Original Poem: Booker Little’s Deliverance
Sean MurphyIt's been an honor to continue receiving the support from Jerry Jazz Musician, who have published another of my poems (previous poems here, here and here). This one will be…
The Blackened Blues: A Q&A
Question: where else would you possibly find a party that pulls together such compelling and disparate company as Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, Liz Taylor, Tina Turner, and…Captain Ahab?…
Original Poem: Sonny Rollins’s Bridge
Gratitude to the wonderful Burningword Literary Journal for publishing this poem. (And thanks again to them for publishing my poem "Charlie Mingus's Miracle, and nominating it for a Pushcart Prize.)…
Original Poem: John Coltrane’s Cancer
I've written a ton about John Coltrane, easily one of my all-time sources of light, love, and inspiration. But to tackle such a giant, creatively? It's part of a project…
Original Poem: What a Wonderful World?
Couple of things: if you only know Louis Armstrong because of his ebullient and impossible to not love rendition of "What a Wonderful World," you may be pleasantly surprised to…
Charlie Parker: The Bird’s Centennial
Charlie Parker: August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955 Here's a wonderful tribute from the always reliable Richard Brody at The New Yorker. Here's a poem, written toward the end…
Original Poem: Notes from Underground
Butch Warren One enters writing contests the same way one plays the lottery: with hope but no real expectation. I was, therefore, surprised and delighted to be awarded 2nd Prize…
Original Poem, “Bud Powell’s Brain,” in new Anthology
I'm honored to have my poem "Bud Powell's Brain" included in the new anthology Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era. From the book's description: Revisiting the Elegy…
10 for NYC by 10, on 9/11
New York City would be unimaginable without jazz, and vice versa. Here then is a tribute for --and by-- several musicians who help define and celebrate the cultural mecca of…
National Poetry Month #20: Charlie Mingus’s Miracle
April, according to this poet, is the cruelest month. April, according to these lovers of poetry, is National Poetry Month, and the only cruelty is metaphorical (which isn’t to say T.S. Eliot was being…