Last night, we went to the Garland County Library for a program sponsored by the library and the Hot Springs Jazz Society. I expected it would be a good program. It was better than good; it was spectacular. The poets who read their (and others’) work were: 1) Chuck Dodson, host of Wednesday Night Poetry (now at Maxine’s); 2) Kai Coggin, an exceptionally talented poet who’s gaining national notoriety; and 3) Maria Kuntz, a very popular high-energy poet who was instrumental in getting Hot Springs noticed for slam poetry. The musicians were Chuck Dodson (also a piano player and song-writer); Clyde Pound (an exceptional keyboard player); David Higginbotham (a bassist with amazing skills); and Jay Payette, a drummer/percussionist whose talents are phenomenal (I think I finally “got it” as to the importance of percussion because of the way he played last night).
The audience was made up, predominantly, of geezers my age and older, a real shame, as I think younger people would have enjoyed the evening. But, so did the geezers.
Clyde Pound, who served as sort of the master of ceremonies along with Chuck Dodson, introduced me to a jazz pianist/composer who, unfortunately, died young (in a scuba-diving accident): Esbjörn Svennson. My god, he was an exceptional jazz musician! One of the pieces they played, Goldwrap, really took me by the soul. I can’t say enough good things about it. So, I’ll let a few of the photos I took say more than I can. I wish I’d gotten good photos and quality recordings of all of last night; these folks were stunning.
