Kaye Lynne Booth's Blog: Writing to be Read, page 11

Mind Fields: What Is A Jazz Musician?

What makes a jazz musician?

The first word that comes to mind is Commitment.

Jazz is a high-order musical language that has developed by incorporating various other musical languages. Blues and classical techniques are fused in an ongoing exploration of sonic vocabularies. It is a complex, demanding musical discipline that requires time and effort. Jazz began as an American language because it arose from the experience of black Americans in the formation of our culture. Having survived slavery and all the rest of it, the African Americans developed identities unique in the world. These musicians have their roots in southern blues, gospel and church music. When combined with virtuoso classical techniques, The music that emerges is emotional, loose, given to hyperbole both dark and funny. The Blues is like the bottom layer of a pyramid: everything else is built on top of this idiom. Jazz maintains the cries of both pleasure and suffering that arrived on the guitar strings of early blues musicians. The singing voice has some gravel in it: slightly hoarse and redolent of something more ancient, something like voodoo magic. In jazz it is the Mysterious that beckons so powerfully. It is a musical world of spells and trances, of going ever farther “out” but never straying from its roots.

Jazz has spread across the world. Go anywhere: go to Japan. you’ll find jazz. Go to Europe, go to Thailand, go to California. Jazz is everywhere you go.

To go back to the original question: what is a jazz musician? It is a musician dedicated to long hours of practice and study. Jazz is difficult to master. It requires intellectual exertion and physical strength. At the heart of all this mighty effort is the thing that keeps jazz active: love. Ask anyone involved in jazz music and you’ll find this passionate heart beating with every breath. We love jazz as passionately as we love anything at all. We are a lot like priests of a universal religion.

I was just a child when I was first embraced by jazz. I was twelve and playing trumpet when I acquired two LPs. I had The Birth Of The Cool, by Miles Davis, and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s drums are signature: chotta chotta boom boom, and the oceanic wash of his color cymbal as he holds the time in his limbs. What a band! Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Jimmie Meritt, Wynton Kelly. Wow!

A musician who is devoted to jazz can expect a hard road. Jazz becomes commercially viable by way of dilution. The less “real” jazz is in it, the more money it makes. This requires wrenching choices in the lives of musicians.

Not everyone is Stan Getz. He got lucky and…he was white. He landed a hit tune, a bossa nova, and he made a ton of money. But Getz was a very fine jazz player. Getz played his jazz at all of his gigs, pausing only to render his hit Brazilian tune for the audience. One could say that “he sold out but gave all his profits to jazz.” No harm for Stan Getz: only respect.

The only thing easy about jazz is the word “play”. That’s what jazz is. A game to be played, a musical puzzle that needs resolution, figuring out how it works, why it works and when it works. Ask any jazz player how much fun it is to play with one’s peers. It is FUN! Nothing beats playing with others whose abilities are matched to one’s own. Or better, yet, playing with more advanced musicians in order to learn from mentors. Jazz is love, fun, blues, bossa, soulful, adventurous, mystical and profound.

About Arthur Rosch

Arthur Rosch is a novelist, musician, photographer and poet. His works are funny, memorable and often compelling. One reviewer said “He’s wicked and feisty, but when he gets you by the guts, he never lets go.” Listeners to his music have compared him to Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Randy Newman or Mose Allison. These comparisons are flattering but deceptive. Rosch is a stylist, a complete original. His material ranges from sly wit to gripping political commentary.

Arthur was born in the heart of Illinois and grew up in the western suburbs of St. Louis. In his teens he discovered his creative potential while hoping to please a girl. Though she left the scene, Arthur’s creativity stayed behind. In his early twenties he moved to San Francisco and took part in the thriving arts scene. His first literary sale was to Playboy Magazine. The piece went on to receive Playboy’s “Best Story of the Year” award.

Arthur also has writing credits in Exquisite Corpse, Shutterbug, eDigital, and Cat Fancy Magazine. He has written five novels, a memoir and a large collection of poetry. His autobiographical novel, Confessions Of An Honest Man won the Honorable Mention award from Writer’s Digest in 2016.

