Improvised Notes

Some pairings arrive before explanation.

That has always been the relationship between jazz and poetry.

One trusts structure enough to depart from it. The other does too.

I have long admired the ease with which they move between one another: listening, responding, leaving room, returning changed.

When Wild Bloom Poetry was born, I knew jazz would be part of its ethos.

That is when I was introduced to Izzi Guzman, a trombonist and composer whose sound quickly became part of our gatherings. Over time, her brass soundscape became an anchor. A familiar invitation into presence.

Somewhere along the way, after settling into our shared tempo, we stopped occupying separate corners of the evening and started sharing the stage.

Since then, for special gatherings, we’ve expanded the conversation through the GG Collective, led by Izzi alongside keyboardist Michael Gaspari.

The poems change. The people change.

But improvisation asks the same thing poetry does: listen closely and respond.