Lewis Jordan Trio, for Langston Hughes on His Birthday: February 1, 2018 (Updated a year ago)

The Poetry Center presents the Lewis Jordan Trio in performance on the 116th anniversary of the birth of Langston Hughes. The trio, consisting of Lewis Jordan (voice, alto saxophone, harmonica), Sandra Poindexter (violin, electric violin, percussion), and Jimmy Biala (voice, percussion, drums), performs music to poetry by Langston Hughes, Lewis Jordan, and Bertolt Brecht, including some works found on the CD, Lewis Jordan and Music at Large, this is where i came in (Common Notions, 2017). The performance is followed by a conversation in response to questions from the audience.

Steve Dickison introduces the Lewis Jordan Trio. Lewis Jordan begins by speaking about Langston Hughes' poetry and reads Hughes' "Two Things" and "American Heartbreak," punctuated by Jimmy Biala on percussion, then Biala performs an invocation to Yemanja. Lewis Jordan reads more of Hughes' work with musical accompaniment: "Democracy," "Let America Be America Again," "Words Like Freedom," "Day," "Final Curve," "Me and the Mule," "Love Again Blues," "End," "Personal," "Dusk," "Ballad of the Landlord," "Little Lyric," "Poet to Patron," and "Poet to Bigot." Jordan then reads his own poems inspired by Langston Hughes: "The Rent," and "Ornithology needs no apology...." They conclude by performing two works that can be found on this is where i came in: "If I Were King" (poem by Jordan) and "To Those Born Later" (poem by Bertolt Brecht).

Lewis Jordan, Sandra Poindexter, and Jimmy Biala take questions from the audience. They are asked about Biala's opening invocation, and he talks about Yemanja and the shekere. In response to a question about composition and improvisation, Sandra Poindexter remarks on this being her first time playing with the band and their preparations. Jordan says late trumpeter and composer Cal Massey's "Things Have Got to Change" was used with one poem, with original music by Jordan, incorporating improvisation, elsewhere. He says it's important that the poetry can be heard, and that while spontaneity is good, music can overpower the words if there is no structure. Poindexter responds to a question about the difficulties of using the violin in jazz. Poindexter and Biala explain the act of listening to musicians they perform with, and how they try to convey the feelings of the poetry through their instruments. Jordan speaks of Langston Hughes' work with Charles Mingus and other musicians. He states that it is powerful when two disciplines interact, and that people respond and relate to it. Musician Francis Wong, from the audience, asks about the Bay Area band United Front (Jordan, George Sams, Mark Izu, Anthony Brown). Jordan tells of his history of performing Hughes' "Ballad of the Landlord," the reasons he brought poetry in as part of his own early musical performance, and his experience with landlords.