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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.

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This segment of “Mind Fields” is sponsored by the Roberta Writes blog site, where you can find the poetry, photos, videos, and book reviews by Robbie Cheadle and so much more.

Lindsey’s WRITING PRACTICE:

FOCUS on the IMAGE

As many of you may have gleaned from last month’s exercise, the IMAGE remains essential to create captivating writing in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction works.

Then, you made descriptions more “concrete” by focusing on details. In a similar vein, an image must contain details using some or most of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to make that image “hook” the reader.Thus, for this month’s workshop, pull out a pen and one of your journals (or sheets of paper), and either close your eyes or look out a window (or depending upon the weather, venture outside). Closely study some IMAGE—something that “calls” youYour image may suggest a location, for example, a Colorado, Oregon, New York, or Missouri scene without naming it: With a jutting cliff, a rosebud blossom, dogwood, or aspen bloom, a red leaf, a crow on a bare branch or a group of them on telephone lines, a hummingbird poking its long beak into a tulip bloom, or an eagle soaring above.And AVOID abstractions: For this exercise, write “No ideas but in [concrete] things” (William Carlos Williams). Speaking of whom, here’s one of his well-known poems for inspiration:

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
your were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

LINDSEY’S WRITING PRACTICE:

FOCUS on the IMAGE

As many of you may have gleaned from last month’s exercise, the IMAGE remains essential to create captivating writing in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction works.

Then, you made descriptions more “concrete” by focusing on details. In a similar vein, an image must contain details using some or most of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to make that image “hook” the reader.Thus, for this month’s workshop, pull out a pen and one of your journals (or sheets of paper), and either close your eyes or look out a window (or depending upon the weather, venture outside). Closely study some IMAGE—something that “calls” youYour image may suggest a location, for example, a Colorado, Oregon, New York, or Missouri scene without naming it: With a jutting cliff, a rosebud blossom, dogwood, or aspen bloom, a red leaf, a crow on a bare branch or a group of them on telephone lines, a hummingbird poking its long beak into a tulip bloom, or an eagle soaring above.And AVOID abstractions: For this exercise, write “No ideas but in [concrete] things” (William Carlos Williams). Speaking of whom, here’s one of his well-known poems for inspiration:

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
your were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Lindsey’s Writing Practice: FOCUS on the IMAGE

FOCUS on the IMAGE

As many of you may have gleaned from last month’s exercise, the IMAGE remains essential to create captivating writing in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction works.

Then, you made descriptions more “concrete” by focusing on details.In a similar vein,an image must contain details using some or most of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to make that image “hook” the reader.

Thus,for this month’s workshop, pull out a pen and one of your journals (or sheets of paper), and either close your eyes or look out a window (or depending upon the weather, venture outside). Closely study some IMAGE—something that “calls” you

Your image may suggest a location, for example, a Colorado, Oregon, New York, or Missouri scene without naming it: With a jutting cliff, a rosebud blossom, dogwood, or aspen bloom, a red leaf, a crow on a bare branch or a group of them on telephone lines, a hummingbird poking its long beak into a tulip bloom, or an eagle soaring above.

And AVOID abstractions: For this exercise, write “No ideas but in [concrete] things” (William Carlos Williams). Speaking of whom, here’s one of his well-known poems for inspiration:

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

your were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

Authors Be Aware – Know Your Author Rights

“What’s all the fuss about?”, you may ask.

In recent times, there has been a lot of hullabaloo about the practices of companies in training their AIs with pirated content. There is currently a class action suit ongoing on behalf of authors whose works have been found to be pirated and used for this training. You can check the article from The Author’s Guild to find out if your books are on the list of pirated works included and what you should do next at the link below.

https://authorsguild.org/news/meta-libgen-ai-training-book-heist-what-authors-need-to-know/

WordCrafter News: Winners of the Poetry Treasures 5 Tour Giveaway, Submission Deadline Approaching Fast & Release Pushed Back to June

Winners of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour Giveaway

We had a great tour, with poetry readings and guest posts by contributing authors, and interview by DL Mullan with Dawn Pisturino, and even a couple of reviews for the anthology. All that is left to do is to reveal the winners of the Giveaway and deliver the prizes. So, if your name shows up in the list of winners below and you haven’t heard from me, please contact me at KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com.

