Jazz Poems

MOOD INDIGO it hasn’t always been this way ellington was not a street robeson no mere memory du bois walked up my father’s stairs hummed some time over me sleeping in the company of men who changed the world it wasn’t always like this why ray barretto used to be a side-man & dizzy’s hair was not always grey i remember         i was there i listened in the company of men politics as necessary as collards music even in our dreams our house was filled with all kinds of folks our windows were not cement or steel our doors opened like our daddy’s arms held us safe & loved children growing in the company of men old southern men & young slick ones sonny til was not a boy the clovers no rag-tag orphans our crooners/  we belonged to a whole world nkrumah was no foreigner virgil aikens was not the only fighter it hasn’t always been this way ellington was not a street NTOZAKE SHANGE

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Leslie Bricusse was born on January 29, 1931 in Pinner, Middlesex, England. He was educated at University College School in London, England and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he was Secretary then President of Footlights and during his college drama career he began working for actress, singer and comedian Beatrice Lillie.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Bricusse enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Anthony Newley. They wrote the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off  in 1961,that became a film in 1966. In 1965 they wrote the show The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd and music for the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971. For the latter, they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song Score.

Solely as a lyricist, Leslie collaborated with composer Cyril Ornadel on Pickwick, Henry Mancini on Victor/Victoria, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, and with John Williams on Hook. As composer and lyricist he scored the film, Doctor Dolittle and received a 1967 Academy Award for Best Original Song for Talk To The Animals, and Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1969.

Of his many songs a few that have become jazz standards are What Kind of Fool Am I?, Who Can I Turn To?, Feeling Good, My Kind of Girl, Two For The Road, If I Ruled the World, Can You Read My Mind, When I Look in Your Eyes, and Pure Imagination. 

In 2015, he released his memoir, Pure Imagination: A Sorta-Biography, with a foreword by Elton John. Composer, lyricist, and playwright Leslie Bricusse, who was awarded the Order of the British Empire, transitioned on October 19, 2021 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France at the age of 90.

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