Jazz from the Haiku King. - Review - book review

Jazz from the Haiku King by James Emanuel Broadside Press, 1999, $8.50, ISBN 0-940-71314-4

Elder, poet and scholar, James Emanuel, obviously loves his music. Judging by his latest collection of poetry, Emanuel also fully understands its aesthetics, and the culture and history which surrounds it. Only a poet with Emanuel's credentials could have written this particular collection anyway, because Jazz reads more like one composition of poetry (a long work in the spirit of Ellington) rather than simply a collection of separate poems. Throughout Jazz, Emanuel is not afraid to blend poetry's traditions and innovations onto the canvas in a seemingly endless series of haikus paying tribute to the first "world music" and, in effect, producing jazz riffs on the page for the reader.

Though the haikus deviate significantly from the restrictions of the famed Japanese form in subject matter, Emanuel's word scratchings also celebrate the model by embracing it with a quiet dominance. It produces a clever mix of rhythm and rhyme in the spirit of Sterling Brown and Langston Hughes with the mysterious wonder of haiku thrown in as accompaniment.

Then, of course, there is the inclusion of multilingual text here. The inclusion of six separate interpretations of Emanuers haiku, both in meaning and form, only increases the power of his work. In the words of the French critic, Michel Fabre, who provides the introduction, this "makes the point that each nation lives jazz according to its sensibilities." No doubt, Emanuel and his distinguished group of translators have produced a book that should enjoy international attention. Academics, jazz aficionados, poets, and readers of literature alike will open Jazz begin bouncing to Emanuel's, incredible beat and won't be able to stop.

Brian Gilmore was born and raised in Washington, DC. He is the author ora collection of verse entitled Jungle Nights and Soda Fountain Rags.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group