Fresno State Professor Benjamin Boone released his fourth album in the saxophonist-composer’s series, fusing jazz with contemporary poetry. “Caught in the Rhythm,” available Friday, Sept. 15 on Origin Records, includes a remarkable assemblage of revered poets – including Faylita Hicks, Kimiko Hahn, Edward Hirsch, Tyehimba Jess, T.R. Hummer and Patrick Sylvain – with an equally remarkable group of jazz improvisers that include Ambrose Akinmusire, Greg Osby, Kenny Werner and Ben Monder.
Boone’s fascination and ingenuity with poetry and jazz are well-established. The two-volume “Poetry of Jazz” (released in 2018–19) teamed him with the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize recipient Philip Levine. The first volume was voted the number three Best Album of 2018 in the DownBeat Readers’ Poll. Boone upped the ante with 2020’s “The Poets Are Gathering,” which featured creative partnerships with eleven major poets. “Caught in the Rhythm” partners with six poets and includes 20 jazz musicians.
“They all have something valuable to say, things that enhance our understanding, enabling us to live fuller, more aware lives,” said Boone of the many collaborators on the album. “With each of these now four jazz and poetry albums, I’ve learned more and more about the melding of poetry with music, and this album, in many ways, is the best so far.”
“Caught in the Rhythm” is yet another example of the magic that can happen when the right wordsmith finds the right musicians – when the humanities meet the arts. T.R. Hummer’s authoritative words and voice find companionship in Boone’s alto, and the twin guitars of Monder and Eyal Maoz on “Mississippi 1955 Confessional”; pianist Werner and saxophonist Osby underline Edward Hirsch as he conflates the expressions of jazz and poetry on “Art Pepper”; and Werner, violinist Stefan Poetzsch, bassist Corcoran Holt, and drummer Ari Hoenig construct a stark, haunting backdrop for Tyehimba Jess’ “Mercy.”
The new album also gives voice, both literal and figurative, to the young Afro-Latinx poet, singer and performer Faylita Hicks. Her delivery veers between the fitting and the ironic; she recites “Hoodwitches [Redux]” with the cadences of a sermonizing preacher, while on “ASMR Sleepcast: The Night After Being Released from the Rural County Jail,” she assumes the mantle of the sultry nightclub singer. Boone groups her with a stellar cast of similarly young musicians, among them the rhythm section of keyboardist Kevin Person Jr., bassist Philip Sarkisian, and drummer McKenna Reeve.
“They’re all just in their twenties,” Boone notes, “so they bring fresh ideas informed by hip-hop and other genres.”
These collaborations also serve a unique personal purpose for Boone. The saxophonist is afflicted with a hearing difficulty that compelled him to do extensive research during his doctoral studies on the melodies embedded in spoken English.
“Now when I hear people speak, I hear it as music, and that profoundly informed how I approached this project,” said Boone.
Born in the small textile town of Statesville, North Carolina, Benjamin Boone earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in jazz (B.M.), theory (B.M.), and music composition (M.M. and D.M.A.). In New York, he performed widely and served as a music business manager. Since 2000, Boone has taught music theory and composition at California State University in Fresno and served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in the Eastern European nation of Moldova (2005), in Accra, Ghana (2017–18) and in Limerick, Ireland (2022–23).
His compositions have garnered multiple national and international awards and honors, have been performed in 38 countries and on 30 albums, and have been the subject of three feature stories on National Public Radio.
The “Caught in the Rhythm” album was funded in part by the Dean’s Council Annual Fund.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 
How incredibly fortunate we are in Fresno to have Ben in our lives.
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