TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Allen Ginsberg, a powerful voice of the Beat Generation, drew deep inspiration from jazz. His groundbreaking poem "Howl" has the same pulse and urgency as a bebop solo—breathless, unfiltered, and alive. Ginsberg admired musicians like Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, whose improvisations echoed his own stream-of-consciousness style.
When Ginsberg read poetry aloud, he often performed it with jazz accompaniment—sometimes chanting, sometimes singing, always bending language to match the music's rhythm. He once said jazz showed him how to free his voice, to let language spill out without fear.
For Ginsberg, jazz was a model for living with spontaneity, honesty, and courage. Like a soaring saxophone solo, his poetry aimed to break barriers and connect directly with the human spirit.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.