Ted Joans
Ted Joans | |
|---|---|
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Indiana University |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Originator of the "Bird Lives" legend and graffiti |
| Website | www |
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2010) |
Theodore Joans (July 4, 1928 – April 25, 2003) was an American
"slam" poetry. Joans is known for his motto: "Jazz
is my religion, and Surrealism is my point of view". He was the author of more than 30 books of poetry, prose, and collage, among them Black Pow-Wow, Beat Funky Jazz Poems, Afrodisia, Jazz is Our Religion, Double Trouble, WOW and Teducation.
Biography
Joans was born in Cairo, Illinois, as Theodore Jones. His parents worked on the riverboats that plied the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.[1] He played the trumpet and was an avid jazz aficionado, following Bop as it developed, and continued to espouse jazz of all styles and eras throughout his life. Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, he earned a degree in fine arts from Indiana University,[2][3] before moving in 1951 to New York City.[4]
In New York, he painted in a style he dubbed Jazz Action and read his poetry, developing a personal style of oral delivery called Jazz Poetry. He was a participant in the
Fred McDarrah and Weegee
.
Joans was also deeply involved in Surrealism, meeting
University of California Berkeley. The University of Delaware houses his correspondence with Charles Henri Ford. Joans was also a close correspondent/participant of the Chicago Surrealist Group
.
Joans' painting Bird Lives hangs in the
Cadavre Exquis. The rhinoceros is a frequent subject in his work in all media. He also created short Super 8 film
works.
During the early 1980s Joans was a writer in residence in
Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs (1973).[8]
In the late 1990s Joans relocated to Seattle and resided there and in Vancouver, between travels, until his death. He was the recipient of the American Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Ted Joans died in
Vancouver, British Columbia, due to complications from diabetes. He had 10 children and named one of his daughters Daline, after Salvador Dalí.[6]
Published works
- Funky Jazz Poems (1959), New York: Rhino Review.
- Beat Poems (1959), New York: Deretchink.
- All of Ted Joans and No More(1961), with collages by the author, New York: Excelsior Press.
- The Truth (1960)
- The Hipsters with collages by the author (1961), New York: Corinth.
- A Black Pow-Wow Of Jazz Poems (1969), London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
- Black Pow-Wow Jazz Poems (1969), New York: Hill and Wang.
- Afrodisia (1970), with collages by the author, London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
- Afrodisia; New Poems (1970), New York: Hill and Wang.
- A Black Manifesto in Jazz Poetry and Prose (1971), London: Calder and Boyars.
- Cogollo Caniculaire (1977), with artist Heriberto Cogollo and poet Joyce Mansour, Rome (Italy): Carlo Bestetti.
- Flying Piranha (1978), with poet Joyce Mansour, New York: Bola Press.
- Der Erdferkelforscher / The Aardvark Watcher (1980), translated by Richard Anders, Berlin: LCB-Editionen.
- Vergriffen: oder Blitzlieb Poems (1979), Kassel (Germany): Loose Blätter Press.
- Mehr Blitzliebe Poems (1982), Hamburg (Germany): Michael Kellner Verlag.
- Merveilleux Coup de Foudre (1982) with poet Jayne Cortez, in French, translated by Ms. Ila Errus and M. Sila Errus, Paris: Handshake Editions.
- Sure, Really I Is (1982), with collages by the author, Sidmouth (UK): Transformaction.
- Dies und Das: Ein Magazin von actuellem surrealistischen interesse (1984), Berlin.
- Double Trouble (1991), with poet Hart Leroy Bibbs, Paris: Revue Noire, Editions Bleu Outremer.
- Honeyspoon (1993), Paris: Handshake Editions.
- Okapi Passion (1994), Oakland: Ishmael Reed Publishing Company.
- WOW (1998), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Mukilteo (Washington): Quartermoon Press.
- Teducation: Selected Poems 1949-1999 (1999), illustrations by Heriberto Cogollo, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.
- Select one or more: Poems (2000), Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press.
