by David Budbill, Mountain Recluse Poet
It's a kick, totally different from what I usually do day in and day out. But if I had to live my life the way William Parker and Hamid Drake live theirs, I'd go stark raving mad in a month. On the other hand, to be able to spend a week or so a year on the road with these incredible musicians is a joy beyond description. The first time I have to give a reading by myself, go it on my own, after I've been on the road with the Judevine Mountain Trio, I feel totally naked up there.
To have all that various and improvised music to lay my lines of poetry over makes the poems totally different from the way they come out when I'm acappella. And no matter how much we rehearse–and we do rehearse some–when we get up on the stand, everything comes out differently from the way we planned it.
I also get to play my shakuhachi and ringing bowls, tin cans and so forth. I do that too when I'm solo but it's totally different when I'm with the Judevine Mountain Trio.
Often people ask me how the musicians know what to play for what I'm going to read. It's just the other way round. Although I have a general idea about a beginning, a middle and an end, I decide in the moment what to read because of what they are playing. They lead and I follow.
To watch the Mountain Recluse Poet Perform with a Couple of Jazz Musicians, go to THE THREE GOALS.. .
For more about bassist, multi-instrumentalist, William Parker, go to: http://www.williamparker.net/home.html
For more about drummer, percussionist, Hamid Drake, Google Hamid Drake and then start down the list.
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