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Phil Bryant on the Moe Green Poetry Discussion

Rafael Alvarado talks to Phil for about an hour about Stompin’. Check it out here.

NEW REVIEW!

Stompin’ is the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Literary Event of the Week

“Joyous. Tender. Melodic. Tough. Lovely. Steeped in jazz.

If you pick up Philip S. Bryant’s luminous new memoir in verse, Stompin’ at the Grand Terrace, you’ll think of many more descriptions of this collection of prose and poetry.” Read Mary Ann Grossmann’s entire review here.

NEW REVIEW!

Shelf Awareness calls Stompin’ a “captivating collaboration”

“Philip S. Bryant’s jazz memoir in verse is set in post-war Chicago’s South Side, centered on his father, James, and Preston—two working-class men, friends, easing into middle age. ‘Music was their haven and oasis…It affirmed a spirit flowing within and between them and throughout the world.’ They spent their Saturday afternoons listening to jazz; it was their joy and their solace. They often disagreed on what constituted good music: ‘Is this music? It’s all turned ’round backwards.’ This is Preston’s reaction to Ornette Coleman, when all he really wants is to hear after a tough day is Ellington and Gonzalves and Mood Indigo. Music was their starting point for larger discussions about the blues, how history is written, Greeks and Romans, the Bible, King’s assassination. But dissecting and loving jazz is the core of their talks, like Preston’s take on Lee Konitz: ‘Hell, he sounds like a nuclear physicist scratchin’ one of them theorems on a blackboard. Might be brilliant watchin’ it unfold, but damn if it’s ever gonna move anybody.’ Bryant mixes prose with poetry as the story unfolds of friendship, family, food and church. Accompanying his writings are original compositions by jazz pianist and vocalist Carolyn Wilkins, and the book includes a CD that weaves Bryant’s readings with Wilkins’ evocative music. It’s a captivating collaboration.

Bryant’s poetry is smooth and lyrical…For readers who like jazz, combining some tunes with these poems will create an engaging multi-layered experience. Listen to Miles and read this [poem of Bryant's]:

Birth of the Cool: Minnesota

I know, Miles,
you didn’t have rural southern Minnesota
in mind when you
blew your classic mute
on your Birth of the Cool
sessions in New York, circa 1949.
But it’s in the way the paper-thin
ice forms on the edge of the lake
today in late October:
meeting at the cold, dark water’s edge
—still open and free
though not for long—
with the ripples of these short, choppy
muted notes of yours
blown just out of reach
this cool windy autumn morning.”

–Philip Bryant

—Review by Marilyn Dahl, Shelf Awareness

NEW REVIEW!

MinnPost.com digs Stompin’

“Phil Bryant usually writes in a quiet room, but his poetry swings. In fact, his new book, Stompin’ at the Grand Terrace, might be the biggest thing a Minnesotan has done for jazz since The Bad Plus recorded a Nirvana tune. With that move, the local avant-jazz trio opened a window on jazz music for a new generation of listeners. Bryant could do the same thing through poetry….” Read the whole review here.