de Prophetis has created music that defies categories and asks only that one listens with open ears. Musical, challenging, often calming (never soporific), Lilacs in Winter is worth exploring.” Richard Kamins, Step Tempest
Steve Bloom is a Brooklyn-based poet, composer, and social activist. His work has been published in many places online and in print. His website is stevebloompoetry.net and he is the curator of the "Poetry of Protest and Struggle" video series that comes out three times a year. (Find the links to those videos on his website or on YouTube.)
Artists welcome to set up their easel and create
Po’Jazz began in 1999 at the Hudson Valley Writers Center, for many years at The Cornelia Street Cafe, traveled to colleges and jazz clubs, and is happily and creatively in residence at BDAC.
