Michael McClure on “Piano Poems”

On a cold, foggy night in San Francisco after a great Japanese meal, Ray Manzarek and I stepped onto the stage and there were sparks of consciousness – the stage was on fire with poems and piano improvisations. The symbiosis and the synergy made lights. Then Larry Kassin stepped up to join us with his jazz flute and Lou Judson was recording.

This is a live album with its heart still beating – no tricks, gimmicks, or second takes. We are bringing together my poetry and Ray’s improvisations that shape my word-sounds into richer meanings: Piano Poems.

There’s no way to be without politics or an antipolitics, no way to be without art, without anger and generosity, without laughter and kindness.

That’s the edge we’re whetting on this album.

Ray Manzarek on “Piano Poems”

Posted on Facebook on April 2, 2011

I’m in the recording studio with Michael McClure. We’re mixing “Live In San Francisco.” New and older poems from a live performance at an old wooden church last year. Great acoustics, Steinway grand. Excellent show. Larry Kassen joins us on flute. Should be out later this year. Here are the pieces: “Pico Boulevard”, “Osprey”, “Let The Laws Go”, Let Me Be Raw”, “Eagle In The Whirlpool”, “Mule Kick Blues”, “Black Wine”, “River Of Night”, “Man On The Cross/Pop Children”, “Antechamber Of The Night”, “Deconstruction Man”