January 28, 2008

Abram Bergen

There is something about the blues that grabs hold of you and moves you, physically and emotionally, that transports you to places past, present and imagined, something that taps into the deepest elemental parts of you to soothe and sometimes heal. It’s easy to lose yourself in the blues. Its history runs deep and its influence on other forms has been enormous. The blues, Al Young writes in the introduction to Something About the Blues: an unlikely collection of poetry, is “beaded and threaded throughout America’s musical mosaic.” But the blues, like poetry, is difficult to describe, define, confine. “The blues,” he writes, “will always be dramatically unpredictable, sometimes torturous and sometimes pleasurable,” and “ever resistant to classroom analysis,” for the blues dwells largely “in a feral state; blues truth is wild and menacing.”

Something About the Blues is blues poetry. Though I’ve often listened to and lost myself in the blues, and have immersed myself in various kinds of poetry, I must confess that I was largely ignorant of the blues in poetic form until I had the good fortune to read this collection. The first to popularize blues poetry was Langston Hughes, born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902, and best “known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties.” It is fitting, then, that Young opens his collection of blues poetry with Hughes’ beautiful and haunting poem, “The Weary Blues.” This poem, read by Hughes himself, also opens the accompanying CD. It serves as a wonderful introduction to the spirit of blues poetry and sets the mood perfectly.
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Book Review: Something About the Blues – an unlikely collection of poetry by Al Young

Written by Abram Bergen
Published January 28, 2008 in BlogCritic

There is something about the blues that grabs hold of you and moves you, physically and emotionally, that transports you to places past, present and imagined, something that taps into the deepest elemental parts of you to soothe and sometimes heal. It’s easy to lose yourself in the blues. Its history runs deep and its influence on other forms has been enormous. The blues, Al Young writes in the introduction to Something About the Blues: an unlikely collection of poetry, is “beaded and threaded throughout America’s musical mosaic.” But the blues, like poetry, is difficult to describe, define, confine. “The blues,” he writes, “will always be dramatically unpredictable, sometimes torturous and sometimes pleasurable,” and “ever resistant to classroom analysis,” for the blues dwells largely “in a feral state; blues truth is wild and menacing.”

Something About the Blues is blues poetry. Though I’ve often listened to and lost myself in the blues, and have immersed myself in various kinds of poetry, I must confess that I was largely ignorant of the blues in poetic form until I had the good fortune to read this collection. The first to popularize blues poetry was Langston Hughes, born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902, and best “known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties” (learn more about Hughes at Poets.org). It is fitting, then, that Young opens his collection of blues poetry with Hughes’ beautiful and haunting poem, “The Weary Blues.” This poem, read by Hughes himself, also opens the accompanying CD. It serves as a wonderful introduction to the spirit of blues poetry and sets the mood perfectly.

(more…)

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Chronicle Books
(May 2007 release)

Edited by Alan Cheuse
and Lisa Alvarez
Introduction by Richard Ford

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Since 1969, the prestigious Squaw Valley Community of Writers has helped develop the art and craft of many who are now household names. Instructors such as Michael Chabon, Mark Childress, Lynn Freed, Oakley Hall, James D. Houston, Diane Johnson, Anne Lamott, Joanne Meschery, Robert Stone, Amy Tan, and Al Young have distilled their advice and wisdom from seminars and lectures, and the result is a book that captures the workshop experience of complete submersion in the writing process. With an introduction by novelist and short story master Richard Ford, himself a conference attendee in the 1970s, this volume gives the writer and dedicated reader a jolt of inspiration, sharp insight into matters of technique, and a feeling of camaraderie with a writing community.

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Order AL YOUNG’s Latest

Like Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who first popularized the blues as a poetic form, California Poet Laureate Al Young has written about the blues, played the blues and drawn inspiration from the blues.

Something About the Blues uses the blues as a theme throughout 100 new and previously-published poems. Selections evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself, with tributes to Ma Rainey, Lena Horne and other notable performers.

Something About the Blues includes an audio CD with Al Young’s dynamic, soulful readings of more than 20 of the poems from the book, plus Langston Hughes’ reading of his classic “The Weary Blues.” Many of Young’s performances feature a live blues band.

Lillian Brummet’s Review from Curled Up with a Good Book

As a poet myself, I had a wonderful time reviewing Something About the Blues: An Unlikely Collection of Poetry by Al Young. The title probably already tipped you off to the fact that every one of the 120 poems has a relation to the blues, whether it is about the groupies, the gigs, the music itself, people who play it, or the lifestyle of those who live it. Most of the poems span two pages; occasionally a poem will reach as many as three pages or only one page in length. I appreciated the thoughtful choice of font size that is large and very easy on the eyes, allowing the reader to concentrate on the feeling the words invoke, rather than on trying to read them. The author also includes a 16-page short story near the center of the book entitled “Silent Parrot Blues.”

Young covers thoughts on society, music, genres of the blues, black culture and making love. He displays light humor in “Elevator Over the Hill,” and observations on life, people or situations in the city. I particularly enjoyed “April in Paris,” Potato Head Blues” and “You do All This For Love.” Some of the poetry opens with a setting for the piece or quotations.

The book is accompanied by an audio CD with roughly 25 live and studio performances of the poetry and music. It was a bit of a thrill for me to discover that a few of my favorite pieces in the book were also on the CD, allowing me to experience them in a whole new way. The CD is stored in a clear plastic envelope on the inside of the back cover.

The author uses intelligent language laden with feeling and evoking imagery in the reader’s mind; this is probably why he has been California’s poet laureate. Young also performed as a blues musician for a number of years. Those who love literacy, poetry, the music genre known as the blues, and fans of blues performers will certainly enjoy this book.

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ISBN 0879101490. “Charles Mingus was one of the greatest talents in the jazz world, as a bassist, bandleader, and composer. Mingus comes to life again through these two memoirs written by two of his friends. This book is a breezy but heartfelt tribute to an irascible talent, a collection as passionate and unruly as its subject…funny, respectful and revealing.” — The New York Times Book Review