Jazz Poetry Night Tuesday 21st October at The Wanch 54 Jaffe Rd Wanchai

with  Free Wine Tasting 8 to 9pm and Book Prizes Courtesy Dymocks

The Idea of Jazz poetry goes back to the late 1920’s. It was the brainchild of the poets like Ezra Pound and EE Cummings and Langston Hughes and Paul Lawrence Dunbar who tried to introduce the stylings and phrasing of jazz into poetry. In the late 1940’s Jazz poetry was enthusiastically taken up by the ‘beat generation’ poets Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouc and Neal Cassady with help from and musicians like saxophonist Stan Getz and composer David Amram. Jazz Poetry was, in a way, the ancestor of rap music. Beat poets would read their work aloud while a group of musicians laid down a musical backing behind them. The musicians would counterpoint the poet’s words with brief passages of improvisation. The atmosphere at these performances was often electric, as poets and musicians got inspired by bouncing their ideas off each other. One of the beauties of this artform was that because the words were spoken rather than sung they were much more clearly audible.

      Like all good artforms, jazz poetry has survived a period of being out of fashion and now it’s back.  It is now beginning to attract a growing audience in New York, LA, Seattle, London and Tokyo. Now two young women are determined to ensure that Hong Kong doesn’t lag behind. Viki Holmes and Gretchel Yaneeza are now putting together Hong Kong’s inaugural jazz poetry night.

      Viki is one of Hong Kong’s best published poets, author of Miss Moon’s First Class which we reviewed last issue and winner of the first Brink Poetry Competition. She is a longstanding member of Hong Hong’s major poetry group ‘Outloud’ and she has a string of publications in prestigious poetry journals. Gretchell is comes from a strong musical theatre background and has appeared in productions of Fame and Footloose. She is in heavy demand as a session singer and backing vocalist with the Cantopop elite and a familiar face around Hong Kong’s jazz scene.  

The first Jazz poetry night took place on 23rd of September. It was a howling success despite the number eight typhoon keeping many poets away and Gretchel being stuck in Auckland on business. Despite the shortage of poets there was no shortage of audience. A dozen or so people braved the typhoon to show their support and added to the handful of people who just happened to be in the bar. Mark Peter played keyboards and Linus Why alternated between bass and drums. Viki, Linus and Mark put on a terrific show which had the audience fascinated. These three people had never even seen each other before let alone rehearsed but the performance was perfect. Vikki used every nuance of her voice to touch the emotions of the audience and the musicians supported her and reinforced her words with subtle counterpoints.  Ace photographer Viveck Bansal also braved the weather to capture it all in photographs. The strange magic of the performance attracted more people in from the street and by finishing time the bar was full.

      The next event will take place at 8pm at ‘The Wanch,’ 54 Jaffe Rd, Wanchai and this time there should be no typhoon.  If you don’t want to recite your own poem you can have Viki read it aloud for you or you can get Gretchel to sing it for you.  Musicians and poets who want to participate can contact Viki at brinkreplies@hushmail.com. Submissions should be short not more than 100 words each and each poet can submit three pieces. These pieces can be in Chinese or English and should be accompanied with a description of the type of backing music eg. Slow Jazz, Funky Jazz, Reggae. Also specify whether you want the piece sung by Gretchell or whether you are going to recite it yourself. If you need Gretchell to sing the piece you will need to send it in well in advance and be there on the night in person, so she can go through it with you.

      The next event will take place at 8 pm on Tuesday 21^st  of october at ‘The Wanch,’ 54 Jaffe Rd, Wanchai.  If you don’t want to recite your own poem or get Gretchell to sing it for you you can have Viki read it aloud for you.  Musicians and poets who want to participate can contact Viki at brinkreplies@hushmail.com Submissions should be short not more than 100 words each and each poet can submit three pieces. These pieces can be in Chinese or English and should be accompanied with a description of the type of backing music eg. Slow Jazz, Funky Jazz, Reggae also specify whether you want the piece sung by Gretchell or whether you are going to recite it yourself.

      If you need Gretchell to sing the piece you will need to send it here well in advance and be there on the night in person so she can go through it with you.