Embracing the entire history of jazz poetry, the work defines this inspired literary genre as poetry necessarily informed by jazz music. It discusses the major figures and various movements from the racist poems of the 1920s to contemporary times when the tone of jazz poetry experienced a dramatic change from elegy to celebration. The jazz music of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane transliterated into poetry by the likes of Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown is but a part of this vital work. This unusual volume will be of interest to scholars and students of literature, music, American and African Studies and popular culture, as well as anyone who enjoys jazz and poetry.

CONTENTS:
1. Jazz Poetry: An Introduction
2. The Sin in Syncopation
3. Weary Blues, Harlem Galleries, and Southern Roads
4. From Obscurity to Fad: Jazz and Poetry in Performance
5. Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker and the Enraptured Poets of the Fifties
6. The John Coltrane Poem
7. Goodbye Porkpie Hat: Farewell and Rememberances
8. An Enormous Yes: Contemporary Jazz Poetry

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