Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine

The Poetry of Jazz, Vol. 2

82772

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MUSIC REVIEW BY Bradley Bambarger, Downbeat

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The first release from the collaboration of saxophonist Benjamin Boone and Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Philip Levine struck an unexpected chord: The album placed No. 3 in last year's DownBeat Readers Poll. The Poetry Of Jazz, Volume Two was recorded at the same sessions that yielded the initial disc, held the year before the jazz-loving poet's death at age 87.

While the first album included Levine's poems about such jazz figures as Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, this follow-up features evocations of working-class life from his native Detroit. His lyrics almost can be visually resonant, such as on "When The Shift Was Over" and "Belle Isle, 1949." The spare, smoky setting of a workingman's plaint, "An Ordinary Morning," just bass and wisps of saxophone, feels ideal for the blues of a heavy head. Volume Two also adds instrumental versions of some cuts from the first installment, including "They Feed They Lion," which sees Boone incorporate more grit into his sound, befitting a poem about the 1967 Detroit riots. For "The Simple Truth," Boone includes both the track with Levine's recitation and, less apt, an arrangement with Karen Marguth's pure-toned vocalese. However lovingly produced, Boone's settings can be marked by a sentimentality that just isn't present in Levine's words.

Such lines as "White hands the color of steel/ They have put their lives into steel" seem to ache for a more cutting edge.








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