Mr. Oliphant has a special musical gift for all buyers of the book. If you order the book, please save and send Mr. Oliphant a copy of your electronic receipt with a copy of your physical mailing address via email and he will mail it to you. You can reach him here: dave_oliphant AT yahoo DOT com
(Note: You can preview several of the poems below.)
Excerpts from Five Versions of the 12th Street Rag (1967)
Duke Ellington, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Decca, The Original Decca Recordings: Early Ellington), recorded January 14, 1931 (2:58)
Fats Waller and His Rhythm, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Pickwick International Records, Ain’t Misbehaving), recorded June 24, 1935 (2:45)
Count Baise, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Jazz Roots, Jumpin’ at the Woodside), recorded Aril 5, 1939 (3:o8)
From Jazz God and Freshman English (1973)
Dizzy Gillespie, “A Night in Tunisia” (The RCA Victor Encyclopedia of Recorded Jazz, Album 5: Gil to Hig) recorded February 22, 1945 with Don Byas on tenor saxophone (3:08)
Denton (1994)
Euel Box Quintet, “Toddlin'” (Columbia Transcriptions, North Texas State College Jazz Concert), recorded 1957 (3:12)
Shorty Rogers and His Giants, “Planetarium” (Atlantic, Martians Come Back!), recorded March 26, 1955, with Texan Jimmy Giuffre on tenor sax (3:39)
Three Musicians Perform their Freedom (2003)
Charles Mingus, “Ysabel’s Table Dance” (RCA, Tijuana Moods), recorded July 16, 1958 (11:35)
Jazz by the Boulevard (2013)
David “Fathead” Newman, “Hard Times” (Collectibles, Fathead), released in 1958 with Ray Charles on piano (4:43)
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The music at the end this interview is “I’m an Old Cow Hand” composed by Johnny Mercer and recorded by Fairfield,Texas-born (1924) Kenny Durham on January 10, 1960. For a unique “discography” of Durham’s work, see Oliphant’s biography-poem KD: A Jazz Biography
A documentary short about Native Texas Poet Dave Oliphant. This documentary was filmed, edited, produced and directed by Kanya Lyons in 2018.
Oliphant was born in Fort Worth in 1939. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Lamar University and the University of Texas, respectively, and his Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. His primary reading and writing interest has always been poetry, but he has also written four books on jazz (primarily by Texas musicians).
He has translated poetry from Spanish and was a winner of the Texas Institute of Letters book translation award in 2011. In addition to fourteen collections of his own poetry, among them The Pilgrimage: Selected Poems 1962-2012, he has edited three anthologies of Texas poetry and one of Chilean poetry. For forty years he contributed essays on and reviews of Texas poetry to various state literary magazines, and 55 of those pieces were collected in 2015 in his Generations of Texas Poets.
He retired from the University of Texas at Austin after serving for 30 years in various capacities, from assistant professor to editor of a scholarly journal, senior lecturer, and coordinator of the Freshman Seminars Program. He lives in Cedar Park, Texas with his wife and muse, Maria.
The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
At the end of today’s interview, we featured “I’m an Old Cow Hand”, written by Johnny Mercer and performed by Kenny Dorham (Xanadu Records, The Kenny Dorham Memorial Album) recorded January 10, 1960 (4:12)
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Stan Getz