New Series Explores Lyrics as Poetry Through Jazz Vocalese and Hip Hop Classics

SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. - July 16, 2015 - PRLog -- The Lyrics as Poetry Series begins with Hip Hop Classics presented by Toni Blackman, on Friday, July 24^th at 7:30 pm. It will be a creative adventure wherein the audience will listen, discuss, and recite poetic gems from classic and popular rap forms to challenge the stigma often associated with Hip Hop as a genre of art. An introduction to Hip Hop music and culture, this interactive presentation will provide definitions, insight, and inspiration. Ms. Blackman will be joined by DJ Courtland Hankins.

As a poet and performer, Toni Blackman has shared stages with the likes of Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Sekou Sundiata, Lucille Clifton, Philip Levine, the Last Poets, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, KRS One, Vernon Reid, Meshell, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Onaje Allan Gumbs, and Youssou Ndour.A sought after speaker, Ms. Blackman has presented at the ASPEN Institute Summit in Oman, the Pio Manzu Conference in Italy, the DODGE Poetry Festival, the World Social Forum in Barcelona, as a featured speaker at Chicago Ideas Week, at TEDx UMass at Amherst and most recently at Rockefeller Plaza for NBC Universal’s B.P.A. Conference.  Ms. Blackman has appeared in FORBES, the Washington Post and NY Times, ESSENCE Magazine, featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, BET, VH1, Fox News and other media outlets.The leading authority on Cyphers, Toni Blackman’s creation of groundbreaking projects like Freestyle Union Cipher Workshop and Rhyme Like A Girl achieved fellowships with Echoing Green Foundation and the Open Society Institute. In 2012, DOVE soap selected her as a Real Woman Honoree. She is currently a Nasir Jones Fellow at Harvard University and on the artist roster for Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute.

The Lyrics as Poetry Series continues with Jazz Vocalese with Greg Thomas, taking place July 31^st at 7:30 pm, explores how lyrics, at their highest level, are poetry set to music, melodies made visible via words becoming song. Mr. Thomas’ presentation will feature works of vocalese Master Jon Hendricks, who, at 94 years young, will be in attendance that evening.

Greg Thomas has taught jazz appreciation across New York City for such institutions as the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, as well as pre-concert lecture series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The founding Editor-in-Chief of Harlem World (2003-2006), Greg has written for The Root, All About Jazz, Salon and the New York City Jazz Record, the Guardian Observer and theVillage Voice, American Legacy and the scholarly journal Callaloo. He’s been the host of jazz radio programs on WBAI-FM and WVOX in Westchester. A few years after hosting 21 half-hour episodes of a web-based television jazz news and entertainment series, Jazz it Up!, Greg became the jazz columnist for the New York Daily News (2011-2013).Greg co-produced over one hundred “Harlem Speaks” interview evenings for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and, as principal of G&J Productions, has produced live jazz shows throughout New York at venues such as the Friar’s Club, Aaron Davis Hall, Wainwright House, MIST Harlem, Alvin & Friends restaurant, and Red Rooster/Ginny’s Supper Club.

What:          Lyrics as Poetry Presentations: Hip Hop & Jazz Vocalese

When:          July 24, 7:30 pm - Lyrics as Poetry – Hip Hop Classics
         July 31, 7:30 pm - Lyrics as Poetry – Jazz Vocalese

Where:          The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, 300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow (at the Philipse Manor Station)

The Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1988 with a mission to advance the art and craft of writing by encouraging writers and readers at all levels to participate in and enjoy the literary arts. It offers classes for professional and amateur writers, presents public readings by well-known and emerging prose writers and poets, does outreach work in several community sites, and publishes at least one book of poetry each year under the imprint Slapering Hol Press (Slapering Hol is Old Dutch for Sleepy Hollow). The Hudson Valley Writers' Center is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Center's headquarters is the restored Philipse Manor railroad station, which overlooks the Hudson River in the village of Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York. The Center is approximately 30 miles north of midtown Manhattan and 2.6 miles north of the Tappan Zee Bridge.