Copyright © 2006 by James Semark

• James Tells His Story
• Playlist
• Audio Performances

This series of poetry-jazz performances spans forty years, captured on home recording equipment. The first, a tribute to John Coltrane, was premiered at the Detroit Artists Workshop in October of 1964. The final in the series was first performed at the Workshop reunion in November of 2004.

James Semark 1965 - Photo by Leni Sinclair

My story --

          Although I was listening to Jon Hendricks and Eddie Jefferson since my teens, the rhythm ballad style is as different from them as the man in the moon. Here’s how it happened: during the winter of 1964-65, I had a writing studio in the basement of the “Castle,” home of the core Artists Workshop members at the time. In the basement next to me, drummer Ronnie Johnson was practicing, almost 24 x 7, so it seemed. Ronnie was a world-class, Anthony Williams style drummer and it was always a pleasure to hear him play.

          The brick basement wall was paper-thin and I could hear Ronnie’s drumming constantly, while I was writing or typing. Sometimes, we spoke to each other through the wall. Eventually, I began hearing Ronnie’s drumming in my writing, even when he wasn’t playing! This was the birth of the rhythm ballad approach, the ability to hear and express the drums playing in the language.

          

          After a few years, I discovered I had three levels of energy in my rhythm ballad poetry: normal speaking voice, a free-bop voice, and a high-energy voice. Often, I’d alternate between one voice or another. You can hear me doing that on the recordings.

          Tips & tricks on rhythm ballad making:

• I hear free jazz playing under me always; the drums are in the language, and the language organizes the music and rhythm (not the other way around). In general, I've discarded the practice of forcing phrases into a 4/4 time music groove; the language plays to music pulse but not to measures. In 1964, during John Coltrane Rhythm Ballad For All, Ronnie Johnson sat down at the drums and tried to follow me, but he soon realized that the music wasn't happening in 8-bar choruses. You can hear him trying to back me for a few beats, but then he decided to lay out. Aside from the tremendous, earth-shaking gift that Ronnie gave me (of hearing drums in language), that's all you'll hear of him on these recordings (yet, Danny Spencer* and I flowed together free on House on a Hill in 2004)!

   

  * Jazz drummers Ronnie Johnson and Danny Spencer were participants in the original Detroit Artists Workshop communal programs, from 1964 onward.

• Also, the way I adapted language to high-energy jazz was to take a long phrase, then to break it up into two or three "cells" with some pauses in between. That way, I could make the words portray whatever rhythmic effect I wanted, and still say what I wanted to say. I got the idea from listening to Coltrane's playing; his method of phrase fragmentation can be heard on many recordings. You can hear me discovering how to fragment language in a similar manner on The Sun.

          Although most of the ideas for the rhythm ballad style took seed in the Artists Workshop era, I began hearing myself performing them a few years later. By then, the Artists Workshop had “evolved” into Trans-Love Energies and the hippie era was in full swing. Now and then, I performed on the Grande Ballroom stage, sometimes backed by the MC5 and sonic madness.

          The performances occur in clusters, the first during the Workshop and Trans-Love era as mentioned above, the second group occurring in D.C. around 1989-94. Of course, the final piece was recited at the Detroit Institute of Arts, during the reunion concert in 2004.

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