Tribune-Review
City of Asylum’s 16th annual Jazz Poetry Festival will be virtual this year.
City of Asylum’s 16th annual Jazz Poetry Festival will go virtual this year, with free concerts and readings from eight national jazz ensembles and 10 poets from nine different countries.
The festival will kick off at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 with classically trained clarinetist and composer Waclaw Zimpel collaborating with spoken-word poet and punk singer Alex Frieheit, both natives of Poland. Their concert was filmed in an abandoned communist-era swimming pool.
Online performances are scheduled through Oct. 1.
The festival will showcase four international performers. Two — Zimpel and Jaak Sooäär of Estonia — are favorites from past festivals, while the other two — Mihaly Borbely of Hungary and Kaja Draksler of Slovenia — are new to Pittsburgh.
The musicians will perform concerts in unique locations in their home countries and will work with poets from home in creating unique, in-language collaborations.
The other four evenings feature new work from favorite regional and national musicians, including Thoth Trio, the Off-Minor Jazz Series and a special evening of Geri Allen music from Yoko Suzuki.
“Jazz Poetry Month embodies City of Asylum’s mission to defend and celebrate freedom of expression,” said co-founder and president Henry Reese. “This year’s programs were created in response to the pandemic and the public dialogue focused on longstanding issues of systemic social injustice rooted in racism and xenophobia.”
All Jazz Poetry Month programs will be streamed at 7 p.m. on Crowdcast. Programs will be archived and will be accessible under “Past Events” on the City of Asylum Crowdcast page seven days after their original air date.
“The festival includes four commissions from international musicians and poets, filmed abroad and premiered in Pittsburgh,” said Abby Lembersky, director of programs. “Jazz Poetry 2020 melds the familiar with the new — embracing the opportunities of our virtual programming channel and featuring artists and performers from around the globe.”
“Art and shared joy are important ways to create the empathy and humanity necessary for sustainable, transformative change,” Reese said.
Jazz Poetry 2020 closes City of Asylum’s 15th anniversary season.
All festival events are free to the public, but require preregistration at alphabetcity.org.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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