Join us in the splendid setting of the 19th-century Art Gallery for our Music Series, with Athenaeum friend Toussaint St. Negritude opening our fall season.
Recently returned from a trans-continental 5-month book & performance tour of his seminal works, St. Negritude revels in the interstellar light of all intersecting freedoms. Author of the collection of poems “Mountain Spells” [Rootstock Publishing 2024], former Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine and 2024 Nominee for Poet Laureate of Vermont, poet, bass clarinetist, and composer Toussaint St. Negritude conjures whole liberations in full tempo. US Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks described his work as “full of sweet sounds and surprises.” Originally from San Francisco, Toussaint has lived and broadly thrived across the African Diaspora, from the sacred mountains of Haiti to the Coltrane District of North Philadelphia. He, along with bassist Gahlord Dewald, is the leader of the band Jaguar Stereo!, a free-form ensemble of his own poetry and improvisational jazz, and his works have been widely published and recorded for over 40 years. Having for the last 17 years thrived in the alpine sanctuary of northeastern Vermont, for his next spirited chapter Toussaint St. Negritude is ramping up to soon return to his beloved west coast, thriving even further in the rain-forested mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
For this event, St. Negritude will offer music on the bass clarinet as well as the music of his poetic voice.
This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.
Website: https://www.stjathenaeum.org