Black: A Tribute to Black Jazz Musicians

Laurence Steven is Chairman of the English Department at Laurentian
University and author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s
Fiction.

Strecker’s collection provides readers with the feelings and emotions
of jazz, by using a very contemporary form to blend images and rhythms,
much like a jazz musician might compose a song. “The Day Basie Died”
clarifies the extemporaneous style of jazz: “the day Basie died / I
bartered IBM / for Shoe Shine Boy, / Playboy for Lady Be / Good.”

Town’s sketches and impressions not only complement the text, but
also help readers visualize as well as experience the moods related to
jazz music and its players. (The fact that his sketches are printed
black emphasizes jazz’s Black origins.) Yet it is the poetry that
forms the arresting substance of this book. “Oscar Peterson: Chicago
Blues,” is an excellent example of a jamming session: “he builds
Chicago / raises peopled monolithic heights / on either side, a bluesy /
modus operandi, up, up, up.” Here readers recognize complex rhythms
and unusual features of musical tone. A variety of instruments is heard
throughout the poem: trumpet, drums, bass, saxophone, and piano come
through in chorus and individually. These are typical jazz moves. As
Strecker pays tribute to various jazz musicians, readers understand his
longing to be as musical as the jazz players are: “So give me music
Diz / . . . And I look to jazz to blow me beyond the stars.”

This collection is both moving and musical. Strecker’s ability to add
a musical dimension to the poetry enhances the jazz experience for both
readers and jazz aficionados. For any lover of jazz, Black should not be
overlooked.