Word/Jazz showcases the spontaneity of jazz and poetry

Austin artists have created a unique organization to help produce their art -- Diverse Arts. This multidisciplinary organization produces shows and publications that showcase many different genres of music from poetry and music to visual arts exhibitions.

One of their newest programs is word jazz.

"The concept of Word/Jazz is to get them an evening and to do a performance that has never happened before -- no two alike,"said Harold McMillan.

The performance combines poetry and jazz music. It's a spontaneous evening in which musicians aren't playing a song that's already been written and the poet isn't reading a written piece of work.

"The words have a life of their own, once you let them out they cannot be confined to paper because the sound you make when you orate gives those words an entirely different life," said Writer Ricardo Acevado.

"Word/Jazz is magic," said Poet Daniel Davis Clayton."When you get on stage and your interacting with another poet and you're interacting with the music and you don't know what's going to come out of someone else's mouth. And you are creating on the fly and there's nothing more special than that because it's a moment that cannot be recaptured."

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Produced by Elena Ramirez .