Stompin' the hall
by Sam Campbell
Issue date: 10/8/09
Section: Good Thunder Reading Series
Today, the Good Thunder Reading Series will showcase a blend of artistic fields as writer Philip Bryant and jazz pianist and vocalist Carolyn Wilkins take the stage. It will feature a craft talk at 3 p.m. in the new Ostrander Auditorium and a 7:30 p.m. performance in the E.J. Halling Recital Hall.
Wilkins is a professor at Berklee College and has been active in the Boston music scene for more than twenty years. She has toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department and has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Bryant teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College and has been featured in publications such as The Iowa Review, The Indiana Review, The American Poetry Review and Nimrod. He has also published two books, "Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day" and "Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: A Jazz Memoir in Verse". They will be focusing primarily on Bryant's most recent book "Stompin' at the Grand Terrace," which includes a CD compilation of Bryant's poetry with Wilkins's jazz.
The book is a collection of prose and poems exploring the relationship between jazz and his father's experience living in the South Side of Chicago. Being a memoir drawn from Bryant's childhood experience, his language uses rhythm and rhyme to capture the beating heart of the '50s and '60s jazz scene.
According to Brian Robbins of GlideMagazine.com, "Philip S. Bryant's 'Stompin' At The Grand Terrace' captures the heart and soul of jazz like no written words have since Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road.'"
The compilation CD, included with the book entitled "A Stompin' Suite", features Bryant's words to Wilkins's music.
When asked how the decision came about to do a compilation piece, Wilkins told about their shared childhood and how they had decided at a young age to one day combine their artistic talents.
"When Phil and I were kids growing up on the south side of Chicago, we lived about three houses down from each another. Phil and his sister Shaun were my first friends. Sometime around the age of ten, I knew I would become a composer, and shortly thereafter, Phil and I decided that we would write an opera together someday," Wilkins said in the Blue Road Press. "(The duet) is the direct result of that decision."
To hear Wilkins' and Bryant's music for yourself, make sure to come to Ostrander Auditorium today at 3 p.m. for their talk on craft and 7:30 p.m. for their performance in the Performing Arts Center.
Sam Campbell is a Reporter staff writer
Wilkins is a professor at Berklee College and has been active in the Boston music scene for more than twenty years. She has toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department and has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Bryant teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College and has been featured in publications such as The Iowa Review, The Indiana Review, The American Poetry Review and Nimrod. He has also published two books, "Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day" and "Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: A Jazz Memoir in Verse". They will be focusing primarily on Bryant's most recent book "Stompin' at the Grand Terrace," which includes a CD compilation of Bryant's poetry with Wilkins's jazz.
The book is a collection of prose and poems exploring the relationship between jazz and his father's experience living in the South Side of Chicago. Being a memoir drawn from Bryant's childhood experience, his language uses rhythm and rhyme to capture the beating heart of the '50s and '60s jazz scene.
According to Brian Robbins of GlideMagazine.com, "Philip S. Bryant's 'Stompin' At The Grand Terrace' captures the heart and soul of jazz like no written words have since Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road.'"
The compilation CD, included with the book entitled "A Stompin' Suite", features Bryant's words to Wilkins's music.
When asked how the decision came about to do a compilation piece, Wilkins told about their shared childhood and how they had decided at a young age to one day combine their artistic talents.
"When Phil and I were kids growing up on the south side of Chicago, we lived about three houses down from each another. Phil and his sister Shaun were my first friends. Sometime around the age of ten, I knew I would become a composer, and shortly thereafter, Phil and I decided that we would write an opera together someday," Wilkins said in the Blue Road Press. "(The duet) is the direct result of that decision."
To hear Wilkins' and Bryant's music for yourself, make sure to come to Ostrander Auditorium today at 3 p.m. for their talk on craft and 7:30 p.m. for their performance in the Performing Arts Center.
Sam Campbell is a Reporter staff writer
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