Al Basile

Tonesmith

One Hundred Poems, 2012-2016

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Tonesmith is Al Basile's second collection of one hundred poems, following 2012's A Lit House. As in that book he often writes about experiences of his earlier life, often acknowledging the change in perspective brought about by the passing of the years. As Rhina Espaillat notes: "These poems include autobiographical rites of passage, regrets and celebrations, personal and family memories, immigrant folklore, travel impressions, encounters with revered musicians and sports figures, and ambiguous lessons learned...The very title of the book identifies the author as a music-maker determined to be heard, and as a poet whose first concern is achieving the tone in which he wants to be heard by the reader. " His mostly lyric or narrative poems are generally in blank verse and of varying stanza lengths which recall his beginnings as a fiction writer. A lifelong musician and performer, he uses musical devices throughout his work in a manner that's most noticeable in the audio performances of the poems which can be accessed by readers through a link provided in the book. In these performances the poems take on added dimensions of rhythm, tempo, and vowel and consonant colorations at a higher, more specific level than they imply on the page, and it's his belief that the poems are like a musical score which is most fully realized in performance. With an introductory essay by Christopher Ricks. As Dana Gioia said of Al's first book A Lit House, "Al Basile's poems have style, joy, and - above all - verve. Sometimes they unfold with the lyric expansiveness of great jazz solos. Sometimes they shine as beautifully jeweled miniatures. What a pleasure to read a book of poems with such unabashed energy."

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Antrim House
• Seitenzahl: 164
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. April 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 9mm
• Gewicht: 248g
• ISBN-13: 9781943826308
• ISBN-10: 1943826307
• Artikelnr.: 48135485

Autorenporträt

Born in Haverhill, Mass., Al Basile was the first to receive a Master's degree from Brown University's writing program. He was the first trumpet player for Roomful of Blues in the mid-Seventies, and since the eighties has appeared as writer and horn player on albums and DVDS by Roomful founder Duke Robillard. He formed his own record company Sweetspot Records in 1998, and has released seventeen solo albums featuring almost 200 of his songs. He has been nominated eight times for a Blues Music Award, including one in 2016 as Best Contemporary Blues Album for his CD Mid-Century Modern. His songs have been covered by Ruth Brown, Johnny Rawls, and the Knickerbocker All Stars. Guests on his own releases include the Blind Boys of Alabama, Sista Monica Parker, Sugar Ray Norcia, Jerry Portnoy, and jazz great Scott Hamilton. Celebrated for his mastery of lyric writing as well as music, Al's skill with words extends to his other career as a poet: he is published regularly in leading journals and has two previous books, A Lit House (Winnikinni Press, 2012), and Tonesmith (Antrim House, 2017). He won the Meringoff Award for Poetry in 2015, and his verse radio play Flash Blind was featured at the HEARnow festival for American audio theater in the summer of 2020. He was a teacher of English, music, and physics in a private Rhode Island high school for 25 years before devoting himself to music and poetry full time in 2005. He has given talks on lyric writing at Boston University, and for the last two years he has taught lyric writing, led panels, and performed at the West Chester Poetry Conference. In 2020 he became a member of the Powow River poets.