And now, without further ado…

And the winners are …

Sandysbookaday (Carla Loves to Read)Thomas Stigwokman (Colleen Writes & Punlishes)Lauren Scott Author (Colleen Writes & Publishes)Submission Deadline For WordCrafter 2025 Dark Fiction Contest/Midnight Oil Anthology

Including today, there’s only three days left to get your submissions in for the 2025 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest, and for submissions by invitation, as well. The deadline is April 30, so throw on the final polish, so get those submissions in.

You can read full submission guidelines here:

https://writingtoberead.com/2025/01/01/call-for-submissions-2/

The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Doubles Release Pushed Back to June

Due to difficulties beyond my control, I’ve been unable to get to that final edit for The Rock Star & The Outlaw 2: Seeing Doubles and so, I’ve pushed the release back another month, to June. I’ll be doing that long overdue final edit in May. My apologies to those who have been waiting. But, if you haven’t read the first book, you’ve got another month, and to make up for the prolonged wait, you can pick it up for $3.49 through the month of May.

What they’re saying about The Rock Star & The Outlaw:

Purchase for only $3.49 during the month of May: https://books2read.com/RockStarOutlaw

Or, you can listen to the AI narrated audiobook for free on Google Play Books here: https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?pcampaignid=books_inapp_orson_options_share&id=AQAAAECSG2Zb5M

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Did you know you can sponsor your favorite blog series or even a single post with an advertisement for your book? Stop by the WtbR Sponsor Page and let me advertise your book, or you can make a donation to Writing to be Read for as little as a cup of coffee, If you’d like to show your support for this author and WordCrafter Press.

___________________

This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services .

Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.

Stop by and see what we have to offer today: https://writingtoberead.com/readings-for-writers/wordcrafter-quality-writing-author-services/

WordCrafter “Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures” Book Blog Tour Recap

Thanks to Barbara Harris Leonhard for this lovely post.

Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures

Wrapping up the “Poetry Treasures 5: Simple Pleasures” Book Blog Tour

Picture Caption: WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Tour Banner

We’re wrapping up the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour. We’ve had a great tour this past week and I hope you all visited each stop and left a comment for a chance to win one of three digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5 in our giveaway. If you missed a stop or joined us late, you can still go back and meet more poets featured in the anthology, but the giveaway ends tonight, so get your comments in now.

I want to thank contributors Michelle Ayon Navajas, Dawn Pisturino, Barbara Harris Leonard, Ivor Steven, and DL Mullen for their participation in the tour. And thanks also goes out to the hosts for this tour: Colleen Chesebro of Colleen Writes & Publishes, Patty Fletcher of Patty’s Worlds, Carla Johnson-Hicks of Carla Loves to Read, Michelle Navajas of Poetry by Mich, Kay Castenada of Book Places, and DL Mullen of Un dawnted. I feel everyone did a great job and it is appreciated.

I’d like to.make this stop a celebration of the author/poets who contributed to the anthology-those who shared their work on the tour and those who weren’t able to join us. They are all talented poets, and I feel fortunate to feature their lovely works in a WordCrafter poetry anthology.

Tour Schedule

April 21-28 – Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures, by Kaye Lynne Booth, et.al.

Mon. 4/21 – Opening Day- Writing to be Read – (Intro. post & Book Trailer)

Tues 4/22 – Colleen Writes & Publishes – (Dawn Pisturino. Guest Post)

Wed. 4/23 – Patty’s Worlds – (Michelle Navajas Guest Post)

Thurs. 4/24 – Carla Loves to Read– (Ivor Steven’s Reading)

Fri. 4/25 – Poetry By Mich – (Barbara Harris Leonhard Reading)

Sat. 4/26 – Book Places – (DL Mullan Reading)

Sun. 4/27 – Writing to be Read – (Wrap up)  – Undawnted (Interview with Dawn Pisturino)

Today we have a double stop. Along with the final stop here, we have DL Mullen interviewing Dawn Pisturino over at Un dawnted. You can’t comment on that site, but you can leave your comments for DL and Dawn here. And here on Writing to be Read, I’ll be introducing you to the contributing poets who did not provide content for the tour. Their valuable contributions to the anthology are not to be overlooked, for it was a group effort that made this anthology such an exceptional collection of poetry.

