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MUSIC
From 1985 to 1994 Vernon Frazer committed himself to the resurgence
of the poetry-music fusion through his recordings and through performances at such venues as the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Knitting Factory, Brandeis
University and the University of Massachusetts. A bassist as well as a poet, Frazer combined his musical and literary talents to advance the idiom beyond
the bop-oriented approach of the Beat Generation poets and their San Francisco counterparts. Employing free jazz improvisation as his musical grounding,
Frazer encouraged his collaborating musicians to improvise on the text as well
as the basslines, which he employed to guide the flow of the music.
Frazer performed throughout the northeastern United States, in a variety
of formats: as a solo poet-bassist; in a duo with the legendary saxophonist Thomas Chapin; and with the Vernon Frazer Poetry Band, which existed
from 1998 to 1993. His performing credits read like a Who’s Who of contemporary jazz, including saxophonists Chapin, John Zorn, Richard McGhee III and Kris
Jensen; trombonist Steve Davis; violinist Stephen Scholz; keyboardist Steve Starger; bassists Joe Fonda and Mario Pavone; and percussionists
Brian Johnson, Royal Hartigan, Bill Dobrow, Randall Colbourne and Rob Rudin.
Despite near-misses with Cadence, Evidence, Silkheart and Leo records,
Frazer self-produced three recordings of poetry and music: Sex Queen of the Berlin Turnpike, SLAM!, and Song of Baobab. Lack of distribution
didn’t prevent them from receiving consistently superlative reviews and a cult following in the international cultural underground.
The recordings below are available for free downloads or for sale.
For $5.00 per CD plus $3 shipping, you will receive a home-produced recording with a well-recorded CD-ROM and distinctly primitive packaging.
Please contact Vernon Frazer at vfrazer@bellsouth.net for further details.
Vernon Frazer, recitation and bass
Richard McGhee III, saxophones
Stephen Scholz, violin
Brian Johnson, percussion
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Sex Queen of the Berlin Turnpike
A Conversion (of Sorts)
Interlude 1*
Club Music
Inspiration
Under the Lamp at Cobalt Beach
Interlude II*
Ballad
Interlude III*
An Old-Fashioned Break Dance
A hipster’s hipster
Sales Pitch of an Honest Real Estate Agent
Interlude IV*
A Slick Set of Wheels
A Lunchtime Reunion
Interlude V*
Haight Street, 1985
July 4, 1986
Interlude VI*
The End
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I’ve been to too many concerts where the opening act consists of a mediocre poet back by “jazz” group. Too often the music and the poetry seem at loggerheads, having little relation to one another. The music is usually timid pointillism and if it gets too loud, the poet looks askance as if thinking, “Hey, man, it’s my show.”
This problem is not encountered on Vernon Frazer’s SEX QUEN OF THE BERLIN TURNPIKE . Part of the reason is that Frazer composed basslines over which the players improvised.
Frazer’s poems are glimpses of people, fragments of everyday life and events...When pieced together, these thirteen poems form a portrait of the landscape of urban America (Reagan’s America). They are not overtly political, but it’s hard to escape the connection if the poet has any grounding in reality. Frazer’s observations are usually right on target and the music is finely attuned to the poems.
Robert Ianoppollo
CADENCE MAGAZINE
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Vernon Frazer, recitation and bass
Richard McGhee III, saxophones
Stephen Scholz, violin
Brian Johnson, percussion
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Demon Dance
Pilgrimage to the Big Sur Inn
B-Movie Lover
Corny Tune
The Sane
Dinosaurs
Up No Head (Take 1)
The Geometry of Intimacy
Dream Haiku
The Translator-Poet at 40
The Solo Percussionist at Thirtysomething
The Dream of Her
Two-Wolf Nightmare
Up No Head (Take 2)
Nightmare
Before Dawn
A Sporting Affair
Inspiration
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Bassist-Poet Vernon Frazer’s SLAM! is a home-grown recording that is not only loaded with variety but boasts an excellent improvising ensemble and more than a smidgeon of humor. Frazer’s poetry (pr, more accurately, his recital of the poetry) takes a bit of getting used to, but is worth the effort. Stylistically, the music combines disparate elements of free jazz, folk and stream of consciousness mysticism... Overall, it’s an impressive effort. I’m eager to hear more from this impressive talent...Frazer is a creative fellow and his music deserves to be heard.
Carl Baugher
CADENCE MAGAZINE
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Vernon Frazer, recitation, bass, recorder with alto sax mouthpiece
Thomas Chapin, saxophone, flutes, llittle instruments
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An Open Reading at Peter’s Pub
Post-Alarm Dreaming
Troglodyte’s Trilogy:
The Sane
Nice People
An Afternoon Break
Manna’s Manic Melody
Let Me Play
Song of Baobab
Glandular Secretions
Brother Protoplasm
Shana’s Going to Disney World
Two-Wolf Nightmare
Rarified Air
The Bathtub Admiral
The Furies
The Dinosaurs
Extinction
A Tale of Two Decades
Evolution
Dream Lover
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Vernon Frazer’s poetry and music merger has been more successful than most. Perhaps it’s because as a bassist (amateur by his own admission) he understands the music better than most. HIs two previous releases have received favorable reviews for the same reason.
His latest is a series of duets with long-time cohort Thomas Chapin. Chapin was a presence on Frazer’s 1988 release Sex Queen of the Berlin Turnpike and Chapin’s Menagerie Dreams
featured a lengthy track with a recitation by Frazer.
Frazer’s poetry consists of barbed, trenchant observations of America at the end of the century. A poetry reading of poseurs inspires the hilariously nasty “An Open Reading at Peter’s Pub.” “A Tale of Two Decades” tells of two veterans holding court at a bar twenty years apart. “The Troglodyte’s Trilogy” takes aim at the sane, nice people whose condescension disguised as pleasantries belies their true motives. “Shana’s Going to Disney world” is a heartfelt poem colored by his mother’s dying from Cancer. Although Frazer’s reading style can be strident and in your face, it’s what his poetry demands. And, there’s a lot of humor which tempers what could merely be one man’s harangue.
Besides, there are two voices at work here. Chapin’s accompaniment is spot on. He seems very familiar with the texts. His split second reactions attest to this. Occasionally he sounds like a second reading voice. Chapin has emerged as one of the best saxopnsit of the decade and this is as good a place as any to hear why.
Robert Iannapollo
CADENCE MAGAZINE
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