This month on Detroit JazzStage, we welcome poet M.L. Liebler and jazz guitarist/poet Ron English. M.L. fronts the group, M. L. Liebler & The Magic Poetry Band. By day, he is a Wayne State University professor (and St. Clair Shores, Michigan’s first Poet Laureate). Over the last twenty plus years, M.L. has combined his insightful, urban poetry with the funky tones of modern jazz, resulting in a perfect elision of sound and vision. Ron has enjoyed a long and varied music career, with roots wide and deep in blues, Broadway, bebop, avant-garde, funk, Motown, and gospel. M.L. and Ron share their views of how poetry and jazz are intertwined, plus discuss their 2007 CD The Kurl Of The Butterfly’s Tongue. Their Detroit experience is peppered with some of the people and places they have encountered through the years such as the Detroit Artists Workshop, the Detroit Contemporary 5, Cobb’s Corner, Jack Kerouac’s first wife Edie Parker and many more.
Ron also discusses his latest CD by his group Psalm 150 Ensemble. His CD, titled Devotions, features a stellar Detroit lineup. The Psalm 150 Ensemble perform Ron’s arrangements of negro spirituals and traditional sacred music.
Information on where to purchase both CD’s can be found at http://detroitradiocompany.com
Poems
The Twilight Blues
Rock ‘N’ Roll
Music
Magic Poetry Band – The Kurl Of The Butterfly’s Tongue
The Jazz/Foster’s – M.L.
A Work in Progress/Dragons – Faruq Z. Bey
The Blower – Ron English
The Kurl of the Butterfly’s Tongue/Spectrum – Faruq Z. Bey
Musicians
Faruq Z. Bey – Tenor Sax
Ron English – Guitar
Jef Reynolds – Bass
Bill Hulet – Drums
Psalm 150 Ensemble – Devotions
I Know It Was The Blood – Traditional Spiritual – Ron English solo Guitar
Jacob’s Ladder – Traditional Spiritual
Musicians
Ron English – Guitar
Dean Moore II – Alto Saxophone
John Dana – Bass
Gerald Cleaver – Drums
Acknowledgements:
Opening Music – Mark Byerly’s Marks Mood available on the self titled CD Bop Culture
Closing Music – Mark Byerly’s Erroenious available on Bop Culture’s CD The E.P.
Go to bopculture.com for more information
This episode is sponsored by the folks at www.allaboutjazz.com
Detroit JazzStage Welcomes Poet M.L. Liebler and Guitarist/Poet Ron English [ 1:05:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
In the right hands, they say the pen is mightier than the sword. But the saxophone? Now that is mighty! How mighty you ask? Just check out the words and music of the legendary counterculture icon, saxophonist, composer, poet and philosopher Faruq Z. Bey on the October edition of Detroit JazzStage. Faruq joins Jim Gallert and Rodney Reeves to discuss his music and how it relates to his life, philosophy, linguistics and art. Bey, a founding member of Griot Galaxy, a band referred to as “the best band that never left Detroit”, has been active on the Detroit music scene since the early 1970s.
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