Jazz Selections for 2022

 

My selections for the year’s best jazz releases appear below. I discovered some of these releases while I was sick with Covid and only able to sit in front of the television. I called up YouTube and added Gondwana Records in the search bar and then while bundled up in blankets, I started listening to Jasmine Myra and Chip Wickham.

There were a few other releases that I discovered during the year, but I haven’t listened to them often enough to make a definitive decision as of yet. Sometimes I return to records released in previous years, such as Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd’s Jazz Samba, which was released in 1962 and which I prefer over the album Getz/Gilberto. I also stumble onto more recent releases that I had missed when they were initially released, such as Hania Rani's Esja.

My selections below appear in no particular order. Three of them can be found at Bandcamp. 

Jasmine Myra, Horizons 

This debut album contains Jasmine Myra's own compositions and a band of talented musicians from the north of England. One memorable track is titled "Words Left Unspoken," which was written for Myra's grandmother who died during the pandemic. Many of the titles emphasize distance and create an overall melancholic feel to the music. Even so, this album places emphasis on melody. One critic when reviewing this album called for more dissonance, which wouldn't have fit at all. I look forward to hearing more of Jasmine Myra's music.

Chip Wickham, Astral Traveling

Released as a kind of preview to Wickham's Cloud 10, this album of three tracks, containing  22 minutes of music, is meant to be savored during the quiet times of day. The title track emphasizes the harp and Wickham's tenor saxophone. Wickham's flute is more prominent on "Sais (Egypt)." If I were one to astral project, I would want to return to my body to hear this music. 

Matthew Halsall, Changing Earth 

One memorable track from this EP is the one named "Upper Space." The return of the melody towards the close of this track makes me want to hit the repeat button and to listen to the entire album again and again. 

Tord Gustavsen Trio, Opening 

The addition of Steiner Raknes on bass has allowed Tord Gustavsen to experiment with different sounds. This album has been one that has been playing in my alarm clock for several months now. I love waking up to it.

Background Behind Chapbook

 

The author copies of my chapbook Listening for Low Tide arrived yesterday. I am very pleased to see twenty-five of my poems brought together in this chapbook. 

These poems were written over a period of about thirty-four years. The earliest one, “Sitting Alone, Listening,” dates from 1987 or 1988. That poem was a breakthrough poem for me because it contained my natural writing voice. Both my wife and my friend Derick Burleson have said a lot of good things about this poem; that's partly why it's included.

What connects these poems is an emphasis on listening. I am acutely aware of sound, and that awareness makes itself known in these poems.

I probably have spent hundreds of dollars entering chapbook contests. Over a period of years, I took out poems, added other ones, rearranged the poems, and changed the title several times, only to have editors say things like your poems emphasize a single theme, or your poems are too prosy and too subtle.

After seeing my wife format the winning chapbook and the finalist for our first chapbook contest, and after seeing how well they looked, I decided to let her set up my chapbook. She had been encouraging me to publish with our press, Choeofpleirn Press. We started with a trial chapbook a few months ago. That chapbook then went through another revision, and I solicited blurbs before we published Listening for Low Tide. Although we could have used a picture from Canva, I decided to use one of my own pictures. The cover picture may seem out of place with the idea of a low tide, but the picture matches what appears in the title poem.

Thirteen of the twenty-five poems are appearing for the first time in this chapbook. One downside to including poems not having been published first in literary journals is that I now have fewer poems to send out, but that problem provides more incentive to write new poems and to revise some of the other poems that I have written.

A paper copy of my chapbook is available at Amazon. An ebook for less money is available directly through our press, Choeofpleirn Press.

With the exception of a revised "Kneeling in Prayer," the poems of mine included within this blog are not part of this chapbook. Some of the poems can be found at the following links: Apple Valley Review and Dragon Poet Review and Poetica Review. Those poems published at Dragon Poet Review have undergone a few revisions. "Stenciling Another Kill" in Poetica Review has been revised as well. Apple Valley Review nominated "Those Nights" for the Pushcart.