About Poetry Treasures 5: Simple Pleasures

Open the cover

and you will discover

Poetry Treasures

from the guests on

Robbie Cheadle’s 2024 

“Treasuring Poetry”

blog series                                                                               

on Writing to be Read.

Join poets DL Mullan, Barbara Harris Leonhard, Jude Itakali, Ivor Steven, Robbie Cheadle, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Gwen M. Plano, Elizabeth Gauffreau, David Bogomolny, Dawn Pasturino, Maggie Watson, and Colleen Chesebro share their own small pleasures in poetic verse.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures

Giveaway

This tour we’re giving away digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures to three lucky winners. Follow the tour and comment at each stop, so we’ll know you were there. You’ll be entered for another chance in the giveaway at each stop. Winners are chosen through a random drawing by WordCrafter Press. Winners will be announce in tomorrow’s “WordCrafter News”.

Meet the Contributors Who Didn’t Make the TourDavid Bogomolny

You can catch David’s interview with Robbie Cheadle on “Treasuring Poetry” here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/09/18/treasuring-poetry-meet-poet-and-blogger-david-bogomolny-the-mastermind-behind-the-skeptics-kaddish-blog-and-w3-prompts-poetrycommunity/

Maggie Watson

You can catch Maggie’s interview with Robbie Cheadle on “Treasuring Poetry” here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/11/20/treasuring-poetry-meet-poet-maggie-watson-and-a-review-of-pieces-of-me-a-collection-of-poems-treasuringpoetry-poetrycommunity-bookreview/

Elizabeth Gauffreau

You can catch Liz’s interview with Robbie Cheadle on “Treasuring Poetry” here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/08/21/treasuring-poetry-meet-author-and-poet-elizabeth-gauffreau-and-a-book-review-poetrycommunity-bookreview-treasuringpoetry/

Gwen M. Plano

You can catch Gwen’s interview with Robbie Cheadle on “Treasuring Poetry” here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/07/17/treasuring-poetry-meet-talented-author-and-poet-gwen-m-plano-and-a-review-poetry-bookreview-readingcommunity/

Jude Itakali

You can catch Jude’s interview with Robbie Cheadle on “Treasuring Poetry” here: https://writingtoberead.com/2024/03/20/treasuring-poetry-meet-poet-and-novelist-jude-itakali-and-a-review/

Robbie Cheadle

That’s it for today’s stop on Writing to be Read. Be sure to visit the second part of this double stop over at Un dawnted, where DL Mullan is interviewing author/contributor Dawn Pisturino. I hope you enjoyed the tour and the poetry samples shared enough to get you to buy the book. By using the Books2Read UBL, above, you can purchase from your favorite distributor around the world. Be sure to drop by and catch tomorrow’s “WordCrafter News”, here on Writing to be Read, to find out who the winners in the giveaway are.

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!

Day 6 of the WordCrafter “Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures” Book Blog Tour

For Day 6 of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour, we’re over at Book Places, where host Kay Castenada brings us a reading of “Daybreak” by poet DL Mullan. Join us as we celebrate the small pleasures in life and send off this very special poetry anthology.

Welcome to the “Poetry Treasures 5: Simple Pleasures” Book Blog Tour

Day 5 of the WordCrafter “Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures” Book Blog Tour

It’s Day 5 of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour and we’re over at Poetry by Mich with a reading of reading of “Sleeping with Giants”, by Barbara Harris Leonhard. Join us in sending off this very special poetry anthology and comment for a chance to win a free digital copy in our giveaway.

https://michnavs.wordpress.com/2025/04/25/day-5-of-the-wordcrafter-poetry-treasures-5-small-pleasures-book-blog-tour/