- Our Thang: Several Poems, Several Drawings (2001), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Victoria (Canada): Ekstasis Editions.
- In Thursday Sane (2001), with illustrations by the author, Davis (California): Swan Scythe Press.
Essays about Ted Joans
- Michel Fabre, "Ted Joans: the Surrealist Griot", in From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France 1840–1980, University of Illinois, 1991.
- Robert Elliot Fox, "Ted Joans and the (b)reach of the African American literary canon", in MELUS, Vol. 29, nos 3/4 (Fall/Winter 2004), Gale Literature Resource Center.
- Amor Kohli, "Sounding Across the City: Ted Joans’s Bird Lives! as Jazz Performance", in Beat Drama: Playwrights and Performances of the "Howl" Generation, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2016.
- Joanna Pawlik, "Ted Joans' surrealist history lesson", in International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol. 14, issue 1 & 2 (2011). doi: 10.1386/ijfs.14.1&2.221_1
Ted Joans in film
- Jazz and Poetry on YouTube (1964) by Louis van Gasteren, Amsterdam. Ted Joans reads with Piet Kuiters Modern Jazz Group, excerpt on YouTube.
- Pan-African Cultural Festival / Festival panafricain d'Alger (1969) by William Klein, France/Algeria. Features Ted Joans reading with Archie Sheppand Touareg musicians.
- Jazz is Our Religion on YouTube (1971), directed by John Jeremy with the photographs of Val Wilmer. Features Ted Joans' voice reading one of his signature poems, "Jazz is My Religion".
- Ted Joans and David Amram Scat on YouTube (1994) at Jack Kerouac conference, New York University.
- From St. Louis to Dogon Country (1999) part of the BBC series Great Railway Journeys. directed by David Hickman, written by Danny Glover. Features Joans and Danny Glover, Clyde Taylor and others in Mali.
- WOW! Ted Joans Lives! by Kurt Hemmer and Tom Knoff (2010). An homage to Ted Joans, featuring his reading at Harper College, Palatine, Illinois, in 2002.
Further reading
- Yuko Otomo, "Let's get TEDucated! Tribute to Ted Joans", ARTEDOLIA, June 2015.
- Ted Joans tribute at Milk
- "Bird and the Beats", by Ted Joans
- "The Teducated Mouth", Ted Joans interview by John Barbato, Oaxaca (interview was conducted in November 2002 and originally published in Zocalo in summer 2003); in Empty Mirror magazine.
- Ted Joans interview on NPR, All Things Considered with Marcie Sillman, 2001.
- Review of Teducation and WOW by Jack Foley in Konch magazine.
- Karima Boudou, "Beauford Delaney and Ted Joans", Africanah: Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art, April 28, 2018.
References
- ^ Village Voice. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ "Ted Joans", American Museum of Beat Art,
- ^ "JOANS, Ted 1928–2003". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
- ^ a b "A Spoken Word Original", African American Registry.
- ^ Jones, Jae (January 28, 2022). "Ted Joans: The Best at Bringing 'Jazz & Spoken Word' Together On Stage". Black Then. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
- ^ a b Calder, John, "Ted Joans" (obituary), The Guardian, May 27, 2003.
- ^ "Ted Joans, 74, Jazzy Beat Poet Known for 'Bird Lives' Graffiti", The New York Times, May 18, 2003.
- ^ "Ted Joans (1928—2003)". The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
External links
- Ted Joans website. Bibliography, books, biography, art, videos, and resources
- "Ted Joans Lives! A Tribute". Ted Joans information, news & resources at Empty Mirror.
- Guide to the Ted Joans papers at The Bancroft Library, University of California
- Charles Henri Ford letters to Ted Joans collection held by Special Collections, University of Delaware
- Material related to Ted Joans in "Beats Visions and the Counterculture" (online exhibition) at Special Collections, University of Delaware
- Jonathon Keats, "An Eye-Opening Met Exhibit Shows The Full Gamut Of Surrealist Art From Asia To Africa To North And South America", Forbes, October 30, 2021.
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