Weekend Wax Bits

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

What is poetry? And what makes some poets more special than others? In this week's "House Call" column in the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal, I had a chance to interview Jorie Graham (go here), Harvard's Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for a collection published that year. Jorie has a new collection out now, From the New World, which was wonderfully reviewed by Dwight Garner in The New York Times this week (go here). [Photo above of Jorie Graham at her apartment in Cambridge, Mass., by Bob O'Connor for The Wall Street Journal]

Great poets use the language differently than the rest of us. Like superb jazz arrangers and musicians, they have a large concept and textures in mind and then use words instead of notes and instrumentation to nibble around those ideas and convey not only meaning but also feeling. To those accustomed to reading fiction or the news, poetry takes a little time to ease into. Our impatient minds want things fast and to the point today, but poetry lingers and takes its sweet time, tugging at us to slow down. In some cases you have to read poems over and over again until you begin to sense the flavor of meaning. It's a tremendously subtle art that requires patience and practice, since the logical side of your brain demands velocity to what you read. [Photo above of Jorie and her mom, artist Beverly Pepper, in Rome in the mid-1950s]

Over the course of several weeks, Jorie and I became fast friends. Jorie's mom is Beverly Pepper (above), the magnificent sculptor (go here), and her late dad was Bill Curtis Pepper (pictured below), the journalist and interviewer who ran Newsweek's Mediterranean bureau in the 1950s and '60s out of Rome (go here).

In my interview with Jorie, we talked about what it was like to grow up in her mother's art studios in Rome—a lioness's den of mysteries, power and ferocious energy. From a personal standpoint, it was an honor to gain her confidence and to relay moments in her life that were highly personal and tender. That's a poet for you.

Also in the WSJ, for the "Playlist" column of this weekend's Review section, I interview novelist Jonathan Kellerman on his favorite song—Santo & Johnny's Sleep Walk (go here). Here's the song...

Joe Franklin was a New York institution for decades. As a TV host, Franklin was blissfully low rent. Think Broadway Danny Rose meets Andy Cohen meets the last channel on your cable box, and you'll get the picture. Here's Franklin interviewing the Ramones...

Back in the mid-1980s, comedian Billy Crystal impersonated Franklin on a Saturday Night Live spoof that remains priceless. Frankly, I'm not sure which one is funnier—the real one above or the jape below. You be the judge.A special thanks to Jim Eigo for sending along a link...

Sammy and James. How great were Sammy Davis Jr. and James Brown? See for yourself...

William B. Williams. As a followup to my post last weekend on New York's now-gone WNEW-AM, here's a segment on disc jockey William B. Williams...

Salon Jazz. Singer JaRon Eames holds jazz gigs in cozy, living-room settings in New York. Dig this one from last fall, a tribute to Nancy Wilson...

Used with permission by Marc Myers