Text to Accompany Previous Post

The programming, for some reason, wouldn't let me add text after I added the pictures in the previous post. I was going to say that these pictures capture my collection of autumn color for 2022. These pictures cover about a twenty day period, with the first picture taken on October 8 and the last one taken on October 29.

One of these pictures was posted earlier. I am adding it again because it is one of my favorites.

I hope those of you who come to this blog find something to like in these pictures.

I recommend that you click on the first picture and then scroll through them.

Autumn Colors_2022

Listening for Low Tide

Listening for Low Tide, my chapbook containing twenty-five poems, is now available through Amazon at the following link. The cover picture was taken from this blog and can be found in the entry for December 20, 2015. 

The blurbs are a bit hard to read on the picture that I downloaded from Amazon, so I am adding them here.

"James Cooper’s Listening for Low Tide is a collection of poems that keeps us listening for the sound of a limb breaking from a beloved tree, for train whistles cutting through the night, engines revving, and neighbors next door. These poems take us from overseas “where I guarded three nuclear bombs” to Northern Ireland where the poet writes a postcard to a friend back in Kansas, to an airport in Pratt, Kansas where he watches penned cattle surely bound for slaughter.  The images in these poems are clear, fresh, and photographic, sometimes tinged with loss, other times with love.  I am reminded of two other poignant Midwest voices, William Stafford and Ted Kooser, who pay attention to the things most of us miss and bring them to us as gifts of language.  In Cooper’s poem, “Memorial Day,” we encounter hundreds of moths, “millers to us,” with a kind of delightful specificity that has us batting at them like the cat, “ghosts haunting the air above the house.” These poems will haunt you in a good way, like the millers, letting loose the ghosts of people, places, and events stuffed away in the trunk of memory."

--Anita Skeen

Series Editor, Wheelbarrow Books

Founding Director, Michigan State University Center for Poetry

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"The poems in this volume listen as much as they speak. The voices of frogs, geese and katydids coexist with the sounds of jackhammers, chainsaws and trucks bound for slaughterhouses. As such, there is a gentle, pastoral quality that overlays the subtle urgencies of potential violence and destruction. These core tensions are ever present and well-wrought in Cooper’s thoughtful poems."

--Mark Cox, author of Sorrow Bread, Poems 1984-2015.

_____________________

"In Listening for Low Tide, the further, more distant tide without which nothing continues, James Cooper moves the reader through a deceptively quiet, sometimes lonely world. At times, the poems offer an understated spookiness where a man alone puts into words things so large that only offering the small things of a life may offer clarity. Cooper’s poems also are lovingly threaded with an interior music."

--Pamela (Jody) Stewart, author of This Momentary World: Selected Poems.

Spider Central

"Spider Central," another poem of mine, is now available at the online journal Abandoned Mine. Use the following link to read my poem. 

When our insurance agent was walking through the house that my wife and I were in the midst of buying, he commented on the number of spiders in eastern Kansas. I don't remember whether he referred to this area as spider central. His words about the number of spiders have come true. I don't remember seeing as many spiders anywhere else where I have lived.

A Stately Elder

One picture that I apparently forgot to add in the spring appears in this post. I recently made this picture what I see when I open up Google Chrome. Choosing what picture appears on the opening screen of Google Chrome is an option, by the way, if you click on the pencil in the lower right of the screen.

I cannot identify the tree, based on its leaves and bark, but it certainly looks like a stately elder. My father was better at identifying trees and tried to teach me when we were out walking together one afternoon when we lived in Maryland. 

This tree is located at Lake Juliette at the Veterans Administration in Leavenworth. Once again, the picture looks better if you click on it.

Autumn in Eastern Kansas

The weather people in Kansas City are predicting that peak color will occur in our area during the week of Halloween. One of my favorite pictures of this autumn so far appears in this post. As a colorblind person, I respond to the color of the leaves, the shadows on the ground and the tree, and the contrast between light and dark. The Missouri River looks more colorful in this picture. (The picture looks best if you click on it.)

Veterans Administration_Leavenworth

When I get the chance and want to vary where I walk, I sometimes visit the grounds of the Veterans Administration. 

