New Commission

Jackie Kay with Adam Fairhall's The Imaginary Delta

  • 22
  • Jul
to
  • 22
  • Jul

2014

8.00pm

Poet and short story writer Jackie KayJackie Kay, copyright Jon Parker Lee

Jackie Kay reads new story in Midland Hotel


The Imaginary Delta is a riotous re-imagining of early jazz forms via a mixture of old and new idioms, acoustic instruments and new technologies. Samples from vintage recordings used include those of Bessie Smith, who also provides the inspiration for Jackie Kay’s work in which the author boards a Pullman with the great blues singer to journey across Tennessee. Poignant, bittersweet, and funny, these poems occupy the crossroads where the blues and poetry collide. This joint venture with manchester jazz festival paves the way for a major new commission in 2015 marking the landmark anniversaries of both festivals. Supported by the Madeline Mabey Trust.