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About composing music for poetry, saxophonist and composer Benjamin Boone says, “Sometimes if you force music upon something that’s already beautiful, you detract from that beauty. The combination is not better. If one and one don’t equal three, why do it? That’s my philosophy.”
The Summer 2024 issue of Brilliant Corners features an interview with Boone, focusing largely on his four collaborations with poets: two with the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Levine (The Poetry of Jazz and The Poetry of Jazz, Volume 2), and two subsequent CDs—The Poets Are Gathering and Caught in the Rhythm—featuring a range of esteemed writers, including Juan Felipe Herrera, Tyehimba Jess, Kimiko Hahn, and Patricia Smith.
“Sometimes if you force music upon something that’s already beautiful, you detract from that beauty. The combination is not better. If one and one don’t equal three, why do it? That’s my philosophy.”
In addition to the interview, the Summer 2024 issue includes poems by Billy Collins (former US Poet Laureate), Yvonne Zipter (whose books include four poetry collections and the nonfiction book Diamonds Are a Dyke’s Best Friend), Kristian Koželj (an award-winning poet from Slovenia), and Garret Keizer (author of nine books whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere). Gerald Majer offers two lengthy, improvisational essays on the Park Vibe musicians from Baltimore, and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sydney Lea provides a meditative, jazz-related reflection in three parts. The portrait of John Coltrane on the cover is a linoleum print by Peter Bodge, who, among many honors, has seven prints in the Smithsonian Institution.
Brilliant Corners is a biannual journal that highlights an exceptional collection of literature and art pertaining to jazz. Founded in 1996, the journal bears strong ties to Lycoming College, with Sascha Feinstein, Ph.D., Robert L. and Charlene Shangraw Professor of English at Lycoming College, who serves as the managing editor, and Gary R. Hafer, Ph.D., John P. Graham Teaching Professor of English at Lycoming College, who serves as the production design editor. The publication is funded in part by the College, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, and private endowments.
A subscription costs $12 per year ($18 for international orders), and checks or money can be sent to Brilliant Corners, Lycoming College, 1 College Place, Williamsport, PA 17701. More information can be found at www.lycoming.edu/BrilliantCorners or on Brilliant Corners’ Facebook page.