Lake Juliette, which is located near the VA cemetery, provides a half-mile walking path. Although there should be more benches around the lake, it still provides a pleasant place to visit on Sunday afternoons when there isn't much traffic and very few, if any, people. I make at least two laps around the lake whenever I visit. 

No matter how hard I try to get a picture of the turtles sunning themselves on one of the sunken trees, they can detect my steps and even my shadow and slip into the water. I have been lucky enough, on a few occasions, to get a glimpse of a great blue heron when I am sitting on one of the benches.

Not all of the buildings at the VA have been renovated, unfortunately. I have managed to get a few pictures of the decaying buildings, with the aim of eventually posting these pictures in a Facebook group named Abandoned Kansas.

Seeking Collections of Essays

Choeofpleirn Press is seeking collections of essays for its nonfiction contest. More  information appears in the flyer. The deadline is December 31, 2022.

Rushing Thru the Dark 2022

Our issue of Rushing Thru the Dark 2022 is now available as an pdf through our website and as a print book through Amazon. This issue contains eleven plays, one screenplay, the work of six artists, and thirty-four poems.  

Chapbook Winners

Amy Lerman, whose chapbook Orbital Debris was selected by Laura Read, is the winner of our first annual Jonathan Holden Chapbook Contest. A few copies of the original printing of her chapbook remain available through our website. Her chapbook is now also available at Amazon. 

In her comments for selecting Amy Lerman's chapbook, Laura Reads says, 

I admire the way this collection is organized in three sections: Ground Control, Breathing Space, and Outer Space, and how the space motif, emphasized by the opening epigraph from Carl Sagan, provides unity for this collection. This unity is also created through the repetition and alternation of various themes, including memories of childhood, snapshots of a marriage, and elegies for friends lost, children not had, time going by. Each poem is well-crafted with attention to imagery, so I felt like I was a part of the speaker’s world; for example, in one of my favorite poems in the collection, “Living Below Sea Level,” the speaker describes their longing for hurricanes for “that chance/ to masking tape our windows in ‘Xs’,” which is such an exact image that captures a child’s mind and the experience of living in a particular place. I also love the poem’s ending: “So often, though, no winds/ ruptured palm fronds, no storm eye quieted, no school/ got cancelled, in spite of our loyalty, our sacrifice,/ our willingness to monitor, that taping and alarm naught,/ our only celebration some early morning chocolate milk/ and extra bowls of Alpha Bits.” These lines capture something I really like in this book: each poem is a small moment that contains something bigger when observed and described closely, a small piece of orbital debris.

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Fran Schumer, the finalist in our chapbook contest, has her chapbook Weight available through Amazon as well.  

Tugboat on Missouri Review

It isn't often that we get to see traffic on the Missouri River. Quite by chance, I happened to be at the river with my camera one recent afternoon when I saw this tugboat pushing a barge downriver. Because the wheat and corn harvests have not yet occurred this year, I suspect that this barge contains last year's crop, after having emptied one or two storage facilities so as to make room for this year's crop.

Glacial Hills Review 2022 Available

Glacial Hills Review, our second of four literary magazines that we publish annually, is now available. This issue contains twenty-four poems, thirteen nonfiction essays, and a section devoted to artists and photographers describing their creative process. A pdf version can be purchased for $6.00 at our website, https://www.choeofpleirnpress.com. A print version can be purchased at Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Glacial-Hills-Review-Summer-2022/dp/B0B4H99SLG. \\

Rushing Thru the Dark Seeks Submissions

Rushing Thru the Dark, our autumn journal, is now seeking submissions of one-act plays, short screenplays, poetry, and art. We prefer that one-act plays be less than 20 pages and screenplays less than 90 pages. No translations, please. If you are submitting poetry, send no more than three poems. There is no fee to submit unless you wish to be considered for one of our annual awards. Deadline is August 28, 2022. More details can be found on our website.

Goslings

The goslings where I often walk are getting bigger. Their mom and dad are very protective and often hiss at me if I get too close when taking pictures. 

