Reads With Jazz in Canada

Kenneth Patchen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 17, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Locust
• ASIN: B0002IQGJE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,564 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #88 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Poetry

Track Listings

1. Four Blues Poems: There's a Place/They Won't Let You in There/A ...

2. Four Song Poems: The Everlasting Contenders/Do I Not Deal With Angels

3. As I Opened the Window

4. Glory, Glory

Editorial Reviews

On a single October evening in 1959, fabled people’s poet Kenneth Patchen and Vancouver’s Alan Neil Quartet made a little bit of history. Together, they cut one of the first jazz-and-poetry recordings to disc – fiery, spontaneous and free of pretensions, where hard bop playing wailed neck-and-neck with Patchen’s scathing, slurred, rabid vocalizations. Today, many see Jazz In Canada as among the very first truly beat documents on record – preceding efforts by Kerouac, Ferlinghetti & Ginsberg. This new edition features original notes by Alan Neil & new retrospective notes by rock’n’roll poet of the San Francisco renaissance David Meltzer, as well as wonderful cover reproductions of several of Patchen’s picture-poem paintings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEATNIK SEER, May 9, 2007

By 

S. D. Amico "bookcat" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reads With Jazz in Canada (Audio CD)

Naive & Sentimental Music To hear the voice with all the nouance and subtlty further amplifies this unique writer. There were many of this experimental era, who read with jazz accompaniment - but Patchen is more

successful than some with a keen musical ear in weaving together a fused outcome. Lyrical and challenging & well produced.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Patchen at his best., May 24, 2011

By 

J. Cohen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reads With Jazz in Canada (Audio CD)

Unfortunately, this is not the best recording of Patchen with jazz accompaniment. The Canadian jazz group that accompanies Patchen on these recordings play jazz standards that don't necessarily fit with the poetry. Plus, Patchen sounds lost, and his readings are surprisingly poor (even a little bizarre, the way he stretches out the vowels).

The jazz/poetry album that Patchen recorded with Allyn Ferguson and the Chamber Jazz Sextet (now available on CD as "Rebel Poets of America") is vastly superior to this one. Patchen's readings on "Rebel Poets" are top-notch, and the jazz accompaniment (which consists of Ferguson's original compositions that he tailored for each individual poem) is also excellent.

If you can find "Rebel Poets of America," I'd say that's the one to own. "Kenneth Patchen Reads with Jazz in Canada" is for completists only.

`