The Sound of Sense
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
A sonnet from a series I've been writing about Alzheimer's disease, recorded as the LYL Band has traditionally done this kind of spoken word performance: live in the studio with the band's two poets improvising on their instruments as the poem is performed. This kicks off your summer series where the Parlando Project will be doing things somewhat differently than we do the rest of the year. What kind of things? I'm not entirely sure yet. Our "usual thing" varies anyway, but it's generally performances of various words (mostly other people's literary poetry) combined with original music...
info_outline
Meru
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
I've turned this late William Butler Yeats poem about worldly and spiritual battles into a song, because, at least to this one reader, this poem from another era of ravenous authoritarianism seems to speak to today's world and heart. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives located at
info_outline
Holy Thursday (from Songs of Experience)
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
Here's William Blake's other poem about children, poverty, and Ascension Day performed as a song. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear them all and read about our encounter with the words at our blog and archives located at
info_outline
Holy Thursday (from Songs of Innocence)
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
We may think of English poet Willam Blake as the writer of majestic mystical visions, but here he is simply observing the civic use of children of poverty on a religious holiday in this first of a pair of poems with this title. I've turned this poem from his Songs of Innocence into what it says on the tin: a song. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done of 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them and read our accounts of our encounters with the words at our blog and archives, located at ...
info_outline
Dirge Without Music
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
This is Edna St. Vincent Millay's bald statement of mortality and grief performed with music. Her title says it's without music, because she wished to express that beauty does not mitigate loss, and perhaps my far-from-bel canto voice here follows her intent. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at the Project's blog and archives located at
info_outline
Langston Hughes' "Teacher"
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
Here's a knotty poem about virtue, life, and star-dust by Langston Hughes that I've turned into a song. The Parlando Project takes words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives at
info_outline
Langston Hughes' Cabaret
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
The great Afro-American poet Langston Hughes was a pioneer in Jazz Poetry, so it is appropriate that managed to finish this piece for International Jazz Day and the last day of National Poetry Month: a performance of a short poem of his about Jazz, "Cabaret." The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives located at
info_outline
Ars Poetica
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
Celebrating National Poetry Month and International Jazz Day with this new sonnet about poets and poetry performed along with original music I composed for a Jazz quartet. This is what the Parlando Project does regularly: we combine various words (usually literary poetry) with music we create in various styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives, located at
info_outline
Absent Place - an April Day
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
Emily Dickinson wrote these words in The Sixties, the 1860s. I just got done with this song performance of her poem as if it was the 1960s and this was a West Coast Folk-Rock band. I think Dickinson here is writing about those things left behind, missing, even in the delights of Spring. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in differing styles. We've done over 800 of these combinations, and you can hear any of them at our blog and archives located at
info_outline
Dread Robin
Parlando - Where Music and Words Meet
I set Emily Dickinson's "I dreaded that first Robin, so" to this music for National Poetry Month. Dickinson's poem casts a skeptical eye on Spring, at once alienated from it and yet closely, wittily, observing. My music mutates throughout to carry forward the coming of Springtime. The Parlando Project combines various words (mostly literary poetry) with original music in varying styles. We've done over 800 of then combinations, and you can hear any of them and read about our encounters with the words at the Project's blog and archives located at
info_outlineOur Black History Month celebration this month is more focused on new articles on the Parlando Project blog, but I thought it'd be good to provide some new musical pieces too. Here's Langston Hughes' poem "Dreams" which I've cast as a blues for acoustic guitar, bass, and piano for this performance.
The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and performs them with original music (in differing styles). We've done over 800 of these combinations over the years and you can hear them all and read what I wrote about our this Project at our blog and archives, located at frankhudson.org