Poems in Poetica Review

Two of my poems, "Stenciling Another Kill" and "Under a Dark Sky," appear on pages 27-28 of the summer issue of Poetica Review, an online journal from the UK. Follow this link to read the poems. 

Trees in Bloom_2022

The blossoms on the magnolia tree in my yard were not as prolific this spring. I attribute that problem to the black spot that I detected on the branches last summer. I was thinking that I may have to cut off some of the branches, but the tree seems to have recovered, thanks to the bone meal that my wife sprinkled near the roots. 

The redbud trees where I live were particularly pretty this year. I didn't get outside with my camera as often as I should have, however. I need to start keeping my camera in the car during the spring so that I can capture more of what I see when walking or driving through the town.

Fortunately, I got pictures of the pear trees that were blooming this spring. I am adding a few pictures below. These pictures were taken over a two day period.

Music and the Human Experience

It surprises me how often people never move past the music that they loved during high school. I'm sure that there is a certain comfort in hearing the same music that you were listening to during the formative moments in your teenage and young adult life. There is also the benefit of music allowing you to stir up and revisit memories from those times.

I recently tried listening to some of the music that I heard while in high school. I couldn't get far in any one song before I had to stop it.

My father regularly played jazz, ragtime, gospel, and classical music on the stereo when I was growing up. One of his favorite jazz albums was Dave Brubeck's Time Out. On one occasion, I remember walking into the den and finding my mother and father watching on TV a concert featuring Gary Burton on vibes. I had to sit down and watch it with them.

My reading reinforced this initial exposure to jazz. The excitement that Jack Kerouac found in jazz made me want to discover what jazz offered. While I never listened to George Shearing, one of the musicians described in On the Road, I went about discovering jazz in my own way. 

After I located those rock albums that contained jazz elements, my introduction to jazz began in earnest when I bought Miles Davis' Big Fun album. Within the next year or so, I found my own way to Gary Burton and his The New Quartet and Ring albums.

I don't think of my own introduction to and pursuit of jazz as being that special. I suppose it takes an early exposure to other kinds of music and an interest in pursuing one's own discoveries. 

Because there is so much music available, it is crippling, I think, to limit oneself to the music heard early in one's life. One purpose in life should be to discover more about such things as music, art, film, literature, etc., precisely those things that teach us about the human experience.

Two Poems in New Note Poetry

Two of my poems have been published in the spring issue of New Note Poetry, a relatively new online journal. My poems appear on pages 72 and 73. Use the following link.

After I dropped out of college as a sophomore, I worked at two different hospitals before I decided to continue my education in poetry. These two poems address that experience. It was Daniel Halpern's American Poetry Anthology that convinced me to return to college. I wasn't going to succeed as a poet without an education, I decided.

Some poems of mine attempt to capture a moment. Other poems explore experiences and, sometimes, make sense of those experiences. These two poems deal with experiences of mine at these two hospitals.

Alopecia

One good thing that might come from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards ceremony is the attention it brings to alopecia areata, the loss of hair in certain spots, and alopecia universalis, the loss of hair over one's entire body. The slapping incident, by the way, was preceded by a joke about Jada Smith's shaven head. Maybe once more people educate themselves about this autoimmune disease, that awareness will generate greater understanding and acceptance.

I have written two poems about alopecia, one of which will be published later this spring. There could be other poems worth writing if I choose to explore that part of my life.

I was five when I started losing the hair on my head. I remember it starting one night when my family was getting ready to eat. I rubbed my head and discovered that my hair covered my plate. Within a year, I was totally bald. I remained bald and had no hair anywhere else on my body for a couple of years. Although the hair on my head eventually grew back, it was never thick and didn't grow very fast. My arms and legs remained hairless.

I started losing the hair on my head again when I was 20 or 21. The process that time took longer because I wasn't totally bald until my thirties or forties. I had facial hair while earning my PhD, but the stress and sleep deprivation that accompanied earning a degree and caring for a baby eventually caused me to lose my mustache and part of my beard.

According to the Internet, one out of four thousand people has alopecia universalis. Alopecia areata is more common among females, I've discovered.

I wouldn't wish alopecia universalis on any kid. I'm happy that my condition wasn't passed on through my genes.

Meanderings

My traffic at this blog has increased recently for some reason, according to StatCounter. It isn't often that I get more than a handful of unique visitors and returning visitors. For the past two weeks, I have been getting five times as many unique visitors. I'm happy to get the traffic, but I am a little embarrassed at not having added much to this blog as of late. 

Noticeably absent this year, perhaps, is my annual list of jazz releases. I haven't been listening to as much music as I used to. I generally reserve those times in which I listen to music to driving and to working out. 

Most recently, I have been listening to Soren Bebe's Echoes, a 2019 release, when I am in the car. I have been enjoying  this album immensely, particularly such tracks as "Echoes, " "Winx," and "Homeward." I recommended this album earlier when I compiled my selections for the best of 2019. I have had to adjust the sound levels in the car so as to capture more of Kasper Tagel's bass.  

Previously when driving, I was listening to Daniel Herskedal's Harbour, a 2021 release. This album contains a trio composed of Eyolf Dale on piano, Helge Norbakken on drums, and Daniel Herskedal on bass tuba and trumpet. There is now more attention given to the tuba in comparison to Herskedal's previous albums, that is, Voyage (2019), The Roc (2017), and Slow Eastbound Train (2015). This current album rivals Slow Eastbound Train. One of the few albums that I bought in 2021, this album proves delightful because of its greater emphasis on the trio. Some of my favorite tracks are "Ice-Free," "Hunters Point Drydocks," "Arriving at Ellis Island," and the alliterative "Dancing Dhow Deckhands."

On one occasion recently, I was walking back to my car after having returned my shopping cart when a young guy stopped me to ask whether I could give him a ride. Foolishly, I agreed to give this guy a ride to the library, a fifteen minute trip. I learned during the ride that he had been kicked out of his parents" house for some reason and was trying to get a job, despite not having any identification, something that prevented him from getting hired at the grocery store where he had stopped me. During the trip, he asked me whether I could take him to a different city or let him stay with me. Once we learned that the library was closed and that the Salvation Army was closed, I offered to drop him off downtown so that he could hitch a ride to Kansas City. Along the way, he spotted a restaurant/bar and asked me to let him off there. All during this time, I was playing Daniel Herskedal's Harbour in the car although this guy didn't once mention the music. 

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My wife and I, as I have mentioned, have created a literary press named Choeofpleirn Press and have been releasing four literary journals per year.  Late last year, we started getting more art. Earlier, we were using my own photos to create breaks in the text, to separate a poem from story or a poem from nonfiction, for example, and to establish a parallel between the art and the succeeding work. I was getting tired of seeing my name in the Table of Contents. 

One element of working as a poetry editor that I hate is having to send out rejections. My own work has been getting rejected since the 1970's when I first started sending out my poems. I have gotten something like five rejections from Poetry and three rejections from American Poetry Review. When my wife and I were talking about The Georgia Review, a journal that gets a hundred thousand submissions annually, I was able to say that I have gotten a standard rejection from them. Despite these experiences, it is still difficult to reject the poetry of people submitting to Choeofpleirn Press. Our issue of Coneflower Cafe this time is the largest journal that we have put out and includes forty-three poems when some journals only include ten poems per issue. Rejection for me is probably hardest when I send out poems with the belief that getting one or more accepted is a sure thing, after having revised the poems extensively and after having researched the journal. The rejection stings a little harder on those occasions. Natalie Goldberg reminds her audience in Writing Down the Bones that the writing is far more important than getting one's work published. One has to believe in oneself and in one's work, no matter how tough it can be getting one's work read by others.

Glacial Hills Review Seeking Submissions

Glacial Hills Review is seeking literary nonfiction, reviews, scholarly essays, poetry, and art. The deadline for submissions is May 29. There is no fee to submit. For more information, follow the following link--https://www.choeofpleirnpress.com/home